Suicide Assessment and Intervention: Assess Suicidal Ideation and Effectively Intervene in Crisis Situations with Confidence, Composure and Sensitivity

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Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD Related seminars and products

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Sally Spencer-Thomas, PsyD is a clinical psychologist, award-winning keynote speaker, and impact entrepreneur dedicated to transforming suicide prevention from risk management to meaningful healing. She is internationally recognized for integrating the stories, science, and strategy of suicide prevention to help clinicians, leaders, and organizations move beyond liability-driven care toward compassionate competence. 
 

Dr. Spencer-Thomas is Co-Founder and President of United Suicide Survivors International and co-founder of Man Therapy®, an innovative men’s mental health initiative. She served as the founding Executive Secretary of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and has held national leadership roles with the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), including Executive Board Member and Secretary, as well as leadership positions within the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP). She has served on Lived Experience Advisory Committees for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now 988), helping embed lived experience into national strategy. 
 

A TEDx speaker and White House invitee, Dr. Spencer-Thomas has consulted and presented across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Her most important credential, however, is her lived experience as a suicide loss survivor—a calling that drives her work to help clinicians not only prevent suicide but sustain a passion for living in the people they serve. 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Sally Spencer Thomas maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Sally Spencer Thomas is the president of United Suicide Survivors International and is a member of the executive board for the American Association of Suicidology. She is co-chair of the Workplace Special Interest Group for the International Association of Suicide Prevention and is a member of the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Objectives

1. Assess individuals at risk of suicide with a clinical approach that identifies both explicit and implicit expressions of suicidal thought.
2. Determine key indicators of imminent suicide and develop a strategy for determining when and how to hospitalize clients.
3. Formulate a CBT and DBT oriented case conceptualization that addresses how to effectively work with specific populations including veterans and the elderly.
4. Employ a collaborative safety approach to help clients survive a suicidal crisis.
5. Develop communication strategies that convey compassion and support and strengthen the therapeutic alliance.
6. Design a multi-systemic approach that reduces access to lethal means and incorporates the suicidal person’s social connections into their safety plan.

Outline

Suicide: Who, When, How and Where

• Addiction recovery
• Trauma-informed care
• Populations with multiple risk factors
• Suicide attempt survivors – learning from their experience
• Upstream clinical practices: reaching people before the point of crisis

Elicit Key Information from Suicidal Clients: Assessment and Level of Risk

• Implicit and explicit expressions of suicidal thoughts
• Communicating caring: Language to impart compassion and avoid stigma
• Suicide risk assessment
  • SAFE-T
  • PATH WARM
  • Ideation, plan, means, intent
  • Level of risk

Formulate Treatment Plans that Help Clients Regulate Emotions and Make Them Feel Valued and Connected

• Collaborative safety planning (or “Why Suicide Contracting is Dead”)
• Proactive approaches to decrease the likelihood of suicidal despair
• Multi-system approaches – support systems
• Evidence-based treatments:
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
    • Cognitive restructuring strategies
    • Emotional regulation exercises
    • Behavioral Activation
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy
    • How to organize a skills training group
    • Tips for phone coaching
• Relapse prevention plans
• Documentation
• Reduce access to lethal means
• Working with specific populations: veterans, the elderly

Confidently Handle Crisis Situations

• Conduct a behavioral chain analysis
• Validating reasons for suicide
• Identify reasons for living
• Use distress tolerance and CBT skills to manage a crisis
• When and how to hospitalize

Suicide Grief Support and Innovative Suicide-Specific Care

• Implement Suicide Grief Support
  • Understand the unique nature of suicide grief
  • Peer-based support: Connect clients to other survivors of loss​
• Other innovative suicide-specific care
  • Collaborative online tools and applications
• Clinicians with lived experience
• Post-traumatic growth and suicide

Target Audience

• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Addiction Counselors
• Therapists
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals
• School-Based Counselors
• School-Based Psychologists
• School-Based Social Workers
• School Administrators