PROTECT: Practical Skills for Suicide Prevention

In this course, Dr. Manaan Kar Ray, Director of Adult Mental Health at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Associate Professor of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, explains the 7 Safe Steps Program to create the relational safety which helps suicidal clients move beyond the sense that suicide is the solution to life’s misery to operating from a solution-focused stance of pain relief. The seven steps, all permeated with empathic connection, involve shifting from a mindset of being “on top” to being “on tap”: collaborating with the client to understand the deep needs driving the suicidal behaviour and eliciting their strengths to help them envision a more hopeful future.