Presenter: 

Lydia Anne M. Bartholow, DNP, PMHNP, CARN-AP, FIAAN.

Description: 

Young adults presenting with suicidal ideation (SI) and co-occurring substance use often do so in the context of complex developmental and environmental stressors. These challenges are often compounded by histories of adversity that may not be immediately visible but have measurable impacts on emotional regulation, risk perception, and engagement with care. High Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) scores can serve as a neurobiological vulnerability, increasing the likelihood of both suicidality and substance use.

This workshop offers a practical, clinically focused approach for working with young adults experiencing suicidal ideation and substance use, grounded in the principles of trauma-informed care (TIC). Participants will learn how to integrate a trauma-informed lens into all aspects of care—from assessment to safety planning—and how to adapt interventions for young people who use substances. This includes the use of non-traditional safety planning methods that prioritize harm reduction and suicide prevention.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and explain the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), suicidal ideation, and substance use in young adults, including their impact on emotional regulation and care engagement

2. Apply trauma-informed care (TIC) principles to clinical interactions with young adults presenting with co-occurring suicidal ideation and substance use, from initial assessment through to intervention and safety planning.

3. Demonstrate the ability to adapt traditional safety planning approaches by incorporating harm reduction strategies that address both suicidality and substance use in a developmentally appropriate and non-stigmatizing manner.

Grief is often misunderstood, especially in young adulthood—a time of transition, identity formation, and increasing responsibility. In this 90-minute presentation, Hilary Kinavey, LPC, will explore what grief is, how it shows up beyond death and loss, and why it is a deeply personal and collective experience. With developmentally relevant insights, she will discuss the unique ways grief manifests for college-aged students, including grief related to identity shifts, academic and life pressures, family changes, and the impact of suicidal loss.

This session will offer a compassionate framework for understanding grief, dispelling common myths, and providing practical strategies for navigating it with care. Whether students are experiencing personal loss, supporting a grieving friend, or simply seeking to better understand this universal human experience, this conversation will provide validation, language, and tools for honoring grief in themselves and others.

Presenter Bio: Hilary Kinavey, LPC, is a therapist, educator, and facilitator whose work centers on body liberation, grief, and sustainable practice. She is the co-founder of the Center for Body Trust, co-author of Reclaiming Body Trust: A Path to Healing & Liberation, and the creator of Tending: Accompaniment at the Gates of Grief, a community-centered grief offering. With over two decades of experience, Hilary holds space for the personal, cultural, and professional losses that shape our lives. Her approach acknowledges grief as a natural, nonlinear process—one that deserves time, care, and community.

Lisa Morgan, MEd, CAS is an author, advocate, and consultant in crisis support and suicide prevention for autistic people. She founded and co-chairs the Autism and Suicide Workgroup, which has developed three autism specific resources. Lisa is a certified autism specialist, Life Coach, and owner of Lisa Morgan Consulting, LLC. She is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work degree.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss unique risk factors and warning signs of suicide for autistic people

• Explain cultural competence and unintentional harm

• Determine practical applications for supporting autistic people

OCUSPP and Penn Center for Prevention of Suicide partner for the 2020 OCUSPP Summer training.

Join Dr. Kelly Green and Dr. Barbara Stanley for presentations on suicide risk assessment and safety planning. This presentation will have a focus for college counseling center clinicians and will incorporate the context of teletherapy.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020 on Zoom

9:00am -10:00am for Suicide Risk Assessment, which would include how to ask questions about suicide and suicidal thinking, dispelling myths around suicide, and how to do risk assessment with young adults and adults.

10:00am -12:00pm for the Safety Planning Intervention which would include an overview of how to conduct the intervention and some demo role-play (for age 18+).

Learn more about the Penn Center for the Prevention of Suicide here.

Register for this event here.

OCUSPP is very excited to host Thomas Joiner, PhD, a leading expert on suicide. The training will take place on Thursday, June 27 at Portland State University and provide 5 CEs.

What You Will Learn:
In his theory of suicidal behavior, Dr. Thomas Joiner proposes three factors that mark those most at risk of death: the feeling of being a burden on loved ones; the sense of isolation; and the learned ability to hurt oneself. He tests the theory against diverse facts taken from clinical anecdotes, history, literature, popular culture, anthropology, epidemiology, genetics, and neurobiology— and facts about suicide rates among diverse groups.

This training includes seven learning objectives to increase participants knowledge of:

• Approaches to suicide risk assessment

• Developments in the treatment of suicidal behavior

• Epidemiology and risk factors for death by suicide

• New theory of suicidal behavior

• Anecdotal, clinical, and scientific evidence that evaluates theory of suicidal behavior

• Developments in suicide prevention

• Understand the experience of people who are bereaved by suicide
  

For more information or to register, click here.