Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
General Information
Title: Suicide Risk Demystified: What to Ask and What to Do
Presenter: Norman Blumenthal, PhD & Tzivy Reiter, LCSW
Dates: December 1, 2025. 2:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Venue: Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott - 1 Hotel RD, Newark, NJ 07114
CE Credits: 2.5
Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
Description
This 2.5-hour workshop offers clinicians a comprehensive and culturally attuned framework for understanding and responding to suicidality in Jewish communities. The presentation integrates evidence-based suicide theory—including Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide and Klonsky & May’s Three-Step Theory—with current clinical realities such as the rise in social contagion, the role of self-harm as social capital among teens, and the impact of community dynamics on disclosure and help-seeking. Special attention is given to the role of therapist anxiety, common clinician pitfalls, and best-practice do’s and don’ts when assessing or treating suicidal clients.
Participants will learn practical tools for conducting trauma-informed risk assessments using the Shawn Shea CASE Approach, clarifying active vs. passive risk, differentiating warning signs from risk factors, and integrating protective factors into clinical decision-making. The training also provides high-level guidance on evidence-based treatments for suicidality (CBT-SP, CAMS, DBT), as well as concrete strategies such as safety planning, means-restriction counseling, the Youth Coping Plan, and quick-reference cheat sheets for clinical practice.
Dr. Norman Blumenthal is a licensed clinical psychologist who serves as the Zachter Family Director of Trauma and Crisis Intervention for OHEL and Adjunct Professor at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, both of Yeshiva University. In private practice in Cedarhurst, New York, Dr. Blumenthal is also the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Education for CAHAL and a past Vice President of NEFESH.
Tzivy Reiter, LCSW, serves as the Children’s and Trauma Services Director at the Ohel Zachter Family National Trauma Center. In this role, Tzivy leverages her decades of experience in children’s mental health, trauma, and bereavement to develop trauma-informed and resilience-based building services, including training for first responders, workplaces, synagogues, and schools grades K-12.
As a trauma and disaster mental health specialist, Tzivy has managed crisis counseling programs for events like September 11, Hurricane Sandy, Houston Floods, Pittsburgh shootings, and Woolsey Fires. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tzivy successfully led the launch of real-time virtual support offerings from Ohel to ensure care was always available for those in distress.
One of Tzivy’s priorities is promoting resilience among children. In 2020, she co-authored a children’s workbook to help children process emotions around the pandemic. The My Covid-19 Resilience Workbook teaches children ages 5 to 10 healthy ways to express their feelings and learn valuable socioemotional skills. Her book, I Feel That Way and That’s Okay, launched in the fall of 2022 and teaches preschool-aged children how to understand feelings and emotions. Her newest book, “Innerspace: My Resilience Workbook,” will launch in Fall 2023.
Tzivy is an accredited Triple P Positive Parenting Program practitioner and a consultant to Building Blocks Magazine. She also writes frequently on work/life balance issues and is the author of Briefcases and Baby Bottles: The Working Mother’s Guide to Nurturing a Jewish Home. She earned a Master’s Degree in social work from New York University.
Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
Objectives
1. Describe at least two evidence-based theoretical frameworks of suicidality (Joiner; Klonsky & May) and explain how they inform clinical assessment.
2. Differentiate between active and passive suicidal risk and identify key risk and protective factors using a trauma-informed lens.
3. Apply the Shawn Shea CASE Approach to conduct a structured, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive suicide risk assessment.
4. Identify common therapist anxieties and implement best-practice do’s and don’ts when responding to suicidal clients
5. Utilize practical tools—including safety planning, means-restriction counseling, and Youth Coping Plans—to manage suicide risk in outpatient settings.
CE Information
Continuing Education Credits are granted through Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC for the following professions: Psychologists, Social workers, Mental Health Counselors, LMFTs, and LCATs. It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards to verify CE requirements for their state.
Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often, and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly to obtain a ruling.
APA
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
ASWB
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC, 2035, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/02/2025 – 08/02/2028 Social workers completing this course receive 2.5 clinical continuing education credits.
NBCC
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting PLLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7503. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
New York State Social Workers
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0785.
New York State Mental Health Counselors
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Mental Health Counselor #MHC-0195
New York State Psychology
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0072.
New York State Marriage Therapy
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0121.
New York State Creative Arts Therapist
Neuhoff Psychological Consulting, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0112.
References
- Klonsky, E. D., & May, A. M. (2015). The Three-Step Theory (3ST): A new theory of suicide rooted in the ideation-to-action framework. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 8(2), 114–129.
- Joiner, T. E., & Van Orden, K. A. (2018). The interpersonal theory of suicide: A decade in review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 22, 7–11.
- Bryan, C. J., & Rudd, M. D. (2018). Advances in the management of suicidal clients: Suicide-focused assessment, treatment, and safety planning. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 49(3), 223–230.
Satisfactory Completion:
Participants must have signed in and out, attended the entire workshop to receive a certificate. Failure to sign/log in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available. Certificates are available electronically after satisfactory course completion. A link will be provided for those who have completed the training.
Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
Policies
Application Deadline: December 1, 2025 or until all training spaces are filled, whichever comes first.
Notification of Acceptance
Applicants will be notified, via email, of acceptance when registration is complete, and payment is received.
Refund/Cancellation Policy
Tuition/registration payments are refundable until December 1, 2025 Cancellations after this date are non-refundable. In this situation, we will attempt to find someone to take your slot (based on our waiting list).
Accessibility
There will be handicap accessibility.
Course level
Level of clinician
Our Grievance Policy for trainings is available here.
Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
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Suicide Risk Demystified – What to Ask and What to Do
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