Pre-Congress Workshops

Full Day Pre-Congress Workshops

Tuesday September 17th 2019 08:30 - 15:45

Development, implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention programmes

Alexander Room, City Hotel Derry

Co-Chairs: Prof. Ella Arensman and Prof. Mohsen Rezaeian

The aim of this workshop is to guide and support the development, implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention programmes, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

While the WHO report: Preventing suicide: a global imperative (WHO, 2014), is being regarded as a major resource for countries to develop their national suicide prevention programme, in recent years a growing number of countries have expressed a need to support the actual implementation and evaluation of a national suicide prevention programme.

Therefore, the primary objective of this workshop is on providing guidance to countries in developing implementation and evaluation plans aligned with national suicide prevention programmes. The outcomes feed into guidance for the implementation and evaluation of national suicide prevention programmes, which are currently being developed by WHO.

In addition, the workshop will provide a platform for countries from the 6 WHO Regions to present on the progress of existing national suicide prevention programmes and plans for national programmes that are currently under development, whereby countries can benefit from exchange of expertise within and across regions.

Please find the workshop programme here

Suicide Bereavement Clinician Training Program

Corinthian Ballroom 1, City Hotel Derry

Jack Jordan

Workshop description:

Bereavement after suicide may entail high levels of disorientation, guilt, anger, shame, and trauma. Suicide loss survivors sometimes also struggle with the social stigma often placed on suicide, and the altered family relationships that have been changed by the death. Survivors can be at risk for elevated rates of complicated grief and future suicidality themselves. All of this makes surviving the suicide of a loved one a potentially life-transforming ordeal that requires a level of support that goes beyond traditional grief counseling. Designed specifically for mental health professionals, this training will provide a focused overview of the impact of suicide on survivors, and the clinical and support responses that are needed after a suicide occurs. The workshop will include didactic presentation, case examples, and video clips from grief therapy sessions.

Suicide to Hope program

Corinthian Ballroom 2, City Hotel Derry

LivingWorks

Workshop description:

After an intervention, what comes next? From the developers of ASIST and safeTALK, LivingWorks' suicide to Hope program provides tools that professional helpers can use as they work with people on a longer-term, post-intervention basis. suicide to Hope brings powerful recovery and growth concepts, which have proven valuable in treatment of substance abuse and post-traumatic stress, to the suicide prevention field. Through discussions, audiovisuals, and simulations, trainees will learn how to apply a recovery and growth methodology to help people work through and manage their lingering thoughts of suicide so they can achieve a higher quality of life.

Half Day Pre-Congress Workshops

The Pre-Congress Workshops are scheduled on Tuesday September 17th 2019

Addressing suicide prevention in Ireland from the bottom up: lessons from the frontline.

Time: 12:15 - 15:45

Studio, Millennium Forum

Dr. Gemma Cox, National Office for Suicide Prevention, Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention (from across Ireland), Kate Wilkinson, Learning Community of Practice Facilitator

Workshop description:

Hosted by the Irish HSE’s Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention Learning Community of Practice, this highly informative and interactive workshop shares the experience and learning from the frontline in developing and implementing 17 local multiagency suicide prevention action plans aligned to Ireland’s national suicide prevention strategy, Connecting for Life 2015 - 2020. The workshop will set the context of the national strategy and local plans in the evidence for a systems approach to suicide prevention, that asserts that the best response is gained from a multi-sectorial, multi-factorial, systematic approach involving both healthcare and community professionals and organisations, along with government and non-government agencies.

Come and meet the people responsible for delivering this challenging goal, and hear directly what worked, what didn’t work and what lessons were learned along the way, to inform your own suicide prevention work.

Cross-cultural qualitative suicide research: Methodological and ethical perspectives during the qualitative research process in traditional and/or under-resourced contexts

Time: 12:15 - 15:45

Green Room, Millennium Forum

Erminia Colucci (Middlesex University London, organizer and chair), Joseph Osafo (vice-chair, University of Ghana), Birthe Loa Knizek (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Dameyon Bonson (Black Rainbow, Australia), with the participation of Ozlem Eylem (PhD student, QMUL UK/Holland) and Steven Hart (PhD student, Middlesex University London).

Workshop description:

Aim: This workshop aims to provide a platform to reflect upon and share experiences about carrying out qualitative (including arts-based) research in culturally-diverse contexts and Low-and-Middle income countries. The speakers will present challenges and successful strategies before, during and after the data collection thus covering the entire research process.

The speakers will draw on their long-standing suicide research/prevention activities with immigrant, refugee and Indigenous populations as well as in Asian and African countries such as India, Indonesia, Philippines, Uganda, Ghana, and Australian Aboriginal populations.

Target audience: This workshop is open to students/early career as well as senior researchers with an interest in carrying out culturally-sensitive and responsive suicide research. Although knowledge of qualitative methodologies would be beneficial, also participants with no experience in these methodologies are welcome. The workshop would also be useful to participants engaged in teaching and capacity building activities.

Engaging communities in a coordinated response to suicide

Time: 12:15 - 15:45

Diamond Room, Millennium Forum

Ken Norton

Workshop description:

A suicide or other untimely traumatic death can have a devastating impact on a community. The shock and grief goes well beyond immediate family and friends and can ripple throughout the community affecting friends, co-workers, schools and faith communities. Recognizing that effective postvention is a key component of suicide prevention efforts, NAMI NH’s Connect Suicide Prevention Program, has developed a comprehensive set of postvention protocols and training to reduce risk and promote healing after a suicide. Designated as a national best practice in the US, Connect has served as a model for other countries as well as indigenous/native populations. Connect provides key service providers like coroners, funeral directors, faith leaders, law enforcement, emergency medical services, social service organizations, media and mental health providers with specific protocols, training and a shared language for their role in providing an integrated and effective community response to reducing further suicide risk and promoting healing for those bereaved by suicide.

Ethical concerns in working with individuals at risk for suicide: looking across the lifespan

Time: 08:30 - 12:00

Diamond Room, Millennium Forum

Ken Norton

Workshop description:

From the days of ancient Greece to modern times suicide has posed vexing philosophical and ethical questions. Clinicians and others working with suicidal individuals face ethical challenges which may vary for different age cohorts and cultures. Provision of effective practice requires providers to recognize and examine their own personal values and attitudes as well as respecting and understanding those of their clients. Clinician’s response and service to clients must be provided in a competent manner, with recognition of the strengths and needs of the individual and within the context of ethical codes and standards.

The workshop will provide an overview of issues such as dignity and worth of the individual, self-determination, informed consent, confidentiality and death with dignity/aide in dying . Case scenarios representing challenging ethical situations with suicidal individuals and specific excerpts from various professional codes of ethics will be used to highlight these issues. While some of the material in the workshop may be specifically directed toward clinicians, the concepts discussed will be useful for anyone working with individuals at risk for suicide.

Impacted Family & Friends

Time: 12:15 - 15:45

Millennium Room, Millennium Forum

Annemarie Matulis

Workshop description:

The Impacted Family & Friends interactive workshop will (1) define the impact of fear driven behavior on the family with loved ones who experience a suicidal crisis; (2) stress normalizing the conversation around suicide to end isolation and seek the emotional support they themselves need; (3) spotlight the value of impacted family members achieving the capacity to recover their own emotional and spiritual balance to able to support their loved one through a suicidal crisis and beyond. While this workshop is dedicated to family members emotionally impacted by the suicidal crisis of a loved one, everyone who participates will benefit.

Network analysis of suicidal behavior in R. Bring your own laptop workshop

Time: 08:30 -12:00

Millennium Room, Millennium Forum

Derek deBeurs

Learn to apply network analysis in the freely available statistical environment R yourself! In this workshop I will introduce network analysis and its applicability within the field of suicide prevention. Then, using the code as published on https://derekdebeurs.github.io/IASP2019/, researchers will get hands on experience applying network analysis to existing data. During the workshop, participants can also start applying network analysis to their own cross-sectional data. Please check out https://derekdebeurs.github.io/IASP2019/ to prepare the workshop and to see if it fits your interest.