Suicide Intervention Plan (SIP) Assignment Liberty University Suicide Prevention Plan Presenting Problem Joanne is a forty-five-old divorcee who has a long history of depression. Three previous suicide attempts have been recorded, two involving overdosing, and one attempt when slitting her wrist. She is under continued care from a psychiatrist, and is on pharmaceutical mood regulating medications, which she is currently not complying with. She has come to the office outside of any notice or scheduled appointment to share how much we mean to her, and her level of appreciation. She says this with a sense of finality, as if she is saying goodbye. Upon questioning she does admit to having a gun in her car. She does not wish to talk about her current mood and feelings further, preferring to continue her plan to “go for a drive.” While she refuses to stay and talk, it is very clear knowing her capability, and using the SLAP Assessment to measure her intent, that Joanne is a very high-risk suicidal client (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2017).Precipitating Events Joanne’s ongoing battle with depression, as suicidal ideations as well as suicide attempts and even plans fail under diagnostic criteria for many depression disorders found in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). Her fixation on her job, and her level of satisfaction from it, which is also very stressful, and consuming is also worth noting. Her limited lack of involvement in things outside of work, and even with her family shows that she is currently social isolated, and her social support system is not known. She is not currently in any relationships and has not dated since her divorce fifteen years ago. The one disclosed relationship was an affair with her sister’s husband, which lasted for a year, but ended seven years ago. Joanne is not in contact with her 1 / 2
sister to this day due to the guilt she feels from the affair, as well as her sister’s husband continual attempts to contact her.Risk Factors There are many suicidal risk factors to consider with Joanne. When considering what those risk factors are, it is important to look at her demographics, traits, behaviors, or any situation connected to a suicide attempt. When considering her demographics, being female, her age, and a divorcee all place her at an increased risk for suicide (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2017). There are also some risk factors seen in her behaviors. Her three previous suicide attempts are one of the highest risk factors in her case, as previous attempts have been linked to an increased risk of suicide (Sadek, 2019). Other behavior risk factors would be her level of social isolation she is currently in, and the unknown status of her social support system. From her visit to the office unannounced, it is also known that she has immediate access to a firearm, which is also seen as a risk factor for suicide (Sadek, 2019). With this risk factor, she can be considered both chronically high risk due to her previous attempts and her major mental illness, as well as acutely high risk, making an intervention a necessary and ethically responsible mandate at this timed (Sadek, 2019).Referral Sources In planning an intervention there are a multitude of resources and types of intervention methods that can be chosen. Joanne has previous suicide attempts, and there should be an existing customized safety plan, which would be great to review at this time. In it will detail information about what her preferred care plan is, including the complete suicide risk assessment, intervention guidance, and monitoring policy (Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2018; Sadek, 2019). A social support system can be instrumental here, which will prove to be challenging, as Joanne’s current support system is unknown, including status with family, other then her ongoing estrangement with her sister. With the amount of time that she has been
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