How do we hold the presence of suicidal thoughts with our clients — without panicking, retreating into procedure, or losing sight of the human being in front of us?
In this workshop, Malcolm Stern will guide us through the complex terrain of working with suicide in therapeutic practice. Together, we will explore how to remain in compassionate contact with our clients while taking the risk seriously, recognising signs that may be easily missed, and staying grounded in our role as therapists.
The session will consider the personal, ethical, and practical challenges we face when suicide is in the room — and how supervision can serve as a vital space for making sense of what may feel unbearable.
This workshop invites an honest reflection on our fears, our responsibilities, and our capacity to offer compassion in the presence of despair.
Course Content
Presenter
Malcolm Stern has worked as a group and individual psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He was a co-founder of Alternatives at St James’s Church in London and runs groups internationally.
He is the author of Falling in Love / Staying in Love (Piatkus 2004) and Slay Your Dragons with Compassion ( Watkins 2020). He co-presented Channel 4’s relationship series, ‘Made for Each Other’ in 2003 and 2004 and sailed on the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ with Greenpeace in the 1980s. The book he is currently writing is an exploration of the shadow and its necessity in our evolutionary development.
