Preventing Suicide: The Solution Focused Approach / Edition 2

by John Henden

Overview

New edition of an acclaimed manual which uses the solution focused approach to take an empathetic and validating approach to working with individuals considering suicide.

• Offers invaluable guidance for suicide prevention by showing “what works” in treating those struggling with suicidal thoughts
• Provides straightforward ways to deal frankly with the subject of suicide, along with a range of tools and techniques that are helpful to clients
• Includes actual dialogue between practitioners and clients to allow readers to gain a better understanding of how to work with suicidal clients
• Compares and contrasts a ground-breaking approach to suicide prevention with more traditional approaches to risk assessment and management
• Features numerous updates and revisions along with brand new sections dealing with the international landscape, blaming the suicided person, Dr Alys Cole-King’s ‘Connecting with People’,  and telephone work with the suicidal, Human Givens Therapy, and zero suicide

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119162957
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/06/2017
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

John Henden is Managing Director of the John Henden Consultancy and an internationally acclaimed trainer, author, therapist and performance coach. He has more than 40 years of experience working within mental health services as both a practitioner and manager.

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Table of Contents

About the author vii

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 How to use this book 1

2 The book’s style and purpose 4

3 Defining suicide and self‐injury 24

4 Current service provision: risk assessment, management and medication 32

5 Other approaches to helping the suicidal 49

6 What is Solution Focused Brief Therapy? 70

7 Suicide encounters: the crucial first ten minutes 112

8 The solution focused approach in working with the suicidal 123

9 Case study: Reg and ‘the demons calling from the deep’ 152

10 Some more case vignettes 175

11 Connecting with people by Alys Cole-King 185

12 Working on the phone with the suicidal person 199

13 Blaming those who took their lives 208

14 International solution focused applications to suicide prevention 215

15 Zero suicide: should this be our goal? 245

16 Where do we go from here? 253

Appendix 1: Flow diagram for an episode of treatment 264

Appendix 2: Specialist solution focused training workshops 268

Appendix 3: Evidence base for solution‐focused working 270

References 278

Index 314

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Gary B Kaniuk, PsyD (Cermak Health Services)
Description: Using a solution-focused, theoretical orientation, this book discusses the prevention of suicide. Solution-focused, brief therapy was developed by Steve de Shazar in the 1980s, founded on principles such as the inevitability of change, the importance of the therapeutic relationship, and focusing on possibilities, not problems.
Purpose: The central focus of the book, according to the author, "is to emphasize the crucial matter of how to manage the one-to-one encounter with someone experiencing strong suicidal urges and there is evidence that how this is conducted in the first 10 minutes can make a significant difference to the outcome."
Audience: Although targeted to counselors, therapists, general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers who come into contact with people who are suicidal, the book also will be of benefit to academics who teach students how to be effective with this client group. The author, who has developed a unique approach to suicide prevention using solution-focused principles and techniques, has worked in the U.K. National Health Service for 22 years.
Features: The book begins by defining terminology in the field of suicidology and continues with risk assessment and management. Various theoretical approaches are briefly addressed including person-centered, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic. The therapeutic relationship as described by Carl Rogers is a crucial part of the intervention. The main section is dedicated to describing solution-focused brief therapy. A unique, 26-page, comprehensive case study demonstrates the solution-focused approach. There are also short case illustrations. The appendix contains a flow-chart diagram of the course of treatment from the initial referral through four sessions. This book is practical and easy to read.
Assessment: This wonderful book addresses a clinical issue with which many practitioners must contend. The extended case study, along with the other case vignettes and illustrations, are very helpful in seeing how theory translates into practice. Every clinician who treats suicidal clients can benefit from having additional ways of addressing their needs. This book contributes to that effort.

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