Trauma-Informed Clinical Practice with Clients with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

ABSTRACT

In 2020, almost 46,000 individuals in the United States died from suicide, 1.2 million adults made a suicide attempt, and 12.2 million had serious suicidal thoughts. Clinicians in diverse practice settings will work with clients experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Due to a strong association between trauma and suicidality, suicidology experts have recommended the use of trauma-informed practice when working with clients with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, although there are guidelines for trauma-informed care and for working with clients with suicidality, there are no models, explanations, or discussions about how clinicians can provide trauma-informed care in their work with individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This conceptual paper describes examples of the application of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s trauma-informed care principles to clinical work with individuals with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Strategies are provided for each of the guiding principles, and case examples used to illustrate strategies, barriers, and potential pitfalls.

KEYWORDS:

• Suicide prevention
• trauma-informed care
• clinical practice
• suicide
• trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca G. Mirick

Rebecca G. Mirick, Ph.D., LICSW is an Associate Professor at Salem State University School of Social Work. She has clinical experience providing mental health services to children, adolescents, and adults. She has worked in suicide prevention since 2006, providing training and education, engaging in program evaluation, and researching suicide education and school-based postvention.

Joanna Bridger

Joanna Bridger, LICSW is the founder of Safety, Hope, and Healing Counseling and Consulting. She has extensive experience working with youth, families, adults, and communities that have experienced trauma and loss, and has provided counseling, critical incident response, clinical and organizational consultation, and training for hundreds of families and schools.

James McCauley

James McCauley, LICSW is the Co-Founder and Assistant Program Director of Riverside Trauma Center. He provides mental health support for schools, workplaces, and communities affected by traumatic events and consults with schools and communities on trauma responses. He provides consultations and trainings on suicide postvention services, suicide clusters, and suicide prevention coalitions.