Managing Suicide Risk During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Course overview

There has never been a time in American history, when a community has suppressed the suicide rate and maintained it at a low level. Two recent studies found that therapists are less willing to treat patients with suicidal symptoms and when they do, only two-thirds use evidence based methods of assessing risk. Therapists report that their practice patterns are based on their admitted discomfort managing high risk patients, lack of training and limited community resources. Surprisingly, less than 50% of graduate training programs in mental health provide formal instruction on suicide risk assessment. When they do, the training equals 90 minutes on average. These factors reveal the challenges commonly faced by many mental health providers in America. This two-hour presentation aims to address this problem by providing more than what graduate programs have provided (i.e., 90 minutes on average). Attendees will learn evidence-based methods of assessing and managing suicide risk, especially as this pertains to conducting tele-mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees will increase their comfort, confidence and competence in managing suicide risk by the end of this learning activity.