Full Course Description

Suicide Intervention Skills Training

Even after years of schooling, clinical work, and supervision, treating suicidal clients can feel overwhelming and to be honest – downright scary.

There isn’t any room for error in cases like these and you want to be sure you’re doing the right things for your clients, including avoiding unnecessary hospitalization.

It’s time to leave uncertainty by the wayside and let Paul Brasler, LCSW, CAIMHP take the guesswork out of treating suicidality! Drawing from Paul’s 20+ years of clinical experience, his multi-modality approach will give you the fortitude and tools you need to take on even the most challenging cases – in as little as just one training session!

You’ll get:

The best treatment techniques from CBT, DBT, and CAMS!
Assurance in establishing safe practices and limiting liability
Powerful screening and assessment tools that emphasize connection and setting
Strategies for working with children, veterans, first responders and more!

No matter where you’re at in your journey as a clinician, you deserve to feel cool, calm, and confident when these tough cases land at your door.

This is your chance to set yourself apart from the status quo of suicidality treatment and give your clients your very best, even when they feel at their very worst.

Register now!

Program Information

Objectives

Evaluate the myths, language, and stigma surrounding suicide to inform clinical treatment interventions.
Analyze risk and protective factors associated with suicide to enhance treatment outcomes.
Use screening and assessment tools to guide clinical decision-making.
Utilize collaborative safety planning and crisis interventions, including CAMS, to reduce suicidal behaviors.
Choose dialectical behavior therapy strategies to treat suicidality.
Examine ethical and legal considerations, including informed consent and a client’s right to self-determination, to reduce liability in clinical care.

Outline

Suicide Defined

Language and the Stigma of Suicide
Myths of Suicide
Theoretical Basis of Suicide

Professional Self-Care

Establish Safe Practices
The Importance of Informed Consent to Treatment
Dealing with the Death of a Patient by Suicide
Patients Who Conceal Their Suicidal Ideation

Suicide Risk Factors

Protective Factors Against Suicide

Suicide Ideation to Action

Suicide Warning Signs
Suicide Ideation to Action Theories
Suicide Intent (Planning) and Methods
Means Safety
Suicide Attempts
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

Suicide Screening and Assessment

Suicide Screening Tools
Suicide Assessment

Disposition

Psychiatric Hospitalization
Why No Harm Contracts are an Incredibly Bad Idea
Safety Planning
Collaborative Assessment for Management of Suicidality (CAMS)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapies

Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Psychopharmacology of Suicide Treatment

Special Populations

Suicide Assessment and Interventions for Children and Adolescents
Suicide and Active-Duty Military Personnel, Veterans, and First Responders
Suicide and Older Adults

Ethical and Legal Issues

A Client’s Right to Self-Determination Versus Our Legal Responsibilities
Managing Liability
Risks, Limitations & Further Research

Target Audience

Mental health Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Clinical Social Workers
Substance Use Treatment Providers
Case Managers
Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Pharmacists
Medical Physicians
Physician Assistants
Nurse Practitioners
Registered Nurses (general, education, ambulatory care, psychiatric, critical care, community/public health, management/administration)
Probation/Parole Officers
Judges
Police Officers
Paramedics and Other First Responders
Clergy
Chaplains
Military Religious Affairs
Teachers
School Administrators (Primary, Secondary, and University)
Concerned Parents

Copyright : 10/22/2025

High Risk Clients: Effective Clinical Interventions for Client Emergencies Related to Suicide, Substance Use Disorder, Violence & More

Crises are never scheduled, convenient or easy. But they do happen and you will face them. Clients at risk for crisis often present with so many symptoms and issues, it’s hard to know where to start. Many clinicians, anxious about how to proceed, often miss or avoid asking the right questions to effectively intervene and keep clients (and themselves) safe.

As a clinician, have you ever felt:

Worried about the safety of your clients, even feared for their lives, but felt unprepared to handle the situation?
Unsafe in the clinical environment, or unsure of how to handle situations where someone connected to your client might be in danger?
Caught off guard when you’re wrapping up a session and a client discloses suicidal thoughts?
Unsure if a client was using drugs, and ill equipped to identify the signs and symptoms of drug abuse?
Concerned that you’re doing more harm than good for traumatized clients, despite your best intentions?

Watch Paul Brasler, LCSW, as he navigates you through five of the most difficult scenarios in mental health today. Through real-life examples and live role plays, Paul will share the concrete strategies that he’s used over the last two decades to safely and effectively intervene in the challenging, urgent, and sometimes alarming situations that mental health professionals face.

Full of practical tools and tips, this live webcast will teach you to how to make crises situations more manageable, overcome your worries, and improve your readiness to handle mental health emergencies related to suicide, violence, substance abuse, trauma, and medical issues.

Better still, instruction on professional liability management techniques, tips for documentation, and detailed reproducible assessment forms will have you feeling confident that you can focus on doing what’s best for your clients without fear of litigation. And, Paul’s guidance is applicable to your work regardless of your setting or clinical background.

Leave this seminar equipped to help your most vulnerable clients with the real-life skills and knowledge they don’t teach in graduate school!

Program Information

Objectives

Complete a comprehensive mental health assessment that encompasses a multitude of clinical concerns including mental status, lethality, substance abuse and trauma.
Determine when to hospitalize clients struggling with suicidal ideation, substance abuse, medical concerns or violent urges and develop protocols for doing so.
Provide coping strategies and support to clients presenting with suicidal ideation by helping to create a safety plan in session.
Assess for risk of client violence towards others and develop strategies to safely intervene as well as effectively carry out the clinician’s duty to protect.
Determine signs and symptoms of intoxication, withdrawal, or overdose in clients and develop plans for effective intervention.
Differentiate between medical and psychological presenting concerns as they relate to case conceptualization.

Outline

Client Assessment: Ask the Right Questions

Conduct comprehensive assessments
Strategies for eliciting the right information
What to ask yourself as you watch the client
Can the client provide informed content?
Limitations of the research & potential risks

The Suicidal Client: Recognize Suicide Risk & Effectively Intervene

Who is most at risk?
Implicit & explicit expressions of suicidal ideation & intent
Lethality assessment to protect client & clinician
Self-injurious behavior & suicidal ideation
How to conduct a suicide assessment
Safety planning for clients with suicidal ideation
When to hospitalize
Voluntary vs. involuntary hospitalization
When clients are not admitted to the hospital

The Violent Client: Confidently Manage Dangerous Situations

Dealing with our fears: Clinicians’ safety
When the clinician is the target
When others are the target
De-escalation techniques
Preventative planning
When to call 911
The hospitalization process
Duty to Protect (formerly Duty to Warn)

The Addicted Client: What ALL Clinicians Need to Know

Signs of intoxication
Imminent risk: Signs & symptoms of overdose
Identify withdrawal syndromes
Treatment planning
Drug basics that clinicians should know
Need-to-know street names of common drugs
When and how to refer to a higher level of care

Medical vs. Psychiatric Problems: Recognize the Difference

What could kill the client first?
Medical emergencies that present with psychological symptoms
Signs & symptoms of a medical emergency

The Traumatized Client: When Trauma Becomes High Risk

Recognize trauma in clients
Dangers of misdiagnosis & improper treatment
Strategies for trauma-informed care

High Risk Clinicians: After the Crisis

Protect your license with documentation
Debriefing & supervision
Address vicarious trauma
Mitigate compassion fatigue

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Psychiatrists
Nurses
Nurse Practitioners
Other Mental Health Providers
Paramedics
Police Officers
Probation/Parole Officers
Art Therapists

Copyright : 11/04/2025

Cultural Competency as Suicide Prevention for Autistic Adults: Clinical Solutions to Help Clients Feel Heard, Visible, and Validated

Discover the unique challenges faced by autistic adults, where 66% experience suicidal ideation, surpassing general population rates and rapidly increasing. Traditional clinical treatments often lead to unintended harm, leaving individuals feeling unheard, invisible, invalidated, and confused—significant factors in this form of harm.

Join Mary Donahue, PhD, and Lisa Morgan, MED, CAS, for an enlightening training on embracing autism as a culture. Through a lens of cultural competency and humility, learn how to skillfully:

Understand and navigate the autistic perspective
Recognize warning signs of suicide in autistic individuals
Validate and support the experiences of autistic clients
Apply culturally competent suicide prevention interventions

Transform your approach to autism care and prevent unintentional harm. Register now for this essential session!

Program Information

Objectives

Recognize the differences in how autistic people think, communicate, and experience the world 
Demonstrate an increased understanding and acceptance of a need for cultural competency 
Apply culturally competent suicide prevention interventions in your clinical practice

Outline

Autism in Everyday Life: Lived Experience 

Unique challenges autistic people encounter every day 
Identify heterogeneity of autism 
Increased exposure to harm 
Risks and limitations of research and techniques

Cultural Competency: The Cure for Unintentional Harm 

Prioritize the differences in how autistic people think, communicate and experience the world 
Validate the experiences of autistic people 
Utilize the available autism specific resources

Making Mental Health Care Not Just Available, but Accessible 

Unique risk factors and warning signs of suicide of autistic people 
How to support the experiences of the autistic individuals 
Ways to validate the autistic person through cultural competence and humility

Cultural Crisis Supports and Suicide Prevention for Autistic People 

Recognize the unique risk factors of autistic people 
Assess autistic people using warning signs of suicide for autistic people 
Apply culturally competent supports and practical applications

Target Audience

Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors 
Social Workers 
Psychologists 
Marriage & Family Therapists 
School Administrators 
Speech-Language Pathologists 
Teachers/School-Based Personnel 
Case Managers 
Addiction Professionals 
Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrators 
Occupational Therapists 
Occupational Therapy Assistants 
Nurses 
Physical Therapists 
Physical Therapist Assistants 
Dieticians

Moral Injury Interventions for Suicide Prevention: Techniques to Shift Clients Out of Shame

A thwarted sense of belongingness, beliefs about oneself as unworthy, contemptible, or unforgiveable feed hopelessness and foster a perception of burdensomeness that are well-known risk factors for suicide. This session featuring Dr. Wyatt Evans will introduce a conceptualization of suicide in the context of moral injury. You’ll get key processes and example procedures for facilitating moral healing that supports caregivers in making (re)connections and preventing suicide.

Program Information

Objectives

Evaluate the presence of moral injury for suicidal clients. 
Utilize cognitive defusion tools to assist clients with responding to beliefs about the self subsequent to morally injurious experiences.
Identify clients’ values to guide them in healing after morally injurious events.

Outline

Suffering & Suicide in Moral Injury 

Identify morally injurious events, transgressions, and betrayal 
Understand suicide as it relates to isolation in moral injury

Responding to Moral Pain 

Understand how the relationship to moral pain can cause suffering 
Cultivate awareness, openness, self-compassion, and other more workable responses to moral pain

Processes and Procedures for Moral Healing 

Identify evidence-based processes of moral healing 
Develop skills for establishing willingness to live with vitality amid moral pain and to (re)engage values as guideposts for meaningful action

Limitations of Research and Potential Risks

Target Audience

Addiction Professionals
Case Managers
Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers