Author: Kathleen Stephany

How to Help the Suicidal Person to Choose Life: The Ethic of Care and Empathy as an Indispensable Tool for Intervention

eBook: US $39 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $131
Printed Copy: US $111
Library License: US $156
ISBN: 978-1-68108-541-8 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-68108-540-1 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2017
DOI: 10.2174/97816810854011170101

Introduction

Suicide is a complex problem which is linked to socioeconomic problems as well as mental stress and illness. Healthcare professionals now know that the essential component of the suicidal person’s state of crisis is of a psychological and emotional nature.

How to Help the Suicidal Person to Choose Life is a detailed guide to suicide prevention. The book recommends ethic of care and empathy as a tool for suicide intervention. Readers will learn about approaches that focus on suicide prevention that address the despairing emotional mind set of the suicidal person.

Key features:

  • - Features easy to understand learning guides for students
  • - Emphasizes on suicide intervention strategies rather than identification of risk factors
  • - highlights information from narrative case studies and psychological autopsies
  • - includes practice and simulation exercises designed to enhance therapeutic modalities such as empathy, compassion, unconditional positive regard, connection, therapeutic alliance, the narrative action theoretical approach and mindful listening
  • - Contains guidelines prescribed by the Aeschi working group for clinicians
  • - Provides a list of bibliographic references and an appendix for other resources of information useful for suicide prevention

This book is recommended for students and practicing professionals (in medicine, psychiatry, nursing, psychiatric nursing, psychology, counselling, teaching, social work, the military, police, paramedics etc.), and other first responders, volunteers or outreach workers who are confronted with situations where they have to assist people who are known or suspected of being suicidal.

Foreword

I believe we are all, in one way or another, affected by suicide, be it the suicide of a patient, a client, or a loved one. I am constantly looking for resources and research that can provide an answer to how we can deliver better care to people who are at risk for suicide. As a practitioner educated, trained and practiced in three different continents, I am keenly aware that suicide is a worldwide phenomenon, affecting people from all cultures and countries. This knowledge underlies healthcare providers' search to mitigate the alarming increase in suicide and its disastrous toll on societies across the globe. At this time, awareness of mental health is increasing and there is an opportunity to re-focus and commit more resources towards stemming this terrible epidemic.

Healthcare has evolved steadily over the years and with the rise of modern technology we have the ability to diagnose and treat individuals, even when the symptoms are many and varied. However, when it comes to caring for people at risk of suicide, our progress is limited.

This book, How to Help the Suicidal Person to Choose Life: The Ethic of Care and Empathy as an Indispensable Tool for Intervention by Dr. Kathleen Stephany, provides unequivocal, current, evidence-based considerations on ways we can care for people at risk of suicide. It provides comprehensive and practical strategies for healthcare practitioners, mental health professionals, parents, and other family members who are striving to make a difference in the life of a person who may be at risk for suicide.

For each reader, the goal of reading this book may be different. Whether it is to prevent the death of a loved one, improve patient outcomes and experience or provide the best possible professional care, I believe that anyone who reads this book will be equipped with strategies that could ultimately save a life.

Kofi Bonnie
Clinical Nurse Specialist,
St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver,
Canada


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