Seeking Light in the Darkness Workshop

Workshop Description

Empowered clinicians are effective clinicians. This workshop is based on resilience training and a strength-based perspective as applied to mental health clinicians. It gives participants an opportunity to process their own emotional reactions and lived experiences about suicide loss in clients and loved ones. It also gives participants an opportunity to process their experiences with suicidal individuals and build resiliency by creating an opportunity to express their own emotional reactions and the impact of suicide in their work and community.

This workshop is limited to clinicians who have a personal or professional connection to suicide.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will understand the impact of suicide grief on clinician effectiveness.

2. Participants will be able to identify strategies on addressing suicide stigma in professional settings.

3. Participants will have participated in an in-depth learning conversation about their own concerns related to suicide and its impact on the community, and be able to use this model of processing in their own practice/agency/community.

10:00 - 12:00 Session One
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch is Provided
12:30 - 2:30 Session Two

Aruna Jha, Phd, LCSW

Dr. Aruna Jha is a well-known suicide prevention specialist in the US. She has been active in suicide prevention for 32 years, is a Master Trainer for QPR, is trained in Living Works ASIST program, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s survivor support group facilitator program. She is fluent in several languages and has worked in India, Germany, and Sweden prior to migrating to the US in 1984. This rich international experience informs Dr. Jha's approach to culturally tailored suicide prevention training highlighting cultural and social factors, on suicidal behavior and its aftermath.

Melissa Bleiler, MS, LMFT, LPC

Melissa is a therapist in private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. She has a decade-long history of facilitating groups for individuals with serious mental illnesses before transitioning into college counseling and private practice. She currently works with adult individuals and couples, focusing on complex trauma and relationships. She is a level 1 IFS therapist and is trained in EMDR. In addition to providing psychotherapy, Melissa is also an adjunct faculty member in the Counselor Education Department at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and is a supervisor for therapists-in-training.

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Host or Publisher Lake County Suicide Prevention Task Force