Safety Planning on Crisis Lines to Mitigate Future Suicide Risk

Course overview

Course Description: This course is based upon material published in the journal Suicide Life Threating Behavior and is available as an open-access article. Background: The role of crisis hotlines traditionally was limited to de-escalation and service linkage. However, hotlines are increasingly recruited to provide outreach and follow-up to suicidal individuals. Hotlines have the opportunity to not just defuse current crises but also provide brief interventions to mitigate future risk. The Safety Planning Intervention (SPI) is a brief intervention designed to help manage suicidal crises, but its feasibility and effectiveness on hotlines are not established. Aims: This study examined the feasibility and perceived effectiveness of SPI, as reported by 271 crisis counselors at five centers in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. Method: Counselors were trained to use SPI. Self-report surveys were completed immediately after training (time 1) and at the end of the study, approximately nine months later (time 2). Results: Counselors reported that SPI was feasible and helpful, and was used on both incoming and follow-up calls. Utilization and perceived effectiveness at time 2 were predicted by self-efficacy, feasibility, and helpfulness at time 1. Limitations: Results are preliminary and limited to counselors perceptions. Future RCTs should establish the efficacy of SPI for crisis callers. Conclusion: SPI is a promising approach to reduce crisis callers future suicide risk that hotline counselors report is both feasible and helpful. This course on safety planning on crisis lines is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors who do clinical work. In addition, this course is appropriate for intermediate and advanced-level practitioners who wish to enhance their skills in safety planning to mitigate suicide risk. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A significant benefit of reading research-based articles for continuing education is that they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Labouliere, Stanley, Lake, and Gould Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding safety planning on crisis lines to mitigate future suicide risk. Specifically, a professional will: Describe the safety planning intervention utilized in this study. Identify outcomes when using the safety planning intervention. Recognize what key elements predicted utilization and perceived effectiveness of safety planning intervention at nine months post-intervention. Citation: Lsnoulirtr, V/D., Stanley, B. Lake, A.M., Gould, M. S. (2020). Safety planning on crisis lines: Feasibility, acceptability, and perceived helpfulness of a brief intervention to mitigate future suicide risk. Suicide Life-Threatening Behavior. 2020 February; 5-(1): 29-41.