Dear Colleagues,

You may be noticing that suicide is showing up more often in your work with clients, whether they are experiencing a crisis themselves or navigating the stress or loss of a coworker, peer, friend, or family member.

Did you know that the American Association of Suicidology reported in 2018 that each death by suicide, at minimum, impacts 135 people? For every suicide death, at least 135 people are affected!

Now if you are like me, this number had a powerful effect on how I think about holding space for suicide in my therapy practice. Holding space for the teen who says no one would care if they were gone. Or the adult who thinks their family would be better off without them. And the young adult who declares that if they haven't figured out how to have a quality life in the next (2.5/5/7) years, they are ending it all. What it's like to hold compassion for their pain, the very pain your client wants to escape from, resulting in suicide becoming a possibility.

For so many of us, our suicide experiences are both personal and professional. As a survivor of suicide loss, I lost two family members to suicide before I was 18 years old. This absolutely shaped my career as a therapist and, like for so many of us, impacted my desire to know more, to understand, to heal.

Fast forward to my first job out of graduate school. One of my first client cases was an 8-year-old who had attempted suicide twice. I was responsible for assessing safety needs going forward and supporting the family with healthy reunification.

For you in your therapeutic work, you are seeing suicide show up, rippling out into the communities you are connected to and serve. And perhaps it shocks you to know that suicide assessment and prevention is not a topic well studied in some graduate programs, resulting in many professionals navigating suicide from a place of fear!

If this feels relatable, you are not alone! Combine this with the rising rates of suicide at a national level and suicide being the leading cause of death for 10-24 year olds in Colorado and we have a perfect storm of paralysis in the face of suicide.And yet the paralysis can be navigated. Navigated well for both the client and you as the professional.

That's why you are here. You recognize that you are seeking support, insight, resources, and tools to navigate suicide in your work! You are in the right place by considering the full course! I am honored to work alongside you in this journey and congratulate you on facing the problem head on!

Link to the online class: https://savinglivesseries.mykajabi.com/offers/Ga4H4BBR

Let's save more lives!

With gratitude,

Khara

You don’t have to navigate suicide with your clients alone! Check out the free videos below to support your work as a confident helper! Ready for more? Check out our full 4.0 CE hour online suicide assessment and safety planning course!