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Screening Youth For Suicide Risk: Can it be done in a busy pediatric practice?

Many of you who have followed this blog for a long time know what a big supporter I am for using the ASK Suicide Screening Tool validated by NIMH. Suicide is the #2 cause of death for youth and this tool is literally a lifesaver. I’ve presented with Dr. Horowitz and the team on several occasions and I interviewed Dr. Abernathy who was the first doctor to integrate this tool in private practice.

This podcast is with Dr. Lia Gaggino about how physicians, PCPs, pediatricians, family doctors, internists can integrate this tool within their practice. Kids (and even adults) who struggle with thoughts of suicide want to be asked. They want to tell and we need to invite them to tell. The doctor’s office is the ideal place to ask because that’s where continuity of care can be established to keep that child safe from suicide. So while this is a podcast focused on pediatricians and pediatric nurses and other caregivers, it has a large audience of parents, too. So ask your pediatrician if they are using a suicide risk screening tool. NOT just the PHQ-9 which is a depression screening.

That tool could miss a child at risk for suicide. And the ASQ takes twenty seconds to administer.

Resources and other related links:

ASQ-questions
ASQ Questions. Toolkit including pathways

Published by

Anne Moss Rogers

I am an emotionally naked mental health speaker, and author of the Book, Diary of a Broken Mind and co-author with Kim O'Brien PhD, LICSW of Emotionally Naked: A Teacher's Guide to Preventing Suicide and Recognizing Students at Risk. I raised two boys, Richard and Charles, and lost my younger son, Charles to addiction and suicide on June 5, 2015. I help people foster a culture of connection to prevent suicide, reduce substance misuse and find life after loss. My motivational mental health keynotes, training and workshop topics include suicide prevention, addiction, mental illness, anxiety, coping strategies/resilience, and grief. As talented and funny as Charles was, letting other people know they matter was his greatest gift. And now the legacy I try and carry forward in my son's memory. Mental Health Speakers Website. Trained in ASIST and trainer for the evidence-based 4-hour training for everyone called safeTALK.

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