Introduction to Family Based Youth Suicide Prevention [Online]

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

How often do adolescents present in therapy with suicide ideation? Or unexpectedly reveal these thoughts during a session? When do we tell caregivers? How do we tell caregivers? Do we send adolescents to the hospital or create a safety network to keep them at home? What level of risk are we comfortable managing in our practice? Learning some practical, state of the art, empirically supported clinical strategies to manage a youth suicide crisis can improve clinical decision making and ethical practice.

In this workshop, the presenters will first discuss trauma informed care, adolescent and family development and the national concern about adolescent suicide risk. Then, we will teach a family-centered care approach to risk assessment and safety planning. Lecture and exercises will be used during the course of the workshop.

Learning Objectives:

• To list the important aspects of a risk assessment
• To describe the decision making process of what level of care is needed to match the level of risk
• To explain the importance of a family generated safety plan

Meet Dr. Guy Diamond and Dr. Suzanne A. Levy:

Guy Diamond, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and former director of the Couple and Family Therapy PhD Program at Drexel University. He was director of the Center for family Intervention Science fr 25 years. He is now the President of the ABFT International Training Institute.

Suzanne A. Levy, PhD is an internationally renowned licensed clinical psychologist and Co-Developer of ABFT. ABFT is a manualized, empirically informed and supported, family therapy model specifically designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent suicide and/or depression. Since 2007, Dr. Levy has been conducting ABFT training workshops and supervision for therapists nationally and internationally. She has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally on ABFT, emotion coaching, child and adolescent therapies, resilience, adolescent depression, adolescent development, and adolescent substance use. Along with her colleagues, Drs. Guy and Gary Diamond, Dr. Levy has written the first book on ABFT, Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Depressed Adolescents published by the American Psychological Association.

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