Behavioral
Emergencies Update
spring 2000
In this issue...
Section VII Programming at APA Convention
Training Providers of Emergency Services for Children in Violence Prevention
News from the American Association of Suicidology Conference
The Critical Need for Valid and Reliable Assessment
SECTION
VII INVITED TO PRESENT WORKSHOP
AT AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SUICIDOLOGY CONFERENCE
by Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D.
The Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises (Section VII) was invited to present a full day pre-conference workshop at the annual American Association of Suicidology conference (AAS) in Los Angeles on April 12, 2000. Founded in 1968 by psychologists Edwin S. Shneidman, Ph.D., and Norman Farberow, Ph.D., AAS is an organization devoted to understanding and preventing suicide. Its membership is multidisciplinary in nature and includes mental health and public health professionals and researchers, as well as suicide prevention and crisis intervention workers.
Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D., President of Section VII, facilitated and presented at the workshop which was entitled "Managing Behavioral Emergencies". He was joined by Robert I. Yufit, Ph.D., President-Elect of Section VII, and Section VII member, Dale E. McNiel, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Francisco. In the morning session, Dr. Kleespies gave an overview of behavioral emergencies and emergency intervention. He also presented on the emergency interview and the emergency telephone contact. Dr. McNiel presented on evidence-based clinical assessment of acute risk of violence. In the afternoon session, Dr. Yufit had an interactive presentation on coping and vulnerability in assessing suicide potential, while Dr. Kleespies spoke on issues related to the refusal of life-sustaining treatment and the impact of patient emergencies on the clinicians who deal with them.
The workshop was well attended and provided an opportunity for Section VII to become more widely known to the members of another organization that has overlapping interests with our own. Section VII also had an information table at the conference where Section brochures and copies of our newsletter, Behavioral Emergencies Update, were distributed.
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SECTION VII PRESENTS CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
TO EDWIN S. SHNEIDMAN, PH.D.
by Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D.Section VII presented a Career Achievement Award to psychologist Edwin S. Shneidman, Ph.D. at the American Association of Suicidology conference in Los Angeles on April 13, 2000. The award was presented to Dr. Shneidman (who is a former President of Division 12) on behalf of Section VII by Phillip M. Kleespies, Ph.D., President of the Section, and by Robert I. Yufit, Ph.D., President-Elect of the Section. In giving the award, Dr. Kleespies spoke of Dr. Shneidman's long and productive career and of his creativity as a forerunner in the modern study of suicidal behavior and in founding AAS. He also noted that Dr. Shneidman's efforts in founding AAS were an inspiration for initiating Section VII and that Dr. Shneidman had honored the Section by becoming a member.
The award read as follows: Career Achievement Award presented by the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises of Division 12 of the American Psychological Association to Edwin S. Shneidman, Ph.D., for his outstanding and generative contributions to the study of suicidal behavior and for his lasting achievement as the Founding Father of the American Association of Suicidology.
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