Risk Factors for Suicide: What therapists should know when treating teens and adults

Curt and Katie chat about suicide risk factors. Suicide rates have been increasing across the nation and there is an increasing need for the mental health workforce to be prepared to assess and intervene with clients of all ages. We take an in-depth look at the risk and protective factors associated with suicidal ideology and behaviors in both teens and adults. We also lay the beginning foundations of a suicide model to help clinicians better understand and intervene with clients exhibiting suicidal thoughts. This is a continuing education podcourse.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we explore what makes someone more likely to attempt suicide

We’ve talked frequently about suicide, but thought it would be important, especially during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, to go more deeply into the risk factors that make someone more likely to attempt and complete suicide. 

What are the highest risk factors for suicide?

“Anxiety Sensitivity… the fear of the feelings of being anxious… is even more so correlated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts than depression is.” – Curt Widhalm, LMFT

What are additional risk factors for suicide specific to teens?

What are protective factors when assessing for suicidality?

“Just because protective factors are present doesn't mean that they balance out risk factors [for suicide].”– Curt Widhalm, LMFT

Suicide Model: Integrated Motivational Volitional Model by O’Connor and Kirtley

How Therapists Can Manage a Sedentary Job: An interview with Celina Caovan, DPT

Curt and Katie interview Celina Caovan about physical self-care for therapists. We talk about how to mitigate the impacts of a sedentary job as well as the benefits of physical therapy and consistent physical activity. We also look into what physical therapy is, how clients can advocate for it, and how therapists might collaborate to support the physical and mental health of their patients.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

An Interview with Celina Caovan, DPT

Celina Caovan received both her undergraduate degree and Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Southern California. She has been practicing in an outpatient orthopedic setting in the South Bay in California for the last two years and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.

In this podcast episode, we talk about how therapists can take care of their bodies while working in a sedentary job

Many therapist friends of ours have described low back pain and challenges in maintaining physical health when much of the work we do is while sitting.

What should therapists know about physical activity and physical therapy?

“Physical therapists are trained movement experts… we can diagnose, we can treat using hands on skills, patient education, and then we prescribe individual exercise for a bunch of different injuries, the ultimate goal being to improve the way someone moves and emphasize injury prevention. And the cool thing about physical therapy: it can be an alternative to pain medication, in a society where they prescribe a lot of a lot of pain medication, and then surgery as well.” – Celina Caovan, DPT

What can therapists do to take care of themselves during the work week?

How can therapists think about physical therapy for their clients?

“Someone's physical and mental health – that’s interconnected… that mind body connection. And I think this would be a really great opportunity for us to create this interdisciplinary relationship where we can approach it from a physical and mental standpoint.” – Celina Caovan, DPT

 Resources for Modern Therapists mentioned in this Podcast Episode:

We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance! Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the US Department of Health and Human Services

Beach Cities Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

Reach out to Celina Caovan, DPT: celinaDPT at gmail.com

Consultation services with Curt Widhalm or Katie Vernoy:

The Fifty-Minute Hour

Connect with the Modern Therapist Community:

Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group

Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/

Therapists on the Hostage Negotiation Team and Supporting Police Work: An interview with Dr. Andy Young

Curt and Katie interview Andy Young about hostage (crisis) negotiation and his work with SWAT and crisis negotiation in Lubbock, TX. Content warning: discussion of violence, suicide, and homicide. We talk about what therapists can do within police departments, the interplay between mental health and law enforcement, what that work looks like – especially when involved in crisis negotiation, and skills therapists need when working in these settings. We also look at trauma response and how it is handled when things go south.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

An Interview with Dr. Andy Young

Dr. Andy Young has been a Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Lubbock Christian University since 1996 and a negotiator and psychological consultant with the Lubbock Police Department’s SWAT team since 2000. He also heads LPD’s Victim Services Unit and is the director of the department’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team. He has been on the negotiating team at the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office since 2008 and is on the team at the Texas Department of Public Safety (Texas Rangers, Special Operations, Region 5). He is the author of, “Fight or Flight: Negotiating Crisis on the Frontline” and “When Every Word Counts: An Insider’s View of Crisis Negotiations.” He was recently added as a third author for the 6th Edition of “Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections”.

In this podcast episode, we talk about the role therapists can play in crisis negotiation

There have been many calls to defund the police and create roles for mental health professionals in law enforcement. Dr. Andy Young has already been doing this for 20 years. We talked with him about what that experience looks like.

What can therapists do for law enforcement?

What is the interplay between mental health and law enforcement?

What does work look like for therapists in law enforcement and crisis negotiation?

How do these law enforcement and mental health providers handle things when they go south?

What skills should therapists have to work with law enforcement and hostage negotiation?

The benefit of having a mental health provider on a hostage negotiation team

Resources for Modern Therapists mentioned in this Podcast Episode:

Why Therapists Shouldn’t Be Taught Business in Grad School

Curt and Katie debate whether graduate school programs for therapists should include business education. We look at the pros and cons for including business education for students, specifically identifying a mismatched developmental level, bloated curriculums, and underutilized career resources. We also look at the responsibility graduate schools have to their students to be employable or to be able to create a sustainable business. 

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we talk about whether clinical grad programs should include business education

We have seen marketing that highlights that business isn’t taught in grad school (and have done a lot of it ourselves). We discuss whether it actually should be included.

What is already included in grad school for therapists?

What career or business resources should therapists get through graduate school?

Why shouldn’t business education be added to clinical programs?

“The timing of it just isn't right. Like, yeah, these are ideas that can be introduced, but the practicalities of it, in my experience, just aren't developmentally where a lot of grad students are… I don't think that [teaching someone to run a business] at a developmental time when people aren't capable for it or aren't ready for it – or legally not allowed to put those things in place – it just ends up being so far off that it's not a practical sort of training thing.” – Curt Widhalm

What would business education look like if it were included in graduate programs?

“I'm not ready to let the grad schools off the hook for their responsibility to students. I feel like they are responsible to students to adequately prepare them for the job.” – Katie Vernoy

Resources for Modern Therapists mentioned in this Podcast Episode:

We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!

Saving Psychotherapy by Dr. Ben Caldwell

What Goes in Your Notes? Interstate therapy practice and documentation for clients considering abortion or gender affirming care

Curt and Katie chat about documentation and practice questions related to abortion or gender affirming care when providing therapy to folks in states where these types of medical care are banned or will be banned soon. We look at medical documentation privacy concerns (related to HIPAA and the 21st Century Cures Act), how therapists avoid “aiding and abetting” a client to get an abortion, what to include in your notes, and special considerations related to duty to warn and child abuse reporting. This is a law and ethics continuing education podcourse.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we explore post-Roe documentation for therapists

We’ve heard a lot of questions about what therapists should do now that Roe has been overturned. We decided to dig into practice and documentation guidelines to help modern therapists navigate the changing times.

Medical documentation privacy concerns with interstate practice and the new abortion bans

How do you avoid “aiding and abetting” a client to get an abortion during mental health treatment?

What do you include in your notes when talking about abortion and gender affirming care?

The special considerations related to duty to warn and child abuse reporting when talking about abortion and gender affirming care

An Interview with Metta World Peace

Metta World Peace played professional basketball for 19 years. He won the NBA World Championship with the LA Lakers in June 2010 and received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award – the NBA’s highest citizenship and community service honor – in April 2011. He was selected to the 2005-06 NBA’s All-Defensive Team, was voted by the media as 2003-04 NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and was the only man with 271 steals in his first two seasons in the NBA, breaking Michael Jordan’s record. His autobiography, “No Malice: My Life in Basketball” was released in May 2018 with Triumph Publishing and a documentary on his life in basketball, “Ron Artest: The Quiet Storm” was released on Showtime in May 2019. World Peace is currently pursuing entrepreneurial projects including the XvsX Sports project he cofounded in 2017 and an NFT project, Meta Panda Club, to bring decentralized basketball community to the masses.

World Peace is also known as a prominent mental health advocate, pop culture personality, philanthropist, and media favorite. He raffled off his 2010 NBA World Championship Ring with the proceeds going to his nonprofit, Xcel University (now known as Artest University). The online ring raffle raised more than $650,000. Funds were donated to nonprofits in 5 cities that provide mental health therapists and mental health services to their communities, and to provide scholarships to underprivileged youth in the New York City area.

World Peace was part of the 13th season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, a contestant on CBS’s first edition of Celebrity Big Brother, as well as the CBS competition show, Beyond The Edge. He is active in entrepreneurial endeavors, serves as an advisor to several tech start ups, and seeks to help other basketball players who have aspirations for a pro career with his app and league, XvsX Sports. For more information, please visit https://www.xvsxsports.com/, https://metapandaclub.com/, and https://artestuniversity.org/.

Why did Metta World Peace start speaking about his mental health?

How Metta World Peace is working to solve the problems that lead to poor mental health

The challenges that Metta World Peace faces in putting forward his message

Metta World Peace’s vision for the future

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: An Interview with Dr. Barbara Stroud

An Interview with Dr. Barbara Stroud

Barbara Stroud, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with over three decades worth of culturally informed clinical practice in early childhood development and mental health. She is a founding organizer and the inaugural president (2017-2019) of the California Association for Infant Mental Health, a ZERO TO THREE Fellow, and holds prestigious endorsements as an Infant and Family Mental Health Specialist/Reflective Practice Facilitator Mentor. In 2018 Dr. Stroud was honored with the Bruce D. Perry Spirit of the Child Award. Embedded in all of her trainings and consultations are the activities of reflective practice, demonstrating cultural attunement, and holding a social justice lens in the work. Dr. Stroud’s book “How to Measure a Relationship” [published 2012] is improving infant mental health practices around the globe and is now available in Spanish. Her second book, an Amazon best seller, “Intentional Living: finding the inner peace to create successful relationships” walks the reader through a deeper understanding of how their brain influences relationships. Both volumes are currently available on Amazon. Additionally, Dr. Stroud is a contributing author to the text “Infant and early childhood mental health: Core concepts and clinical practice” edited by Kristie Brandt, Bruce Perry, Steve Seligman, & Ed Tronick.

Dr. Stroud received her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Psychology from Nova Southeastern University, and she has worked largely with children in urban communities with severe emotional disturbance.  Dr. Stroud’s professional career path has allowed her to work across service delivery silos supporting professionals in mental health, early intervention (part c), child welfare, early care and education, family court staff, primary care, and other arenas. She is highly regarded and has been a key player in the inception and implementation of cutting-edge service delivery to children Prenatal to five and their families; her innovative approaches have won national awards. More specifically, Dr. Stroud is a former preschool director, a non-public school administrator, director of infant mental health services and agency training coordinator. She has held an adjunct faculty position at California State Long Beach and maintained a faculty position in the Infant-Parent Mental Health Fellowship for 12 years. Currently, Dr. Stroud’s primary focus is professional training and private consultation from an anti-racist lens, with a focus on social justice, in the field of infant mental health. Dr. Stroud remains steadfast in her mission to ‘changing the world – one relationship at a time’.

What is infant and early childhood mental health?

What are the basics that therapists should know when working with children under 5 years old?

What infants need to love themselves, have healthy development

Therapy Interventions for infants and children under five years old

What Maslow Missed in his Hierarchy of Needs - The Native Self Actualization Model: An Interview with Dr. Sidney Stone Brown

An Interview with Dr. Sidney Stone Brown, LPC

Sidney Stone Brown was born in Kalispell Montana, and is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Indian Nation of Browning Montana. She was raised on / near her reservation until 1955, living in her great grandmother’s log house with her parents, great uncle, brother and older sisters. They had no running water or indoor toilets; the house was heated with oil and light by kerosene lanterns until 1950. Dr. Brown’s family relocated to Coos Bay Oregon when their reservation faced termination in 1955. Thereafter Dr. Brown attended west coast schools. She attended 30 different schools between first grade and graduation at Oregon State University in 1974.

Dr. Brown worked her way through college and was employed by her tribe as an employment counselor, where she met a resident psychologist working at the tribal Hospital and became interested in Psychology. Near completion of her master’s program she contracted with 1) the University of Minnesota developing community action teams for the Red Cliff Reservation, 2) a Lakota CAP agency in Rapid City South Dakota acting alcohol program director and 3) the University of Utah (Montana Wyoming) Alcohol Counselor Trainer and 4) became permanent employment as director of NARA 1974. The program was originally funded at $81,000 and in ten years was 1.2 million. NARA (1981) won a national recognition award for program excellence and it was noted at the presentation in New Orleans that the model (Native Self Actualization) she developed was the most innovative cross-cultural model ever submitted to the National Council on Alcoholism since the awards began in 1946.

She has served on many other non-profit boards, appointed a member of the (ADAMHA) Alcohol and Drug Abuse Mental Health Administration Minority Advisory Committee (1974-1976). She lobbied for Indian and minority services at the Oregon State Legislature subcommittees, and before the US Senate. she helped form the board and helped develop the certification criteria for NW Indian Alcohol Drug Counselor Certification Board.

In this podcast episode, we talk about The Native Self-Actualization Model

How has native teaching impacted psychology?

What did Maslow find when studying Native people?

What is the Native Self-Actualization Model?

What has impacted Native mental health?

Important Takeaways

What Therapists Need to Know about Abortion and Termination for Medical Reasons: An Interview with Jane Armstrong

Curt and Katie interview Jane Armstrong, LCSW, a clinical social worker in Texas, about terminating a wanted pregnancy for medical reasons. We look at the impacts of the overturn of Roe v Wade on reproductive care. We also dig into what termination for medical reasons (TFMR) is, how society stigmatizes these parents, and what therapists can do to effectively support clients facing this decision and the outcome of TFMR.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

An Interview with Jane Armstrong, LCSW-S, PMH-C

Jane is a termination for medical reasons (TFMR) mom, native Texan, & clinical social worker certified in perinatal mental health. Following the birth & death of her first child, Frankie, through TFMR, Jane opened Both/And Therapy, PLLC to provide individual therapy & support groups to other TFMR parents. These services aim to support clients through the unique barriers & grief of ending a wanted pregnancy, particularly in the state of Texas where such care is no longer accessible. She’s passionate about building community, eliminating shame, & honoring grief for TFMR families. 

In this podcast episode, we talk about Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR)

In the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned, we reached out to Jane Armstrong, LCSW-S, PMH-C who specializes in TFMR and is based out of Texas, a state with some of the biggest barriers to this type of medical, reproductive care.

What are the clinical impacts on individuals who are considering or who have had an abortion?

What therapists can get wrong when interacting with the topic of abortion

The impact of anti-abortion legislation on patients considering abortion and TFMR

What is Termination For Medical Reasons (TFMR)?

How can therapists work with TFMR clients?

Therapy for Executives and Emerging Leaders

Curt and Katie chat about how therapists can support leaders. We look at optimal leadership, leadership identity development, barriers for emerging leaders, challenges that executives face, and how therapists can support these leaders. We explore specific interventions and career assessment questions. This is a continuing education podcourse.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we explore how therapists can help leaders

During times of turmoil - like a global pandemic, an unstable economy, and social unrest - we want to be able to rely on our leaders to help us weather the storm. We look to our employers, our legislators, and our community leaders to solve problems and remain calm. But who supports our leaders? It’s important for therapists to understand leadership and the unique challenges that leaders face, so they can help. Further, therapists must be available to provide support to emerging leaders who are coming from much more diverse backgrounds and perspectives who may need help navigating a system that doesn’t always accept them or align with their lived experiences. We talk about leader identity development and how leaders develop over time. We look at common barriers and challenges for leaders at all stages of development as well as suggested interventions to address these needs.

What do therapists get wrong when working with leaders?

What is good leadership?

What does leadership identity development look like?

What impacts emerging leaders?

Career and Leadership Assessment

Therapists Working with Leaders

Receive Continuing Education for this Episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide

Hey modern therapists, we’re so excited to offer the opportunity for 1 unit of continuing education for this podcast episode – Therapy Reimagined is bringing you the Modern Therapist Learning Community!

 Once you’ve listened to this episode, to get CE credit you just need to go to learn.moderntherapistcommunity.com/pages/podcourse, register for your free profile, purchase this course, pass the post-test, and complete the evaluation! Once that’s all completed - you’ll get a CE certificate in your profile or you can download it for your records. For our current list of CE approvals, check out moderntherapistcommunity.com.

You can find this full course (including handouts and resources) here: learn.moderntherapistcommunity.com