JCR Sponsors June 11-12 Suicide Prevention
Conference
Focus Includes System-wide Risk Management Strategies
((OAK BROOK , Ill. – May 21, 2009) The rate of suicide in the United States has increased for the first time in a decade, according to a report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy. Joint Commission Resources' (JCR) “Suicide Prevention Conference: Care to Listen, Listen to Care” is designed to help health care organizations develop system-wide risk management strategies to prevent suicide. JCR is a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission.
The June 11-12 conference in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., will be held at The Joint Commission’s Dennis S. O’Leary Conference Center.
Among the topics to be addressed at the conference is The Joint Commission’s 2009 National Patient Safety Goal 15A, which requires organizations to identify patients at risk for suicide. The Joint Commission also lists suicide as a sentinel event, an unexpected occurrence involving death or permanent loss of function. Nearly 13 percent of all sentinel events in The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Database are related to suicide, with more than 70 such events reviewed by The Joint Commission in 2007.
Paul LeBuffe, director, Institute of Clinical Training and Research of the Devereux Foundation and master trainer, QPR Institute, will be the keynote speaker for the conference. Jeffery Young, M.D., medical director, Regional Adult Behavioral Health Services, Providence Health, Portland, Ore., will discuss “Patients at Risk of Suicide: Documenting the Suicide Risk Assessment and Treatment Plan.” Jerry Reed, Ph.D., M.S.W., director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Injury, Violence, and Suicide; and director, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Education Development Center, Inc., Washington, D.C., will discuss “Suicide among Older Adults.”
Additional conference topics will include helping friends and families who have lost a loved one to suicide, veterans at risk for suicide, suicide among the chronically ill, and suicide and youth. Representatives from the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, Illinois Chapter; The ALS Association-Greater Chicago Chapter, Consortium of MS Associations, and the International Organization of MS Nurses, also will discuss suicide as it relates to those with chronic, debilitating or terminal illness.
The target audience for this conference is professionals who treat behavioral health problems in a variety of settings including free-standing community-based health care organizations and hospitals including psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, school counselors and direct care staff. Continuing education credits are offered. Materials for attendees will include tools, assessments, guidelines, and resource lists.
The conference is $795 per person or $695 for registration prior to May 27. To register, call JCR Customer Service at 1.877.223.6866. When registering use code 09061. Additional details and a conference agenda also are available online at http://www.jcrinc.com/Conferences-and-Seminars/Suicide-Prevention-Conference/1513/.