There are no established formats for documenting a formulation of suicide risk. I have taken some steps to standardize this documentation in the clinical service I direct, but it needs further development. I’ll be helping our department arrive at a common format. Thankfully, I’ll be working with some really bright people who can view this [...]
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Archive | January, 2007
How we think about Primary Care “Gatekeepers”
January 27, 2007
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Primary care physicians are often grouped in as “gatekeepers,” who need to be able to ask about suicide, know warning signs, and refer. The tend not to get in-depth training about formulating or documenting risk assessments. The problem with this “gatekeeper” view is that we don’t have the kind of seamless system that allows the [...]
Read moreRisk and patient choice
January 25, 2007
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It’s hard enough to assess for suicidal risk, interview, reach a formulation, and develop a plan that matches the risk level. But what do you do when the client does not agree to the plan? It is difficult to manage one’s emotions, and difficult to know how to proceed. This is especially true when the [...]
Read moreCommitment to Living featured on PsychSplash
January 23, 2007
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Gareth Furber, who has a fantastic site called PsychSplash, featured CTL yesterday…a much appreciated mention that inspires me to keep the content coming! Here is the link to Gareth’s post.
Read more“How bad has it gotten?”
January 9, 2007
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When I teach about clinical interviewing, I often recommend this phrase (or some variation) as an entry point to questions about suicidal ideation. This accomplishes a couple of things: 1. Frames the discussion about suicidal ideation as one that is exploring the person’s subjective experience and suffering, avoiding the impression of ticking through the required [...]
Read morePost from AAS/SPRC Workshop-Thoughts about staying therapeutic
January 4, 2007
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I’m in Ohio this week at a “train the trainer” workshop developed by the American Association for Suicidology (AAS) and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). The workshop is called “Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Core competencies for mental health professionals.” The training has been excellent so far. The material focuses a lot on the [...]
Read moreAt the crossroads of family therapy and suicide prevention
January 3, 2007
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I recently led a discussion about “Evidence-based risk assessment: implications for family therapy education, research, and practice?” at the Family Research Roundtable, which is a collaborative venture chaired by Susan McDaniel and Jane Tuttle, and funded by the University Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies. My interest in the nexus between suicidology and family therapy is a [...]
Read moreBlogging about suicide risk assessment and prevention
January 2, 2007
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I have created an About this blog page to describe the purpose of this blog. I will be inviting colleagues to view this blog once the infrastructure is a little more mature.
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