Suicide Assessment & Intervention Workshop

Knowing how to assess suicide risk and respond effectively, is probably the most important mental health competencies you will ever develop.

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 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
  • 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