Recognizing and Responding to Mid-Life and Older Adults At Risk for Suicide

When
10:00 AM Pacific
11:00 AM Pacific

Part of the Generations Education Series funded in part by the Archstone FoundationFunded in part by the Archstone Foundation

Endorsed by ASA’s Mental Health and Aging Network (MHAN)

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Includes Complimentary CEUs

According to the American Association of Suicidology, the age groups with the highest rates of suicide are ages 45 to 54 (19.8 per 100,000 population); ages 55 to 64 (17.1 per 100,000 population); and people older than age 85 (16.9 per 100,000 population). In this web seminar we will address the possible reasons for this escalation in suicide rates in mid-life and older adults.  We will identify protective factors that can help support the person, as well as risk factors that can contribute to suicidal ideation. We will discuss Clinical Psychologist Thomas Joiner’s “Interpersonal Theory of Suicide” to increase our understanding of risk. And we will discuss recognizing the needs of survivors of those who died by suicide.

Participants in this web seminar will be able to:

  • Recognize the scope of the problem of suicide for mid-life and older adults;
  • Identify risk and protective factors;
  • Acknowledge the gender, race/culture, sexual orientation differences among mid-life and older adults;
  • Discuss issues related to “right to die”;
  • Increase communication skills to assess for suicidal ideation; and,
  • Identify resources for at-risk mid-life and older suicidal adults and the survivors of those who have died by suicide.

Presenter:

Dr. Patrick Arbore is the Founder & Director of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco. He is also a Senior Lecturer in the Human Services Division at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, Calif., and he has been a part-time Lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Arbore received the 2013 Mental Health and Aging Award presented by the American Society on Aging for outstanding contributions to the field of aging. In January 2015, he was a selected as a Silver Medalist for Public Service sponsored by the Jefferson Award Regional Committee.