Beyond Imminent Risk: Understanding and Supporting Chronic Suicidality Across the Lifespan

Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate chronic or passive suicidality from acute suicidal crises, including how intent, risk, and the function of suicidal thoughts may evolve over time.
2. Identify common contributors and clinical presentations of chronic suicidality across the lifespan, including trauma, depression, chronic illness, existential distress, and identity loss.
3. Apply developmentally informed and relational approaches to assessment and intervention that prioritize collaboration, autonomy, and long-term engagement rather than crisis management alone.
4. Integrate therapeutic strategies beyond safety planning, including meaning-making, values-based work, distress tolerance, and hope-sustaining interventions while attending to clinician emotional responses and ethical tensions.