Assessment & Management of Suicidal Clients (DBT - 3)

10 hours | 10 CEs

This on-demand professional training program on Assessment and Management of Suicidal Clients is presented by Michele Galietta, Ph.D. This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards a certificate. Enroll in this program to earn credit towards Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Certificate and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues. It is the third of 7 programs in this certification.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was initially developed for patients with multiple problems, whose therapeutic progress was often hindered by their complex clinical presentations and indefinite challenges, including chronic suicidality. DBT is one of only a few evidence-based treatments effective in reducing suicidal ideation and behaviors. In DBT, self-harm is viewed as an individual’s attempt to cope with or solve a problem, typically intense emotional pain they feel they cannot change or tolerate.

To reduce suicide risk, DBT providers must help individuals identify and implement adaptive solutions (i.e., DBT skills) to the problem. Mental health professionals cannot effectively intervene to reduce suicide risk unless it is known that suicide risk is present. Therefore, this program teaches participants to conduct suicide risk assessments using an evidence-based approach. In addition, participants learn how to assess for direct indicators of suicide risk, indirect indicators of suicide risk, and protective factors. This program teaches DBT providers how to monitor suicidal thoughts and urges so that providers can intervene when the risk for self-harm is high. Lastly, providers learn to effectively examine variables that lead to increased or decreased suicidal thoughts/behaviors over time.