Suicidal Ideation & Self-Harm
Explore articles on suicidal ideation and self-harm behaviors that offer insights in understanding, assessing, and treating these complex yet common challenges as effectively as possible. And read stories from therapists who have gone through the trauma of losing a client to suicide. You'll find practical guidance on risk assessment, safety planning, and evidence-based interventions for clients experiencing suicidal thoughts or self-harming impulses. Articles explore the underlying emotional pain that drive these behaviors, as well as strategies for working with adolescents, adults, and families. Learn more about compassionate approaches to reducing risk and supporting healing.
Baseline Suicidality in Neurodivergent Kids
Misunderstanding Sensory and Emotional Chaos
Two takes on handling suicidality skillfully from the first intervention. Read more
The rise in teen suicidality is frightening, but hospitalization isn’t the only—or even the best—option for treatment. Read more
In this Networker Live event, senior editor Chris Lyford speaks with suicidologist Dr. David Jobes about the impact of ideation. Read more
Suicidal ideation among teens is overlooked, understudied, and sometimes even willfully ignored. Read more
A new memoir from celebrated writer Donald Antrim reflects on the nature of suicide. Read more
Many therapists wrestle with the same problems we help our clients tame. But the myth that therapists are masters of their own mental health makes it... Read more
When it comes to coping with suicide deaths, we therapists need to let go of our superhero expectations. Read more
Self-harm is not a culturally specific phenomenon, but it’s often misunderstood and overlooked in Black children by a society that forces them to grow up... Read more
Dan Siegel, author and cofounder of the Mindsight Institute, was a close friend of Networker editor Rich Simon for over two decades. Rich's family has asked... Read more
When working with a young client who's struggling with self-harm, how should clinicians navigate the practical, emotional, and ethical difficulties surrounding... Read more
A suicidologist opens up about her personal struggles and what actually helps when working with suicidal clients. Read more
A new clinician is working with a client who’s expressed some suicidality at times. She's worried about him and thinks it might be a good idea to have him... Read more
In his many bestselling books, author Malcolm Gladwell has achieved renown for upending conventional thinking about the forces that shape people’s lives. His... Read more
Author and therapist Kay Redfield Jamison explores what we can do to address the suicide epidemic. Read more
Is teen suicide contagious? Clinicians weigh in on the controversy around 13 Reasons Why. Read more
A grassroots effort to serve the mental health needs of veterans enables therapists to extend to their impact. Read more
I'm at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in northern Manhattan. My guide, Victoria, has been studying the brains of people who committed suicide, and... Read more
Most clinicians already know the basic questions to ask about a client’s suicidality, but it’s important to go beyond a rote assessment to get a fuller... Read more
In a single, unforeseen moment, a self-lacerating young woman takes a risk and discovers, deep in her bones, why we're alive. Read more
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