Scenario 1: Paul is a 65-year-old, Caucasian male who is a recent widow after his wife of 45 years passed away from cancer. Paul admits that he has been struggling to manage his grief and admits that he has been having suicidal thoughts since his wife died.
Scenario 2: Shanice is a 15-year-old, African American female whose parents are divorcing. She is not performing well in school, “got dumped” by her boyfriend, and reports to you that “I just don’t want to be here anymore.”
- Describe the feelings you experience when thinking about working with a service user who may be suicidal and whether your approach and assessment may be different based on the age, race, or gender of the person in distress.
- Identify and describe suicidal ideation, suicidal intent, and suicidal plan. Explain whether one might be present without the others.
- State whether you chose Paul or Shanice’s scenario and identify the intervention and assessment model you would use. Explain what questions you would ask to assess their suicidality based on the scenario you chose.
- Look up the duty to warn laws where you live. (You can find this online.) Explain how you would consider your response concerning the duty to warn.
- Finally, explain how you would intervene to address the suicidal thoughts and the grief the individual is experiencing in the scenario you chose.