Suicide Risk Management

Book excerpt: This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death. Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals provides health professionals with the tools to recognize, assess, and manage the suicidal or potentially suicidal patient and presents important information regarding the epidemiology, risk factors and associated aspects of suicide. The book presents two unique assessment tools – TASR and SRAG – created for use in the authors’ own practice. Refined through actual experience, these proven tools help assess and evaluate patients with confidence. The Tool for Assessment of Suicide Risk (TASR) provides instruction on how to use it appropriately in the clinic, while the Suicide Risk Assessment Guide (SRAG) acts as a self-study program to assess clinical evaluation skills, without running the risk of mishandling a suicidal patient. Throughout Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals, bulleted lists, tables and flowcharts effectively describe how to use the many factors to assess the risk of suicide in an individual patient. A summary card at the back of the book also provides an 'at a glance' guide to the assessment process.