ACT for Suicidal Behavior

One of the most challenging experiences for most therapists is working with suicidal thoughts and behavior in the clinical setting. As clinicians who care deeply for clients, it is understandable that the possibility of a client’s suicide would stir a number of complex emotions ranging from fear to anger to helplessness. An overwhelming urge to save clients who have suicidal thoughts and behaviors can arise. The complexity of these experiences can be intensified by local laws and expectations of employers, as well as by family members and friends who wish the behavior to stop. Reducing the fear and anxieties concerning suicidal behavior may emerge as the top priority instead of recognizing the human suffering that might lead someone to this dire measure. Flexibility in approaching suicidal behavior can suffer as therapists orient to factors that involve calculating and assessing risk and considering hospitalization. The issue of suicide can challenge otherwise collaborative therapeutic relationships. When clinicians are compelled to force clients to choose life, it places them at odds with clients who view suicide as a potential solution to their suffering. Yet, we need to respond. It is estimated that every year more than a million people attempt suicide and, at least for a moment, concluding that death is preferable to life. However, through ACT, we can join with clients in an open and engaged collaboration about the many ways to choose life, even in the presence of pain.

Regardless of the presenting problem or treatment setting, clinicians using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can empower themselves to approach suicidal behavior so that interventions are no longer driven by fear. Opening up to personal experience, holding fears, and being present to the client and their pain, can be a values-based approach chosen by the therapist. By uncovering the function of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, therapists can discover why the thoughts and behaviors persist and support clients in developing alternative means to reduce suffering and cope. Moreover, therapists can empower their clients to pivot toward life, fostering vitality by supporting clients in building ever larger and more flexible repertoires of values-consistent behaviors.

In this training, therapists will explore their beliefs and barriers to working effectively with clients considering suicide. Exercises and role-plays designed to assist the therapist in approaching suicidal behavior from an ACT-consistent perspective will be presented. Attendees will also learn how to functionally assess suicidal thoughts and behaviors, enabling them to join with clients in understanding their turn toward suicide as a search for a solution to their suffering while also offering an alternative that recognizes their humanity and fosters engagement in life. ACT based suicide risk assessment and safety planning to survive a suicidal crisis will be explored – while still working to empower long-term change promoting meaningful living. Case examples of clients considering death will illustrate special considerations for creative hopelessness work and engagement of each of the six core processes of ACT. We hope this training will bring depth and flexibility to your repertoire in using ACT to work with high–risk clients, empowering you to approach issues related to the loss of life by suicide and helping you accept the limits of your influence on your clients.

This training is worth 8 CE credit hours if attended live. While we can only provide CE to those who are present – i.e. logged in – for live presentation(s), all Praxis webinars are recorded for later viewing. Registrants may then access these recordings at any time for up to nine months from the conclusion of the training to which they pertain.

Prior to registering, please review speaker-planner conflict of interest disclosures and complete CE information.