Developing Effective Safety Plans for Suicidal Youth

Suicidal thoughts may wax and wane in youth at increased risk for suicide. Many do not have strategies that can effectively reduce their risk for suicidal behavior once they begin to contemplate death. The safety plan intervention was developed as an approach to empowering individuals to identify and implement strategies they could use when feeling suicidal. This course reviews the rationale for developing a safety plan and the steps to complete one successfully.

Presenter: Matthew Wintersteen, Ph.D; Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior Director of Research, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University; Executive Board, Prevent Suicide PA, Philadelphia, PA

Course Length: 30 minutes credit

Course Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe the rationale for completing a safety plan for youth who may be at risk for suicide.
2. Participants will identify the steps included in the safety plan intervention.
3. Participants will be able to describe strategies to improve the likelihood that youth will be able to implement their safety plan when it is needed.

Course Evaluation: You will be prompted with a link to an online survey at the end of the course.

Course Achievement: No certificate will be available for this course. Completion for this course will, however, show up on the user’s transcript with any other courses that have been completed on the site.