Suicide Prevention and The Triune Brain

Virtual Event ~3 CE credits

Solution focused practice teaches us to get to know the person before the problem, to highlight strengths and competencies, and to stay future focused, but when our client is clearly at risk for suicide or self-harm it becomes difficult to stay in solution talk. This interactive workshop will provide hands-on skills for clinicians to assess their client’s level of risk while staying in a solution focused mindset.

We will integrate concepts about the triune brain as it impacts clients, clinicians, and client family members and how this awareness can help us stay solution focused in difficult conversations.

Drawing on the work of Heather Fiske and other solution focused practitioners, we will highlight reasons for living, conversations of hope, and effective interventions for suicide risk. When we are faced with a crisis situation, we need to care for ourselves so we can be clear-headed and stay hopeful for our client.

The hope in presenting psychoeducation on the triune brain is to create a useful framework for understanding how peoples’ minds work during moments of calmness and stress, such as with suicidal ideation. This framework creates an avenue for effective solution building.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn 3 ways in which Solution-Focused Brief Therapy is a good fit for suicide intervention work
2. Connect triune brain framework with ways to self-regulate and find solutions for staying safe
3. Learn and practice specific strategies to evoke hope and reasons for living
4. Practice triune brain applications to solution focused suicide prevention

3 Continuing Education Credits

• Approved for Counselors, Therapists and Social Workers in New Mexico 
• Approved for UT-LCMHC & UAMFT & NASW-UT