Safety Planning for High-Risk System Involved Youth: Getting Creative in Limiting Access to Preferred Means

Ashley Maliken, PhD

Training Description

This training will help those that support system involved youth (SIY) think more creatively about limiting access to youth preferred means with regards to non-suicidal self-injurious and suicidal behaviors. It will begin with background information on Non-suicidal Self-injury (NSSI) risk and protective factors for teens and review the literature on reducing access to lethal means. The bulk of the training will involve participant-centered brainstorming on how to limit access to means in various contexts where our youth operate (e.g., at home, in residential placements, at school). There will be an emphasis on safety planning with youth themselves (rather than relying on caregiver or environmental strategies), as well as strategies to enhance a youth’s commitment to engaging with safety plans.

Learning Objectives

· Participants will be able to identify 3 risk factors that contribute to increases in NSSI for system involved teens.

· Participants will learn about 4 most lethal means and be able to rank in order of lethality.

· Participants will be able to develop at least 3 novel strategies to reduce access to sharps.

Agenda 

9:00 – 9:30am: Define non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal behaviors, provide incidence and prevalence data on these behaviors in the general population and SIY

9:30 – 10:00am: Define and identify risk and protective factors

10:00 – 11:00am: Interactive brainstorming and solution generation

· What are common ways your clients engage in self-harm?

· What are creative solutions to avoid engaging in these behaviors, or reduce access to preferred means?

11:00am – 12pm: Review stylistic and commitment strategies to enhance youth willingness to implement safety plan

· Role play creating safety plan with high-risk youth

Meet Our Trainer

Ashley Maliken is a licensed clinical psychologist with an expertise in providing evidence-based treatments to adolescents, young adults and their families. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and is DBT-LBC certified. Dr. Maliken earned her doctorate from the University of Washington, where she also completed an adolescent health fellowship in leadership and education through an interdisciplinary program sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Her postdoctoral research centered on helping SIY utilize DBT skills to navigate interpersonal challenges as related to sexual health. Before becoming Acting Director of Training and Quality Assurance at the Portland DBT Institute in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Maliken was an Associate Professor at UCSF and Associate Director of Training for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship.

This course meets the qualifications for (3.0) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.