Description: Suicide and self-harm behaviors are common presenting concerns within outpatient settings and access to inpatient care is increasingly scarce. This workshop will provide practitioners with foundational tools to manage and treat suicide and self-harm within an outpatient setting, reducing the need for inpatient services. Drawing from evidence-based therapies, therapeutic assessment practices, and clinical experience, this dynamic workshop offers an innovative approach for conceptualizing suicide risk that directly informs treatment strategies. Participants will learn how and why to monitor suicide risk among clients who engage in self-injury, ways to use risk assessment as a therapeutic intervention and build rapport while informing treatment ideas. Specific strategies for managing acute risk and treating suicide on an outpatient basis will be emphasized. Case examples and interactive exercises will ensure participants leave the training with practical tools they can use the next day in their work along with increased confidence for working with clients who are experiencing suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviors.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to...

1. Describe characteristics of self-injury to monitor for increasing suicide risk.
2. Identify common drivers underlying suicidal thoughts and urges.
3. Describe therapeutic assessment techniques and contents for evaluating and conceptualizing suicide risk.
4. Identify and describe specific treatment strategies for addressing suicide risk in an outpatient setting.
5. Feel more confident in their ability to work with clients with suicidal and self-injury thoughts and behaviors in an outpatient setting. 

Presenter Information: Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She received her doctorate from Northern Illinois University after completing her clinical internship within the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Department at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, specializing in adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Dr. Muehlenkamp is an internationally renowned expert on non-suicidal self-injury and suicide; having published over 100 research articles and book chapters on the topics of assessment, treatment, and risk & protective factors. She is a co-author of two books (Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Eating Disorders and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Advances in Psychotherapy) and is a regular consultant to mental and behavioral health professionals. Dr. Muehlenkamp’s scholarly work has been honored with awards from the American Association of Suicidology, Self-Injury Awareness Network, and the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury. She has received over $3 million dollars in local and federal grants from SAMHSA and the National Institute of Mental Health to support her work. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Muehlenkamp is the director of UW-Eau Claire’s Suicide Prevention and Research Collaborative, she is a member of on the State and County Suicide Prevention Coalitions, and she is Past-President and a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury. Dr. Muehlenkamp is a certified trainer for suicide prevention programs such as QPR, Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR), Campus Connect, DBT Steps-A, and she provides a variety of specialty trainings and workshops related to self-injury and suicide risk assessment, intervention, and prevention. She brings her knowledge, expertise, and clinical experiences to life within her workshops to ensure all participants walk away with useful tools they can use in their practice.