Clinical Psychologist Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, Private Practice Pasadena, California, United States
Body of Abstract: Suicide loss is often a devastating and traumatic experience, and many survivors seek professional support in its aftermath. With optimal support, most survivors of suicide loss are ultimately able to integrate the loss and grow as a result. However, for clinicians looking to provide treatment to survivors, it’s important to note that ”without a full knowledge of suicide and its aftermath, it is very possible to make clinical errors which can hamper treatment.” (Jordan & McGann, 2017) This training will first provide a comprehensive overview of the unique aspects of suicide loss and grief for both adults and children/adolescents, as well as the role that stigma around suicide may play in the bereavement process. It will then address how these experiences may vary within different cultures, (binary) genders and demographic groups. Special attention will be paid to the professional impact of a clinician’s suicide loss (of loved ones and/or patients), as well as .the topics of memorialization and contagion. Following this, guidelines for effective treatment for those loss survivors who seek clinical and/or group support will be offered. This will include an overview of relevant grief theories, research on what survivors have found to be most and least “helpful,” optimal shifts in the “therapeutic stance,” as well as goals and techniques which can facilitate integration of the loss and post-traumatic growth. Guidelines will also be provided for group treatment of suicide loss survivors. There will be plentiful opportunities for Q & A and discussion among participants, and resource lists will be provided as a “handout.”
Learning Objectives:
Identify at least 3 of the unique issues and challenges encountered by survivors of suicide loss.
Identify at least 2 ways in which a survivor’s suicide bereavement trajectory may vary in relation to cultural and/or demographic factors, stigma and/or spiritual beliefs
Identify at least 3 optimal goals for suicide loss survivors in psychotherapeutic treatment, and 2 interventions which are most likely to facilitate these goals.
