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”.

This interactive and engaging class provides Behavioral Health professionals with essential knowledge about preventing suicide during the perinatal period, by learning more about how PMADs (Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders), and IPV (Intimate Partner Violence) present during this time, and what they can do as Behavioral Health professionals to most effectively address it.

This course is designed to provide a detailed overview of suicidality and implications for intervention on the part of every mental health clinician. This includes understanding and being prepared to identify the presence of suicidality and the level of risk, and to be able to provide a comprehensive assessment for the risk of suicide when a client comes into treatment.