Suicide Assessment and Treatment Planning. John Sommers-Flanagan

photos of the location, the method, grieving families, or memorials

       Using terms like epidemic to describe suicide

       Describing suicides as not explainable or as happening “without warning”

       Quoting from suicide notes

       Using crime investigation reporting styles

       Quoting police or first responders on suicide causes

       Referring to suicides as “committed,” “successful,” “unsuccessful,” or “failed” (this list is adapted from “Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide,” n.d.)

      Although tragic, suicides are not the fault of loved ones, caregivers, schools, or law enforcement. The best postvention efforts do not level blame or sensationalize but rather encourage grieving, healing, and prevention. (The Suicide Prevention Resource Center has information on an array of suicide-related topics, including postvention, at https://www.sprc.org/news/postvention-prevention.)

Concluding Comments

      Competency not only helps ensure that you are meeting professional standards and standards of ethical practice, it also helps reduce anxiety and relieve self-doubt. In this chapter, we summarized competencies for working with clients or students who are suicidal. Although the breadth and complexity of suicide-related competencies may feel overwhelming, as you progress through this book your confidence and comfort with suicide competencies will increase.

Practitioner Guidance and Key Points to Remember

      Core suicide competencies, as described by Cramer and his colleagues (2013), include the following:

      1 Be aware of and manage your attitude and reactions to suicide.

      2 Develop and maintain a collaborative, empathic stance with clients.

      3 Know and elicit evidence-based risk and protective factors.

      4 Focus on current plan and intent of suicidal ideation.

      5 Determine the level of risk.

      6 Develop and enact a collaborative evidence-based treatment plan.

      7 Notify and involve other persons.

      8 Document risk assessment, the treatment plan, and the rationale for clinical decisions.

      9 Know the law concerning suicide.

      10 Engage in debriefing and self-care.

Along with suicide-related competencies, counselors also need to be well versed in ethical principles and practices associated with suicide assessment and treatment. In addition to knowing your agency’s or school’s policy and procedures on suicide, you must attend to key ethical issues, including (a) informed consent, (b) confidentiality and its limits, (c) social media policies, and (d) emergency procedures. Several topics specific to online or distance counseling platforms were also discussed in this chapter. Documenting, maintaining professional boundaries, dealing with client or student death by suicide, and engaging in postvention practices are part of functioning as an ethical professional.