Suicide Prevention is Not Reducing Suicide: Can Kansas City Do Better?

[NOTE: This Program is for In-Person Attendees. A separate Eventbrite listing is for persons who want to attend a simulcast Virtual/Streaming version of this event.]

Purpose: The Kansas City Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program (the longest-running suicide prevention program in Kansas City) will hold a Convening Meeting for all Kansas City suicide prevention stakeholders, clinicians and advocates to challenge Kansas Citians to work together to improve suicide prevention and promote enhanced suicide clinical care.

Plenary Speaker and Program: Dr. Bill Geis, researcher, clinician, and professor brings an extensive background to a review of problems in suicide prevention and propositions to improve prevention efforts. His background includes being the trainer of over 10,000 clinicians throughout the U.S. and around the world; as past Clinical Division Director of the American Association of Suicidology; as Lead Trainer for the Health Care Foundation’s Enhanced Suicide Care Academy; and as the Principal Investigator of a new Harvard/IFS Foundation/KC SAPP grant for improving therapy for suicidal patients.

Topics include:

- a critical look at suicide prevention, suicide behavior risk versus suicide lethality risk, along with ideas for improved suicide assessment, risk triage, intervention, and hospitalization,

- the value and unrealized promise of the 988 Crisis Line, Zero Suicide Care Pathways, and warning signs, and

- the promise of pharmacogenomics, anti-suicide medicine, appreciating the role of inflammation, improving help-seeking, evidence-based interventions, and IFS Parts Work.

This program will also include local public health statistics and KC prevention experts to comment on this presentation, and stakeholders will be invited to share their reactions and willingness to collaborate on projects to help Kansas City find solutions and make progress in preventing suicides in this region.

Research Opportunity. The Kansas City Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program is also involved in a research project to fund selected Kansas City clinicians in attending an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level I Learning Experience (a 90-hour, four-month immersion)to improve suicide care—and participate in a research project to improve therapist comfort, patient satisfaction and suicide outcomes. Opportunities for involvement by local clinicians will be discussed at this meeting.

Host or Publisher The Kansas City Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program