CPI News Brief_____ Volume 10 Issue 21 July 2021
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Newly Updated C-SSRS Module is Now Available:
The Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) -
A Tool to Detect and Assess Suicidal Risk
The C-SSRS is a standardized tool used to identify information about a client or individual’s suicidal risk.
  • It provides structured questions about a client’s suicidal ideation and behavior to help mental health professionals detect whether someone is at risk for suicide and assess the severity of this risk.
  •  After the C-SSRS is conducted, it can be used to guide a clinician’s overall risk assessment, so that appropriate next steps for treatment can be made.

This module has been completely revised and updated and replaces the original C-SSRS module that was created in 2013. Using newly created video vignettes, animation and interactive exercises, it focuses on the Screener and Full versions of the C-SSRS.
Learning objectives include:
  • Summarize how to conduct the C-SSRS Full version and Screener,
  • Describe the therapeutic skills required to build and maintain rapport when conducting the C-SSRS,
  • Recognize how to adapt your approach to administering the C-SSRS for adolescent populations,
  • Summarize how to use the C-SSRS to identify clients’ suicide risk levels and inform triage decisions, and
  • Recognize the prevalence of suicidal behavior within diverse sub-populations, in order to increase awareness of suicide risk in African American, Latinx, Indigenous (or other BIPOC), or LGBTQ+ individuals.

1.25 hours of continuing education credits for completion of this module are available to physicians, social workers, psychologists, licensed mental health counselors, and CASACs. 
To access this module:
  • Log into the Learning Community using your username and password at: https://rfmh.csod.com/client/rfmh/default.aspx
  • Click on "Suicide Prevention"
  • Click on "Start an online module"
  • Click on "The Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) …"
  • Click on "Launch"

This is one of a series of online training modules focusing on suicide prevention that are available to you in the CPI Learning Community, with additional modules now under development. Current titles include:
  • Engaging Families and Social Supports in Working with Suicidal Individuals
  • Safety Planning Intervention for Suicide Prevention
  • Means Reduction Counseling for Suicidal Individuals
  • Comprehensive Suicide Risk Assessment
  • Structured Follow-up and Monitoring
  • Optimizing Clinical Care of Suicidal Individuals
  • Suicide Prevention for Healthcare Workers, and
  • Suicide Screening and Risk Assessment in Youth
  • Suicide is Everyone’s Business

For more information about CPI's Suicide Prevention - Training, Implementation and Evaluation program (SP-TIE), under the direction of Barbara Stanley, Ph.D., please click here: https://www.practiceinnovations.org/I-want-to-learn-about/Suicide-Prevention