The Washington State House passed the Matt Adler Suicide Assessment, Treatment, and Management Training Act of 2012 on February 10th, 2012. This act adds a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW and requires initial and on-going training in suicide prevention for Chemical Dependency Professionals, Licensed Social Workers and other professions. In the Surgeon General’s 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action she emphasized the importance of instituting “training for all health, mental health, substance abuse and human services professionals concerning suicide risk assessment and recognition, treatment, management, and aftercare interventions.” This emphasis on training is a consistent theme throughout this report. Another theme is the importance of developing and promoting “effective clinical and professional practice.” This course is designed to help achieve these objectives. The text and material for this course was chosen because they are evidence-based and nationally recognized. The course will review Motivational and Targeted Case Management. Any additional course material will be chosen using the same high standards of “evidence-based”, “emerging practice” or “best practice”.

Content Area:

• The epidemiology of suicide in America and internationally 

• Basic concepts related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. 

• Review of mental health diagnoses and substance use disorders and their relation to suicide risk. 

• Review evidenced-based risk and protective factors. 

• The importance of family and support system involvement with treating the suicidal person. 

• Hospital care and Civil Commitment 

• Debriefing/consultation and using supervision. 

• Management infrastructure 

• Referral resources and processes 

• Risk and lethality assessment