Beyond Safety and Survival
Practical Tools for Clients with Suicidal Thoughts
- Speaker:
- Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW
- Duration:
- 1 Hour 05 Minutes
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Copyright:
-
Aug 17, 2026
- Product Code:
- POS150888
- Media Type:
- Digital Seminar
Description
Much clinical training is necessarily focused on risk assessment and safety planning – but what do you do after the crisis is over with a client who has suicidal thoughts?
How do you go beyond safety to focus on helping a suicidal client want to stay alive?
In this session, Dr. Stacey Freedenthal – esteemed suicidologist and author of Helping the Suicidal Person and Loving Someone with Suicidal Thoughts – will give you the tools you need to work effectively with clients who have suicidal thoughts. You’ll learn:
- Specific questions to ask that will help clients evaluate their reasons for living
- Interventions that go beyond survival to help find meaning and hope
- Evidence-based tools designed to help clients respond differently to their suicidal thoughts
Credit
Speaker
Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW Related seminars and products
Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW, is an educator, psychotherapist, and writer specializing in helping people who experience suicidal thoughts or behavior. She’s authored two books: Helping the Suicidal Person: Tips and Techniques for Professionals (Routledge; 2018) and Loving Someone with Suicidal Thoughts: What Family, Friends, and Partners Can Say and Do (New Harbinger; 2023). Dr. Freedenthal also created the website Speaking of Suicide, and she has authored or co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters about suicidality and related topics.
Dr. Freedenthal is an associate professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and a psychotherapist and consultant in private practice. She started working in suicide prevention in 1995, as a volunteer for a suicide hotline. After earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas, she worked in various psychiatric emergency settings before earning her Ph.D. in social work at Washington University in St. Louis. She has been on the DU faculty since 2005, where she teaches classes on suicide assessment and interventions, clinical social work practice, and social justice challenges in mental health practice.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Stacey Freedenthal is a psychotherapist and consultant in private practice and has an employment relationship with the University of Denver. She has a family member with an employment relationship with LivingWorks. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Freedenthal receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Stacey Freedenthal is a member of the International Association of Suicide Prevention, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Association of Suicidology. She uses CBT, CAMS, ACT, and other evidence-based suicide prevention strategies in her presentation.
Additional Info
Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)Access never expires for this product.
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Objectives
- Identify at least two techniques to increase insight into clients’ ambivalence about suicide.
- Utilize at least two approaches for generating hope in people with suicidal thoughts.
- Integrate at least two methods for clients to respond differently to their suicidal thoughts.
Outline
“Suicide Anxiety” Among Mental Health Professionals
- Fears of liability and suicide can compromise client-centered care
- The need to go beyond survival to finding meaning, hope, and benefit in life
Practical Tools for Clients Struggling with Suicidality
- Specific questions to tap into ambivalence about living and dying
- Fear-based versus hope-oriented reasons for staying alive
- Interventions to increase clients’ access to hope
- CBT and ACT strategies to help clients respond differently to suicidal thoughts
- Therapist self-care – maintaining hope when clients feel hopeless
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Psychotherapists
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Reviews
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