This two hour session provides an initial overview of the possibilities and limitations when working with suicidal people. Designed to provide both an update for more advanced practitioners and be a beginners entry into the work, this session will be particularly useful for counsellors, psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who have not had much experience in the NHS or need a refresh.

Over the two hours we will look at the accepted ideas of ‘assessing risk’ and ‘keeping people safe’ and where these ideas can become counter-productive in fostering honesty and engagement. We will cover the basic crisis and emergency options available to pracitioners when encountering those in urgent need along with an outline of alternative approaches, paralelled in recent changes in the ‘suicide prevention sector’ and NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence).

This is an introductory course. In the coming six months there will be further planned workshops focusing more on the challenges of assessing safety as well as working with suicidality in ongoing talking therapy. Please see www.dan-bracken.com for more details on courses.

The aim will be to help reduce ‘overwhelm’ when approaching this challenging and rewarding work, and opening up the choices available in deciding how best you can work with suicidal people.