Jason Aronson, Inc.
Pages: 236
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-0-7657-0996-7 • Hardback • December 2013 • $101.00 • (£78.00)
978-0-7657-0997-4 • eBook • December 2013 • $96.00 • (£74.00)
Stephen J. Edwards, BSW, PhD, (University of Western Australia) is a current research (honorary) fellow at the University of Western Australia, senior mental health clinician (senior clinical social worker), and child and adolescent mental health service manager with Western Australian Mental Health Services.
Christopher Goj, MA, (University of Auckland) is the former staff writer and program manager of suicide prevention education with Lifeline Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Preface
Acknowledgments
Symbols and Abbreviations
Introduction: Evidence Base behind this Book
Part 1: Current Understanding of Suicide Prevention Contracting
Chapter 1: A personal journey with SPC
Chapter 2: Historical review
Chapter 3: Definitions
Chapter 4: Causes of current concern
Part 2: A New Understanding of Suicide Prevention Contracting
Chapter 5: Profile of contemporary SPC
Chapter 6: The anatomy of contemporary SPC
Part 3: The Potential-to-Cause-Harm Profile of Suicide Prevention Contracting
Chapter 7: How SPC can compromise treatment
Chapter 8: The role of no suicide assurances in clinical practice
Chapter 9: Contraindications for SPC
Part 4: Alternatives to Suicide Prevention Contracting
Chapter 10: Seven alternatives to SPC
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions
Appendices: Teaching Tools
Useful links
Index
About the Author
The aim of Suicide Prevention Contracting: The Pitfalls, Perils, and Seven Safer Alternatives is commendable: to caution mental health professionals against unthinkingly using nosuicide contracts. Authors Stephen J. Edwards and Christopher Goj firmly believe that nosuicide contracts are unhelpful, actually compromising treatment because, rather than reinforcing the clinician–client relationship, they erode the empathy and compassion that clinicians offer clients. Thus, this book not only condemns no suicide contracts as unhelpful but also warns that such contracts may go so far as to cause harm. . . .Edwards and Goj provide valid points and pull data from an impressively large sample. . . .[T]his book . . . [would] be . . . useful as a reference for clinicians.
— PsycCRITIQUES
Edwards and Goj offer a comprehensive review of the research and problems related to ‘no suicide contracts.’ They offer a variety of clinically viable alternatives to help mental health professionals work with suicidal patients.
— John D. Gavazzi, PsyD, private practice
As Edwards and Goj show with both clinical and scholarly acumen, ‘no-suicide’ contracts are both ill-advised and distressingly common. We need alternatives—clinically useful and research supported alternatives—and these authors provide several.
— Thomas Joiner, PhD, Florida State University
In this era of evidence-based suicide prevention it is surprising that the ‘no-suicide’ contract has endured. This new book—the first devoted solely to the ‘no-suicide’ contract—discusses why it should not be used and suggests seven safer substitutes. The book is a must for all those who work with suicidal clients, for those who supervise them, and for those in training.
— Annette Beautrais, PhD, University of Canterbury