Facilitator: Dr Caroline Logan (UK)

The practice of clinical risk assessment and management has changed greatly in the last five years. Predicting harmful outcomes in clients is giving way to approaches that emphasise the assessment of risk factors potentially relevant to the outcome to be prevented and risk management planning. Fundamental to this structured professional judgement approach is achieving an understanding about the risks presented by an individual – in this case, an understanding of why a person might be at risk of taking their own life. Consequently, the task of risk formulation is emerging as a critical process linking risk assessment to risk management.

This two-day training course addresses the three key stages of suicide risk assessment, risk formulation, and risk management planning. The course will begin with a comprehensive overview of the risk and protective factors that have been suggested by research as having potential relevance to an individual’s risk of suicide. This part of the course will also provide an overview of existing tools to assess suicide risk, examining their strengths and weaknesses, and applications in clinical practice.

The second part of the course will examine the structured professional judgement approach in general and risk formulation in particular. The process of understanding the suicide risk potential of individual clients will be considered through case studies and group discussions. The course will conclude with a review of options for individual risk management planning, covering treatment interventions, supervision strategies, and monitoring. Consideration will also be given to how organisations can coordinate their response to clients at risk of suicide.
This course has three objectives: (1) to give practitioners a summary of the most up-to-date research findings relevant to suicide and its prevention; (2) to give practitioners an overview of the most recent clinical guidance on suicide risk assessment and management using a structured professional judgement approach and emphasising risk formulation as a critical part of this approach; and (3) to discuss with practitioners options for the management of suicide risk at an organisational level. This course is intended for experienced psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers working in community and secure mental health services.