Suicide Prevention: What to Know and What to Do (Virtual Event)

Suicide Prevention: What to Know and What to Do (Virtual Event)

Presented by Jon Mandracchia, PhD

2.0 Clock hours

* This course meets Suicide Prevention requirement for licensure renewal. *

Suicide is a serious and prevalent problem that most mental healthcare providers will encounter at some point in their career regardless of the setting in or population with which they work.  This presentation will introduce the topic of suicide by presenting the prevalence of suicide in general along with specific demographic data.  Attendees will then learn about risk and protective factors associated with suicide, while considering the differences between risk/protective factors and causal factors for suicide ideation and behavior.  To promote a better understanding of the actual underlying mechanisms of suicide, a brief overview of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide will be presented as one possible explanation for serious suicide attempts and completed suicide that has gained empirical support in recent years.  After presenting information to better understand the overall scope and potential causes of suicide, the presentation will turn to specific recommendations for assessing and responding to individuals who may be at risk for suicide ideation or making a serious suicide attempt.  Many of these recommendations are specific for licensed mental healthcare providers (and those who are in-training); however, more basic forms of assessment and response will be presented that may be employed by the general public. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Understanding the scope of the problem of suicide, including demographic trends as well as risk and protective factors associated with suicidal behavior.
2. Introduce a relatively new and empirically supported theoretical understanding of what causes the desire to die by suicide and serious attempts or completed suicide.
3. Provide basic suicide prevention approaches for the general public.
4. Present assessment and intervention strategies for mental healthcare providers.