Clinical Updates Colloquium

An understanding of appropriate, evidence-based approaches when working with suicidal individuals is critical in providing effective and safe care. This presentation will briefly highlight a suicide risk assessment approach and then transition to two strategies with ample evidence associated with reducing risk. First, attendees will be introduced to the Safety Planning Intervention, an intentional approach to supporting patients generate tools to promote healthy and live-saving decisions when faced with a suicidal crisis. Second, attendees will learn tips on how to effectively discuss lethal means reduction with patients and families.

Matthew B. Wintersteen, Ph.D., is Director of the David Farber Center for the Advancement of Suicide Prevention Intervention, Research, and Education (ASPIRE) and Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Since 2019, Dr. Wintersteen has been awarded federal and state research funding amassing over $28 million to suicide prevention efforts in Pennsylvania, with over $6.5 million being directed to Jefferson. Over his career, he has received grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Wintersteen has served on national and international task forces convened by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the American Association of Suicidology, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Suicide Awareness and Voices of Education, and the National Institute of Mental Health. He was a consultant to the National Center for the Prevention of Youth Suicide (NCPYS) and served on Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s Suicide Prevention Task Force. Dr. Wintersteen organized, participated, and moderated a panel of national and international experts on youth suicide tasked with developing an empirically-informed list of warning signs for youth suicide. His Board appointments include Chair of Prevent Suicide PA and President of the Delaware Valley Medical Student Wellness Collaborative (DVMSWC) – a group comprised of the Deans and counseling center directors of the seven Philadelphia-area medical schools to discuss and implement strategies across campuses to improve medical student wellness and reduce suicide deaths.

Details coming soon! 

Details coming soon!