Safety Plan for Trauma and Suicide Prevention

This document discusses the development of a safety plan to minimize the risk of suicide and address trauma issues in individuals. It provides resources, strategies, and support services to help individuals cope with their situations. The case studies highlight the risk factors, triggers, and ways to respond to suicidal thinking and disclosures of trauma. The importance of not re-traumatizing the client during interviews is also emphasized.

Cluster 5 Written
project
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MAIN BODY
Case study 1
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A) Safety plan for Mary-Jane Step 1: Resources to minimise the risk of suicide
 Provide her with financial support.
 Delivery and access of suicide care.
Step 2: Strategies to minimise the risk of suicide
 It would be helpful to provide social network.
 Active Participation in treatments.
Step 3: Other services or individuals
 Mary Jane can ask for support from her sister.
 She could visit a rehabilitation centre to get rid of drugs.
B) Discuss how you would address trauma issues in relation to each person by answering the
questions below.
1)Develop resources and strategies with the person to minimise risk of suicide.
There are number of treatments and therapies available that could help Mary Jane to
reduce the risk of suicide. Some of the psychological treatments for eliminating the risk of
suicide include Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Cognitive therapy for suicide prevention and
many more (Menschner and Maul, 2016). As Mary Jane is coping up with Borderline personality
disorder, selected individual should be in some physical activities and try to keep herself busy in
order to prevent thoughts of committing suicide.
2)What other services or individuals could form part of the safety plan?
In personalized safety plan of Mary Jane, other services such as evidence based
treatments and a professional therapist could help Mary Jane to deal with difficulties. Mary Jane
could indulge herself in some social activities where she could get distract her mind from her
problems. It would help selected individual to be busy during day time and to reduce difficulties
from her life. This specific strategy would be beneficial for Mary Jane to share her thoughts and
feelings with others.
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3)What are the risk factors and possible triggers for suicide in this case study?
Major risk factors in this particular case study is regular intake of harmful substances
such as alcohol, benzodiazepines, opiates and cannabis by individual given in this case study. It
will mentally effect Mary Jane and eventually results in occurrence of depression and anxiety
and will worsen overall all health condition of individual. Another major risk factor for
committing suicide is being homeless which could result in development of such thoughts in her
mind.
4) How would you determine the level of risk?
Level of risk can be determine through calculating the probability of risk and impact of
risk (Steele and et.al., 2018). In context with this case, risk of committing suicide is quite
possible as selected individual is experiencing number of traumatic issues since her childhood
days. Level of committing suicide is high due to lack of parental support and experiencing
physical and sexual abuse at a very young age. Such factors are responsible for arrival of such
drastic thoughts in mind of selected individual.
5)How would you respond to the person’s suicidal thinking?
After knowing the whole situation of Mary-Jane, I would help her by providing
emotional support. I would ask some particular questions from selected individual such as why
she is thinking about hurting herself. Talking to her directly about her current feeling would be
helpful even it may result in an awkward situation. I will listen to the client seriously and show
some gestures of support. After that I will share concern of the client to a professional care
worker that could help her to eliminate risk of suicide.
6)How would you respond to disclosures of trauma by the person?
I will listen to the individual carefully and suggest some ways to find some solution
regarding the situation. As soon as she tells me about what she is going through, I would analyse
the whole situation and try to find out the causes of such kind of condition she is experiencing. It
would help me to develop a positive relationship with Mary Jane. I would motivate my client to
deal with the situation in an effective manner and to look for a therapist or some treatment that
could help Mary Jane.
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7)How would you ensure that you do not re-traumatise the client in your interview?
In my interview I would make sure that I should not ask her any questions that might hurt
hher feelings. I will try to be friendly with Mary Jane and provide an emotional support. It is
important to keep the client motivated and provide her some basic information regarding
consequences of mental health traumas. I will not force her to talk about the bad experiences she
is going through. I will try to not yell or curse the person about the trauma she is experiencing.
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Case Study 2
A) Safety plan for Amira
Step 1: Resources to minimise the risk of suicide
 Access to various governmental laws and regulations.
 It would be beneficial for her to get economic strength.
Step 2: Strategies to minimise the risk of suicide
 She could indulge in social activities to gain some support.
 She could seek for professional help.
Step 3: Other services or individuals
 She could visit some care home centres where she gets to develop friendships and
relations.
 She could stay with her cousin for support.
B) Discuss how you would address trauma issues in relation to each person by answering the
questions below.
1)Develop resources and strategies with the person to minimise risk of suicide.
In this case, Amira who is a refugee is experiencing a trauma regarding losing her family
in a civil war. It is necessary to develop some strategies and resources to help the person to
tackle this situation. It is better to analyse the situation and provide necessary resources to Amira
such as financial support, emotional support and social support. It is essential to provide some
basic resources to Amira so that she could survive in a better way.
2)What other services or individuals could form part of the safety plan?
As per the situation, some legislations and norms should be there in the plan so that
Amira could be protected from any kind of sexual assault. A professional therapist could help
selected individual to eliminate the risk of mental illness she is facing after losing her children
and husband. Record keeping must be there in the safety plan in order to note her responses and
to analyse risk facts that may result in occurrence of a suicidal feeling.
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3)What are the risk factors and possible triggers for suicide in this case study?
Amira experience a range of trauma in her life. Experiencing a long term of civil war due
to which she has to leave her country could be a risk factor for her suicide. Moreover, seeing her
husband and eldest children being killed in front of her is another major risk factor for Amira to
commit suicide. Along with that she even lost her young children because of malnutrition and
diseases which made selected individual lonely and depressed and could be a trigger factor for
suicide.
4) How would you determine the level of risk?
In order to determine the level of risk it is important to analyse the causes of risk and its
potential impact on Amira's life. As she is experiencing a traumatic situation, level of commuting
suicide is quite optimum because she has faced number of problems and lost her whole family
which left her completely alone. Thus, it could be analysed that Amira could get a feeling of
committing suicide more often.
5)How would you respond to the person’s suicidal thinking?
Firstly, I would recognise the warning signs as suicidal risk and depression. Such
warning signs consist of weird behaviours, non-verbal or verbal communication. Mental illness
such as bi-polar disorders or anxiety (Turecki and Brent, 2016). I will take statements of Amira
on a serious note and will trust her instincts. I would get involved in the communication
completely by asking direct questions with Amira and show some willingness and interest in the
person. I would encourage selected individual to seek for some professional help.
6)How would you respond to disclosures of trauma by the person?
After disclosure of trauma, I will appreciate selected individual to share her story with me
and would be thankful to her for trusting in me. I will suggest some ways to get out of this
situation and encourage Amira for seeking help with a professional or a therapist. So that she can
regulate and control her emotions. I will suggest my client to remain positive and encourage her
to face the situation in a optimistic manner.
7)How would you ensure that you do not re-traumatise the client in your interview?
In order to prevent re-traumatisation of selected person, I would not force Amira to talk
about the trauma. I will provide some time to prepare herself to open up regarding the issues she
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is experiencing and try not to interrupt in between. I would not yell or curse the person about the
trauma and would not use any foul language.
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Case Study 3
A) Safety plan for Phillip.
Step 1: Resources to minimise the risk of suicide
 Provide him with financial support.
 Strength his access and delivery of suicide care.
 Safe reporting and informing about suicidal feeling.
Step 2: Strategies to minimise the risk of suicide
 A social support is most important protective factor for selected individual.
 Person could actively participate in professional treatment procedure.
Step 3: Other services
 Involvement of a care professional in his life.
 Access to some regulations and governmental laws
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B) Discuss how you would address trauma issues in relation to each person by answering the
questions below.
1)Develop resources and strategies with the person to minimise risk of suicide.
For minimising the risk of suicide, Phillips can visit a care home where he could ask for
help from a care professional. A care professional will help him to come out from the situation
and to stop intake of drugs so that such negative thoughts would not enter in his mind. Along
with that he can engage in some social activities to keep himself busy and to interact with social
world.
2)What other services or individuals could form part of the safety plan?
Other persons such as some care professional, therapists or support worker could be a
part of his personal safety plan. Phillips should be provided with some financial support so that
he could securely survive and he has to not live on the streets. There are number of legislations
which are available such as Family Law Act 1975 that would help him to be protected from any
sort of domestic violence.
3)What are the risk factors and possible triggers for suicide in this case study?
Most prominent risk factor in this case study is intake of drugs and development of
diseases like hepatitis C. It could directly impact on functioning of mind and can leave him in a
state of depression. Drugs could be a major reason to trigger his mind to commit suicide as he
would be re-traumatized about his past experiences.
4) How would you determine the level of risk?
In order to determine the level of risk I would analyse the impact of each risk factor on
his life. Being physically abused and brutally beaten up by his grandfather could enhance the risk
of committing suicide. Living on the streets is also a prominent factor for him to commit suicide.
Along with that relying on drugs and development of a chronic disease can impact his normal
functioning of mind and could result enhancing the level of risk factors.
5)How would you respond to the person’s suicidal thinking?
In order to response to the situation, I would first recognise some signs of depression and
risk of suicide. After that I will actively listen to his situation and try to take suicidal statements
seriously such as Phillip cannot see any point of living any more. I will encourage selected
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individual to look for a professional help. I would also ask some questions in order to analyse
the situation deeply.
6)How would you respond to disclosures of trauma by the person?
After disclosure of trauma, I will appreciate Phillip to share his story with me and would
be thankful to him for trusting in me. I will suggest him some measures to get out of current
situation. It would be better to motivate him for seeking help with a professional or a therapist.
So that Phillip can regulate and control his emotions. I would also recommand him to adhere
with some legislations that are available for domestic violence.
7)How would you ensure that you do not re-traumatise the client in your interview?
For preventing Phillips to get re-traumatise, I will let him to speak to himself and would
not force the selected individual about anything. I would not use any foul language in my
interview session. I would provide some time in the beginning of my interview so that he could
prepare himself for the interview.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be concluded that different individuals have gone through
number of experiences and traumas in their life. It could be deeply distressing and disturbing for
the individuals when they have to face some physical, emotional or sexual abuse. However, a
well-developed safety plan could be helpful for such persons in order to come out from the
situation.
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REFERENCEING
Books and Journals
Baker, C.N.,and et.al., 2016. Development and psychometric evaluation of the attitudes related
to trauma-informed care (ARTIC) scale. School Mental Health. 8(1). pp.61-76.
Menschner, C. and Maul, A., 2016. Key ingredients for successful trauma-informed care
implementation. Trenton: Center for Health Care Strategies, Incorporated.
Steele, I.H., and et.al., 2018. Understanding suicide across the lifespan: a United States
perspective of suicide risk factors, assessment & management. Journal of forensic
sciences. 63(1). pp.162-171.
Turecki, G. and Brent, D.A., 2016. Suicide and suicidal behaviour. The Lancet. 387(10024).
pp.1227-1239.
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