Press Release
April 18, 2007
Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
Phone: (973) 972-3000
dineskd@umdnj.edu
UMDNJ Sponsors 5th Annual Youth Suicide Prevention Conference
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PISCATAWAY — Techniques for addressing suicidal ideation among youth will be discussed during the 5th Annual Youth Suicide Prevention Conference for school and community-based behavioral health clinicians, health educators and school administrators. The conference, “Unlocking Suicidal Secrets: New Approaches to Assessment and Treatment Planning,” will be presented by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Atlantic, Morris and Somerset Counties on May 3, May 9 and May 10.
Nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and student assistance counselors, and pediatricians are welcome to attend the conference that is being hosted by Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program as well as the Training and Consultation Resources of the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare. The full-day conference begins at 8 a.m. and will be held on Thursday, May 3, at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Elizabeth Alton Auditorium (A-Wing) W. Jimmie Leeds Road, Pomona; Wednesday, May 9, Ramada Conference Center, East Hanover and on Thursday, May 10, at the Somerset Marriott, 110 Davidson Avenue, Somerset.
During the conference, Dr. Shawn Christopher Shea, a national leader in suicide prevention and clinical interviewing, is director of the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment in New Hampshire, will facilitate four workshops on assessment and treatment. Dr. Shea will offer interviewing and validity techniques for uncovering sensitive information such as suicidal ideation and planning, spotting the early emergence of psychosis and dangerous psychotic process, the chronological assessment of suicidal events and information on resilience and its role in suicide prevention.
“Suicide is the fifth leading cause of death for youth ages five to 14 and the third leading cause of death among youth between ages 15 and 24, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention,’’ said Donna Amundson, a social worker and program manager of the Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program at the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare. “We want to prevent suicide and the devastation that accompanies it.”
The TLC offers county, regional and statewide training in suicide prevention, grief, Post Traumatic Stress Management, technical assistance, and response capability to assist schools following a traumatic incident or loss. Since its inception in Sept. 2000, TLC has trained over 15,000 educators, mental health professionals and others working closely with youth.
Continuing Education Credits are being offered to certified counselors, educators, nurses, psychologists, screeners, and social workers. For a brochure and registration form, visit the TLC web site at http://ubhc.umdnj.edu/brti/TLC.htm. For more information, call the TLC Program of the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare, at 732-235-9342 or 732-235-2810.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,700 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.
