The Suicide Attention Training is a 25-hour, trauma-informed, live online professional training designed to increase your skills and confidence in supporting individuals experiencing suicidal ideation.
The foundation for this training is first of all a shift from Suicide Prevention to Suicide Attention. Created by Camilla Monroe and Irina Ungureanu, this training integrates principles and skills of the Compassionate Inquiry Approach, developed by Dr. Gabor Maté and Sat Dharam Kaur N.D.
It is delivered through 10 weekly modules which include both didactic material and interactive, experiential exercises in a group of maximum 50 participants. Each module is 2.5 hours. There will be a further 12 hours of practice and peer connection across the training, working in groups of three.
You will meet each week to deepen your exploration of the module themes, practice skills together, and have space for personal reflections. Each triad is 1.5 hours in duration, and you meet 8 times during the training.
A Certificate of Completion will be provided at the end of the training.
About the Approach
Dr. Gabor Maté often maintains ‘Where there is tension it needs attention’. This perspective is the essence of Compassionate Inquiry. This approach seeks to understand and explore the function and context of thoughts and form a relationship to them. Valuable insights are lost when suicidal ideation is approached with a desire to distract away from or ‘stop’ the thoughts, as they often carry great insights into areas of life where clients need more support or resources as well as uncovering unmet needs.
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When we can be compassionately curious and aware of our own triggers around the topic of suicide, this can make a profound difference in the therapeutic or support space of individuals experiencing suicidal distress, as well as destigmatizing the subject by building a community environment where people feel safe to explore, express and understand this aspect of their experience.
The focus of this training is not only to offer the clinical skills and interventions to support a client in suicidal distress, but also aims to enhance the general wellbeing of people living with suicidal ideation. Compassionate Inquiry is rooted in respect for the individual’s process, having faith in it and an understanding that adaptive responses are there for good reason, even if initially that function is unconscious. Dr Gabor Maté’s approach to addiction states “It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behaviour.”
There are many complex reasons why someone may feel suicidal. Some may derive comfort from thoughts of death, which gives back control in situations that feel overwhelming, allows for an extreme tuning out or provides an escape when there is the perception of no escape. Understanding suicidal feelings as a coping mechanism for those who are in significant emotional pain is far more helpful than a reactionary treatment focus on keeping the individual alive, which according to research has limited and short-lived efficiency. This course offers the Compassionate Inquiry based skills and tools that support a heart centred, relational and connected approach to working with suicidal distress .
You will learn
An understanding of the nervous system: A Polyvagal Perspective
A biopsychosocial model of looking at suicide
Identifying risk factors: working with more complex presentations
Self-regulation skills for clients and therapist: Finding Safety in the Present Moment
How to identify and work with your own triggers around suicide
How to assist people to find compassion for and befriend their suicidal thoughts
Using a parts-based approach to promote wholeness and integration
How to enhance resilience and resources for managing suicidal states
How to assist a suicidal person to reconnect with their authentic self.
Addressing therapeutic boundaries when working with suicidal clients
How to work with Shame and move towards possibility and growth, for a meaningful and life-affirming experience
Recognizing the cognitive distortions that drive suicidal ideation
How to co create a resource based safety plan with your client
Who is this program for?
Anyone above the age of 18
All Participants already enrolled in the CI Professional Training
Graduated and certified CI Practitioners
Individuals in Health Care and Education settings who are interested in developing understanding and compassion towards this important topic
Mental Health and other professionals, seeking to develop their skills working with suicidal clients
Because of the depth of self-reflection required, as well as the possibly triggering nature of the material, the CI Suicide Attention training is not suitable for:
Individuals in active addiction to substances
Individuals with severe mental illness
Individuals experiencing active suicidal ideation
Course Fees
The cost of the CI Suicide Attention Training is $1200.00 CAD per participant, for the training, which includes 10 sessions. Follow the link below, if you wish to apply.
Registrations for the October 2024 Cohort are opened!
The Cohort starts on October 8, 2024. 11:00am ET 1:30pm ET.
A limited number of subsidies are available for the Suicide Attention Training
Please only apply for a subsidy if you:
Would be unable to attend the program otherwise, due to financial constraint
Are committed and capable of attending the program you are applying for
Can pay the discounted rate for the course by the required date, September 1st, 2024
Subsidies are not transferable from one course to another, or from one person to another
Subsidy applications are due by midnight ET on August 1st, 2024. You will be notified if you have been chosen to receive a subsidy by August 15, 2024. Final registration and payment of the subsidy are September 1st, 2024. Please email billing@compassionateinquiry.com for application form.
Course Structure:
The Compassionate Inquiry Suicide Attention training offers a certificate of completion at the end, based on live attendance at 7 out of 10 sessions.
It consists of 25 hours of live sessions (10 weekly modules of 2.5 hours each), extensive handouts of the slides presented after each session and recordings of the sessions that can be accessed for unlimited time after the completion of the training.
Weekly Themes Include:
Module 1 – Safety and Connection for Suicidal Clients
Module 2 – Seeing Clients in their Context
Integration , Q&A, Sharing and Connecting
Module 3 – Understanding Suicidal Thoughts
Module 4 – Stabilization for Suicidal Distress
Module 5 – Working with Core Beliefs
Module 6 – Moving from Shame to Connection and Compassion
Module 7 – Integrating the Suicidal Part
Module 8 – Supporting Caregivers of a Suicidal teen
Integration, Case Studies, Q&A
Meet the Creators and Facilitators:
Irina Ungureanuis a trauma-informed therapist with a background in transpersonal psychology and performative arts, a PhD in interculturalism and specializing in her private practice in support for suicidal distress. Based in Bucharest, Romania, she is a public speaker, trainer and lecturer on personal development, societal trauma and therapeutic modalities, focusing on group processes and suicide prevention. From 2021-2022 Irina and Camilla Monroe facilitated the Suicide Attention space – monthly meetings of support within the CI training, and coordinated the Suicide Prevention and Support Team within CI for anyone in the training experiencing suicidal distress. Irina and Camilla created the Suicide Attention Training as an outcome of this work. Irina is a certified Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner.
Camilla Monroe is a trauma-informed psychotherapist based in Cork City, Ireland. Camilla became a psychotherapist inspired by her own trauma recovery journey and is very focused on the mind- body connection in her work. Alongside her private practise, Camilla worked as a therapist and clinical assessor for a suicide prevention charity in Ireland, supporting clients experiencing self-harm and suicidal ideation. Camilla started her CI journey in May 2020. Since that time, Camilla and her colleague Irina Ungureanu have been seeking ways to integrate Gabor Mate’s Compassionate Inquiry approach into a treatment lens that shifts the focus from suicide prevention to suicide attention to support both those experiencing suicidal distress and those working with it. Camilla Monroe is a certified Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner.
Goals of the CI Suicide Attention Training:
The Suicide Attention Training is a comprehensive, experiential training for therapists, health professionals and people that work in education/medical/personal development professions, who are looking for tools to recognize and support those in their communities experiencing suicidal distress. The primary focus is to develop insight into how to respond to the needs of clients in crisis while maintaining a therapeutic relationship deeply rooted in compassion and care. This training is designed to promote confidence in holding space for clients in suicidal distress as well as to provide effective therapeutic interventions that support the client’s healing and growth.
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Suicide affects millions of people worldwide with a ripple effect felt in our homes, families, communities and wider society. The societal stigma around suicide is still one of the factors contributing to rising numbers of deaths worldwide. The statistics regarding suicide among young people have become a public concern, yet there are no standard measures around who might experience suicidal ideation. Marginalized communities, helping professionals, stressed parents and isolated persons are equally vulnerable groups. In a world experiencing increased pressure, competition and conflict, any person, regardless of education, profession, age or context, can be impacted by suicidal thoughts.
This training offers insight into the factors that may lead someone to suicide, tools to establish safety in connection that can encourage the person to disclose and receive help, as well as practical directions that can reframe and integrate the suicidal thoughts into a life-affirming process of healing and self-discovery. The experiential aspect of the course allows participants to do their own self-inquiry into how supporting a suicidal person might impact them emotionally, through group exercises that encourage self-knowledge, self-reflection and vulnerability.
““Rather than making it a problem, see it as a treasure to be explored, as something that is here to teach you if you are willing to learn.”
Dr. Gabor Maté (CI Pillar No.7)
Cancellation Policy
This is an experiential program with a limited number (50 participants per Cohort) of spaces available.
Since a space is reserved for you when you register and pay, there are no refunds available for this course 14 days prior to the start date, and thereafter. No exceptions. If you request a refund 15 or more days before the start date, it will be granted, minus a $250 CAD admin fee. (To convert to your local currency, click here)
For additional information on course content and structure, please reach out to us at suicideattention@compassionateinquiry.com and your email will be answered within 72-hours, during the Office working days, Monday to Friday (EST Time Zone). We appreciate your patience!
