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 many leading experts.

The training program, “Suicide Safer Care in Clinical Practice,” takes place on the afternoons of Tuesday March 10 and Wednesday March 11.

It is organized by The Wellness Institute, which says attendees “will receive direct guidance from intervention developers, current updates into emerging suicide prevention challenges, and concrete steps to work with clients at risk with greater confidence, competence, and clarity.”

The training will cover primary treatments for suicidality such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) and Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) as well as brief interventions including Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program (ASSIP) and Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS). The program includes a session devoted to treating suicidality in youth. (See full program, below.)

The training is also sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, The Jed Foundation, the Education Development Center, Zero Suicide Institute, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, EveryMind, SAVE, and CAMS-care.

Free registration with 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 fifth year in a row is intended to advance suicide prevention with local healthcare providers. Thus far, The Sophie Fund has provided the free training for 220 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

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1-5 P.M. EST

Suicide Theories

Thomas Joiner, PhD; David Rudd, PhD

Primary Interventions: CT-SP vs. DBT

Kate Comtois, PhD, MPH; Kelly Green, PhD

Brief Interventions: ASSIP vs. BCBT vs. CAMS

Anja Gysin-Maillar, PhD; Craig Bryan, PsyD, ABPP; Raymond Tucker, PhD

Youth Interventions: ABFT vs. IPT-A vs. DBT-A

Guy Diamond, PhD; Alec Miller, PsyD; Anat Brunstein-Klomek, PhD’ Jonathan Singer, PhD, LCSW

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1-5 P.M. EST

Joining the Client in the Dark: Leaning into Empathy Rather than Fear

Stacey Freedenthal, PhD

The Silent Partner: Addressing Substance Use in Suicide Prevention

Arwen Podesta, MD

AI, Chatbots, and Apps: Implications in Clinical Care

John Torous, MD, MBI

Self Care is Not a Luxury: Techniques for Protecting Against Vicarious Trauma

Jeffrey Barnett, PhD

Trigger Warning: Re-framing Firearm Counseling from “Restriction” to “Safety”

Emmy Betz, MD, MPH

Crisis-Ready: Preparing a Suicide-Safe Practice

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD

In Practice: Effective Solutions to Unique Situations (Bridging the Gap between Theory and Implementation)

Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD; Jennifer Hartstein, PsyD

Learning Objectives

• Describe two research-based models for understanding suicide, identify motivations for suicide and their implications in clinical treatment.
• Describe evidence-based interventions DBT and CBT-SP for suicide ideation and behaviors and how to apply each approach to clinical cases.
• Describe evidence-based brief suicide interventions, ASSIP, CAMS, and BCBT and how to apply each approach to clinical cases.
• Describe evidence-based suicide interventions for youth, ABFT, DBT, and IPT-A and how to apply each approach to clinical cases.
• Differentiate client-centered care from defensive practice in treating individuals with suicide ideation and/or behavior.
• Describe how mental health apps and AI-enabled chatbots are currently being used in clinical care. Review their evidence base, limitations, and risks related to safety, bias, and clinical validity.
• Apply practical frameworks to assess digital tools and suggest ways to communicate the risks and benefits to patients.
• Describe a screening process that detects substance use disorders and co-morbid risk for suicide.
• Explain the importance of ongoing self-care to maintain clinical effectiveness when treating suicidal patients and outline an effective self-care plan.
•  Describe how language impacts delivery of firearm suicide prevention messaging or counseling and three preferred terms relevant to firearm suicide prevention.
• Identify suicide risk factors and warning signs and describe key steps for preparing one’s clinical practice to respond effectively to individuals expressing suicidal ideation.
• Analyze complex cases and apply practical, evidence-informed strategies to effectively manage suicide ideation and behaviors in clinical practice