Format: Self-paced / asynchronous program
Engage with this recorded program on your schedule.
CE: 2 CEs total, read for more information on CEs
Fee: $35, read for more information on fees and scholarships
Program Description:
Suicide and the risk of suicide are understandably scary. This DBT-informed workshop will help clinicians to manage their fears around suicide and increase their self-knowledge, comfort, and effectiveness with clients who are experiencing suicidality. Sheena Beach will provide evidence-based assessment and treatment approaches to suicidality, with adaptations for acute and chronic suicidality. She will walk us through the Linehan Risk Assessment Protocol, offer creative ways to “contract for safety,” and address the pros/cons of involuntary hospitalization. She will also discuss the feared scenario of when clients attempt or die by suicide. Participants will be encouraged to explore their own views around death, dying, and suicide.
Trainer: 
Sheena Beach, MSW, LCSW, LISW-CP is the DBT Team Lead-Adolescents and Adults at Southlake Counseling and Consulting, PC in Charlotte, NC. Sheena is a Behavioral Tech Intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and provides services for clients aged 10 and up. She is also trained in Radically Open-DBT (Level 1), and EMDR. Prior to joining Southlake, Sheena worked as a school-based mental health therapist providing care to children and their families. She is passionate about reducing mental health stigma, mental health advocacy and awareness, and research, and has an affinity for supporting multicultural communities, the LGBTQ+ population, and working with neurodivergent teens and adults.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Apply at least one suicide risk assessment protocol in clinical practice.
- Name and describe at least 2 principles to guide treatment with clients who are contemplating suicide.
- Identify at least 1 resource and strategy for clinicians when clients have attempted or died by suicide.
References:
- Airey, N. D., & Iqbal, Z. (2022). Are clinicians confident in the risk assessment of suicide?: A systematic literature review. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2020.1792019
- Edwards, E. R., Kober, H., Rinne, G. R., Griffin, S. A., Axelrod, S., & Cooney, E. B. (2021). Skills‐homework completion and phone coaching as predictors of therapeutic change and outcomes in completers of a DBT intensive outpatient programme. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 94(3), 504-522. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12325
- Foster, A., Alderman, M., Safin, D., Aponte, X., McCoy, K., Caughey, M., & Galynker, I. (2021). Teaching suicide risk assessment: Spotlight on the therapeutic relationship. Academic Psychiatry, 45(3), 257-261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-021-01421-2
- Hom, M. A., & Stanley, I. H. (2021). Considerations in the assessment of help‐seeking and mental health service use in suicide prevention research. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 51(1), 47-54. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12667
- Howe, S. J., Hewitt, K., Baraskewich, J., Cassidy, S., & McMorris, C. A. (2020). Suicidality among children and youth with and without autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review of existing risk assessment tools. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(10), 3462-3476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04394-7
- Interian, A., Chesin, M., Kline, A., St. Hill, L., King, A., Miller, R., Latorre, M., Gara, M., & Stanley, B. (2021). Coping with suicidal urges: An important factor for suicide risk assessment and intervention. Archives of Suicide Research, 25(2), 224-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1678538
UNC Chapel Hill – Clinical Lecture Series Programs