The Sophie Fund is sponsoring free registration—and free continuing education credits (CEUs)—for healthcare professionals in Tompkins County to attend a two-day online training in suicide prevention featuring some of the nation’s leading experts.

The training program, “Suicide Safer Care in Clinical Practice Incorporating Current Best Practices,” takes place in the afternoons of Wednesday March 19 and Thursday March 20. It is organized by The Wellness Institute, which says the conference designed “to strengthen confidence and competence in providing caring, evidence-based services to clients with suicide risk.”

The training, which covers treating youth suicidality, lethal means counseling, brief interventions, treatment pathways, and other topics, is also sponsored American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, The Jed Foundation, the Education Development Center, Zero Suicide Institute, American Association of Suicidology, and CAMS-care. (See full program, below.)

Free registration and free continuing education credits for physicians, primary care clinicians, health and mental health clinicians, and clinical social workers serving Tompkins County is supported by a grant from The Sophie Fund.

To request a registration code for free registration, healthcare professionals can email The Sophie Fund at thesophiefund2016@gmail.com providing their 1) name, 2) email address, 3) degree level, and 4) place of employment (or name and address of practice, if self-employed).

Scott MacLeod, co-founder of The Sophie Fund, said his organization’s sponsorship of the Wellness Institute program for the fourth year in a row is intended to advance the Zero Suicide Model with healthcare providers. Thus far, The Sophie Fund has provided the free training for 180 clinicians in Tompkins County, including the counseling center staffs of Cornell University and Ithaca College.

Zero Suicide is an emerging standard designed to save lives by closing gaps in the suicide care offered by healthcare providers. The model provides a practical framework for system-wide quality improvement in areas including training staff in current best practices, identifying at-risk individuals through comprehensive screening and assessment, engaging at-risk patients with effective care management, evidence-based treatments, and safe care transition.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Americans aged 10-14 and 25-34. Recently, Tompkins County has averaged 12 suicide deaths per year. Another 1,600 parents, children, siblings, friends, and spouses may be impacted by the resulting psychological, spiritual, and/or financial loss.

An estimated 300 people in Tompkins County may attempt suicide every year. While rates for other causes of death have remained steady or declined, the U.S. suicide rate increased 35.2% from 1999 to 2018.

Suicide Safer Care in Clinical Practice: Incorporating Current Best Practices

Wednesday, March 19, 1-5 p.m.

Understanding Suicide to Prevent Suicide: A Clinical Framework

E. David Klonsky, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

New-Generation Treatments (CRP, BCBT, etc.)

Craig Bryan, PsyD, ABPP, Trott Gebhardt Philips Endowed Professor and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University College of Medicine

Assessment, Safety Planning, and Treatment Pathways

Gillian Murphy, PhD, New York-based psychotherapist; former Assistant Deputy Director for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now 988)

Integrating Firearm Safety Discussions in Clinical Practice

Christopher Knoepke, PhD, MSW, LCSW, Research Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Clients with Suicide Bereavement

Noam M. Schneck, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute

Thursday, March 20, 1-5 p.m.

The Human Element: Engaging Suicidal Clients

Jonathan Singer, PhD, LCSW, Professor, Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work

Creating Safe Spaces for Suicidality Disclosure

Lindsay Sheehan, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of the Center on Health Equity, Education, and Research, Illinois Institute of Technology

Post-Crisis Reintegration

Marisa Marraccini, PhD, Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education and an Associate Professor of School Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Education

Adapting Suicide Prevention for Telehealth

Lauren Khazem, PhD, Research Assistant Professor and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Addressing Substance Use in Suicide Prevention

Christina M. Sellers, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Innovation in Behavioral Health Education and Research, School of Social Work, Simmons University

Sleep-Focused Approaches to Youth Suicide Prevention

Sally Weinstein, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Associate Director of the Center on Depression and Resilience, University of Illinois College of Medicine

Ask the Experts: What Works in Suicide Care (Q&A Session)

David Jobes, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of Clinical Training, Catholic University of America; Creator and Developer, Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)

David A. Brent, MD, academic chief of child and adolescent psychiatry, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Learning Objectives:

Describe a model for understanding suicide and list factors that contribute to increased suicide risk.

Discuss how clinicians can engage in suicide prevention in their clinical practice.

Describe the suicidal mode and identify the mechanisms targeted by newly developed treatments in suicide prevention.

Identify core principles that can guide the suicide assessment process and brief interventions to implement to maintain client safety.

Articulate the role of firearms in suicide and how to integrate firearm safety conversations into suicide prevention efforts.

Explain the unique emotions that typify suicide bereavement and an approach to facilitate emotional acceptance.

Identify suicide-focused care models that fit a clinician’s clinical approach best and ways they can utilize their emotional reactions while working with suicidal individuals.

Describe client perspectives on disclosure of suicidality and strategies to increase comfort in disclosure.

Explain considerations for supporting students returning to school following suicide-related crises and how best practices for student reintegration may be generalized for community reintegration of individuals in all life stages.

Identify telehealth adaptations of suicide prevention strategies and how they may be implemented. (Describe imminent suicide risk assessment and responses.)

Explain the relationship between substance use and suicide and how substance use is a risk factor for suicide.

Describe developmental changes in sleep in adolescence, how to assess sleep quality in youth, and intervention strategies to improve sleep in adolescents that may be relevant for suicide prevention.

Demonstrate how to ask a client if they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, incorporate one new practice for suicide prevention, and develop a practice plan to put in effect when a person states they have been thinking about suicide.