
Knowing how to assess suicide risk and respond effectively, is probably the most important mental health competencies you will ever develop.
This workshop is primarily focused on social workers in South Africa, but also suitable for registered counsellors and other mental health practitioners. The purpose of the workshop is to equip practitioners with theoretical knowledge and practical skills to respond effectively to suicide ideation in their clients.
Unless practitioners are intentionally exploring the possibility of suicide ideation with their clients, they will often not even know when a client is contemplating suicide. This is because many clients do not disclose their ideation, for many reasons such as fear of being medicated or being referred to a psychiatric institution. Many taboos about mental health treatment may inhibit a clients from disclosing their ideation. Asking about suicide ideation and exploring the client’s suicide history does not have to be a difficult conversation. If the practitioner knows how to introduce the topic, overcome reluctance and explore the client’s suicide thoughts in a collaborative way, a comprehensive assessment and intervention planning becomes easier. This workshop aims to provide practitioner with the confidence to talk openly to their clients about suicide, and the competence to explore their ideation for the purpose of assessment so that safe and ethical decisions about treatment can be made.
The workshop is facilitated fully online via Zoom over the course of 12 hours, which consists of four 3-hour sessions facilitated twice weekly over the course of 2 weeks. This is to allow for integration of theory and practice, since the workshop also encourages participants to implement the skills learned.
The dates and times for the workshop are:
- Session 1: Monday, 27 Jan 2025 – 9h00 – 12h00
- Session2: Wednesday, 29 Jan 2025 – 9h00 – 12h00
- Session 3: Monday, 3 Feb 2025 – 9h00 – 12h00
- Session 4: Wednesday, 5 Feb 2025 – 9h00 – 12h00
Participants are also required to do preparation work for each session by completing required reading of selected content, and to note down their reflections after each session. This reflective work must be submitted at the end of the workshop and is a requirement to qualify for CPD points. This workshop is currently approved by SACSSP for 13 CPD points for social workers.
The content of the workshop includes the following:
- Introduction and overview of suicide
- Risk factors and warning signs of suicide
- The CASE approach to structure interview sessions to collect critical information
- Principles of the CAMS approach – establishing a collaborative partnership with the client
- Overview of validity interview techniques
- Drawing up a safety plan
- Brief description/discussion of parasuicide
- Basic principles of crisis intervention
- The risk assessment, including risk rating
- Brief discussions of sample role-play interviews regarding interview skills
Suicide is a sensitive topic and the workshop may contain triggering content for some participants. It is strongly recommended that practitioners who experience mental health difficulties themselves, particularly depression and thoughts of suicide, NOT attend the workshop during or recently after (within 6 months) experiencing depressive periods or thoughts of suicide. While the facilitator aims to create a safe and supportive workshop experience, it is not possible for the facilitator to attend to the personal well-being of participants. Each participant must take responsibility for their own well-being. If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact the facilitator at werner@changeworks.co.za.
The workshop is facilitated fully online via Zoom. Participants are required to remain on camera for the full duration of each session and should ensure that their equipment and internet connection is suitable for this kind of interaction. Attendance with a phone or tablet is not recommended – it is recommended to use a PC or laptop since some of the screens that will be shared may include text or diagrams that would be too small read on a cellphone screen. Due to the fact that this is a sensitive topic and to create a safe, confidential, inclusive space for all participants, each participant should attend from a suitable physical space (for example, not while travelling or while sharing office space with others). The use of headphones is recommended – alternatively participants should be in a space not shared with others. To respect the privacy of the participants, sessions are not recorded.