Unlocking Suicidal Secrets:

New Thoughts on Old Problems in Suicide Prevention

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Thursday, November 7, 2019
The Crestview Country Club 
Agawam, MA

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
6 CE Contact Hours

Shawn Christopher Shea, MD
 
Course Description
 
This full-day workshop provides front-line clinicians with the state of the art skills necessary to tackle suicide assessment and prevention, documentation of risk, treatment planning, and building resiliency. 

Dr. Shea begins the day by describing an innovative, collaborative model called "matrix treatment planning" - developed to transform the types of stalled treatment plans that may lead to suicide. The model focuses upon a style of suicide prevention known as "upstream suicide prevention" which attempts to instill resiliency in people so the they do not develop suicidal ideation in the first place. In the process Dr. Shea will also provides a fresh definition of happiness, which has numerous ramifications for problem solving, transforming difficult times, suicide prevention, and finding hope, while providing an antidote to clinician "burn-out".

Next Dr. Shea will illustrate how to flexibly integrate warning signs and risk and protective factors to arrive at a clinical formulation of risk. Dr. Shea will also dissect the fine art of documenting a suicide assessment, providing tips for writing a sound document that is not only a useful clinical tool, but a written record that can keep the clinician "out of court."

 The focus will shift in the second part of the the day to direct methods of uncovering dangerous secrets. Dr. Shea will help attendees understand seven practical validity techniques: normalization, shame attenuation, the behavioral incident, gentle assumption, the catch-all question, denial of the specific and symptom amplification - the cornerstones for effectively eliciting suicidal ideation. Dr. Shea will demonstrate how these interviewing techniques can also provide powerful gateways for uncovering the types of sensitive topics that may lead to suicidal thoughts including: physical abuse, drug abuse, antisocial behavior, and incest. Finally, Dr. Shea will demonstrate how these validity techniques can be woven into a specific strategy for uncovering suicidal ideation and intent - the Chronological Assessment of Suicide 
Events (the CASE Approach).
 
All interviewing techniques will be clearly demonstrated through the use of videotape examples from actual client interviews.
 
Learning Objectives - at the end of this workshops, participants will be able to:   

1) Explain the principles of "matrix treatment planning" and its relationship to a more resilient form of happiness and suicide prevention
2) Describe how discovering risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs can improve case formulation. 
3) List at least three tips for documenting a suicide assessment. 
4) List at least five practical validity techniques for eliciting suicidal ideation. 
5) Utilize at least two new interviewing strategies for uncovering sensitive and taboo material.
6) Apply the CASE Approach to uncover hidden suicidal ideation, actions, and intent.

 
Shawn Christopher Shea, MD, is an internationally acclaimed workshop leader and educational innovator in the fields of suicide prevention, resiliency, clinical interviewing, and improving medication adherence. He has been a recipient of an Outstanding Course Award presented by the American Psychiatric Association for his presentations at their annual meetings. He has frequently presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Suicidology and at the Cape Cod Symposium where his courses have received some of the highest evaluations in the 30 year history of the Symposium. He has also presented at the Santa Fe Symposium, the Door County Summer Institute, and the Muskoka Summer Seminar Series from McMaster University. 

Dr. Shea is the author of seven books and numerous articles including one of the classic texts in the field of suicide prevention, The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment. His works have been translated into a variety of languages including French, Greek, Japanese, and Chinese. Both previous editions - as well as Dr. Shea's recently published Third Edition of Psychiatric Interviewing: the Art of Understanding - were chosen by the Medical Library Association for the Brandon/Hill List (now known as Doody's Core Titles List) as one of the 16 most important books in the field of psychiatry.

His book on creating resiliency in difficult times - Happiness Is. - was chosen as a Brodart Library Gem, a Bowker's Title to Watch, and as the Philosophy Book of the Month by the Radical Academy. Former Surgeon General C, Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D. provided the foreword to Dr. Shea's book, Improving Medication Adherence: How to Talk with Patients About Their Medications which, in 2009, was chosen for Doody's Core Titles list of the most important books in the fields of medicine and nursing.

Dr. Shea is currently the Director of the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing, a training and consultation service providing workshops, consultations, and quality assurance design in mental health assessments. Dr. Shea is also in private practice.

 
 

Schedule and Course Outline
Thursday, November 7, 2019
The Crestview Country Club, Agawam, Massachusetts

 
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Registration and Coffee
 
8:30 AM - 10:15 AM
The Art of Matrix Treatment Planning and the Quest for Happiness:
             Suicide Prevention in a New Light
 
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM Break & Refreshments
 
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
New Thoughts on Using Risk and Protective Factors in Suicide Assessment
and the Art of Sound Documentation
   
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch at the Crestview, included with your registration
 
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Innovative Interviewing Techniques for Uncovering Suicidal Ideation and Other Sensitive Material
 
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Break and Refreshments
 
2:45 PM - 3:45 PM
The Delicate Art of Eliciting Suicidal Ideation - The Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events
 
3:45 PM - 4:00 PM Questions and Answers