The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors Review

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(More customer reviews)Shawn Shea's The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals and Substance Abuse Counselors is one of the most valuable professional texts I have read in the past decade. The book combines scholarship, practical guidelines and a literary quality that renders it a truly exceptional book in the field. I found the case examples used to illustrate clinical problems invaluable; these vignettes bring the theoretical material "alive" in a way that encourages clinicians from various disciplines and theoretical orientations to meaningfully incorporate the concepts. Shea elucidates such critical issues as risk factors and risk predictors in such a way as to make constructs that are often reifed once again meaningful. As part of my professional responsibilities, I am responsible for training/teaching mental health emergency clinicians aspects of clinical interviewing and suicide assessment. I have incorporated many of the principles in this book into these trainings. The CASE approach to suicidal assessment is perhaps the best approach to this complex task that I have found. The discussion on "contracting for safety/no suicide contracts" is relevant, congruent with current ethical and legal principles, and reflects the difficult reality of working with suicidal patients. I regularly recommend both this book and Shea's book on psychiatric interviewing to participants in the workshops.
In summary, I highly recommend this text for clinicians from all disciplines and at all phases of professional development. It is a rich text, full of clinical wisdom and scholarship, that both the novice and the seasoned clinician will find themselves reaching for repeatedly. Perhaps the best assessment of the book is the fact that I've tried to keep it on my bookshelf, but it keeps getting borrowed by my colleagues. I've resolved the problem by keeping a separate copy at home. THAT constitutes a valuable book!

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Penned with a compelling elegance and charm, the "Practical Art of Suicide Assessment" is brimming with clinical wisdom, enlightening case illustrations and a vibrant sense of compassion. Viewed as one of the classics in the field of mental health, and acclaimed by both beginning students and experienced clinicians alike, it describes in a step-by-step fashion exactly how to make a sound suicide assessment. Dr. Shea explores the causes of suicidal ideation as well as the nuances of risk actors, protective factors, and the complexities of the clinical formulation of risk. He skillfully integrates all of this information for the reader by using real-life case examples and addressing daunting clinical challenges head-on such as assessing suicide risk with clients coping with borderline personality disorder or psychotic process.In addition Dr. Shea brings to life the highly acclaimed interview strategy for uncovering suicidal ideation, planning, behavior and intent the "Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE Approach)". Dr. Shea, the originator of the CASE Approach, shows exactly how to creatively and flexibly use its innovative interviewing techniques to match the unique needs of every client. The CASE Approach has been described by the noted suicidologist and past President of the American Association of Suicidology, David Jobes, Ph.D. as follows: "The CASE Approach moves the clinician almost imperceptibly into the secret internal workings of the mind and soul of the patient tormented by suicidal ideation. I believe that the CASE Approach is a remarkable conceptual and clinical contribution to the field of suicidology. It should be taught to any front-line clinician. It has the power to meaningfully save lives." Dr. Shea concludes the book with a no-nonsense approach to documenting a suicide risk assessment that can both help to save a client's life as well as keep the clinician out of court. Respected across the globe, the Practical Art of Suicide Assessment has been translated into languages as diverse as French and Japanese. Mental Health Presses is pleased to re-issue this classic in contemporary suicide prevention (originally published in 2002).

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A Working Life For People With Severe Mental Illness Review

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(More customer reviews)I work as a psychiatrist in an academic setting, and use this book frequently for teaching purposes and as a reference for residents and students. I used it extensively for Canadian psych boards preparation. It is especially valuable because it gives perspective to new research by giving the history of research papers that established for example the use of Lithium (on which little has been written since the 70s and 80s), it also describes very well psychosocial treatments for a wide variety of mental illnesses, much more clearly and exhaustively than in the Kaplan and Saddock, for instance. It also reads very well. Highly recommended

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Traditional approaches to vocational rehabilitation, such as skills training classes, job clubs, and sheltered employment, have not been successful in helping people with severe mental illness gain competitive employment. Supported employment, in which clients are placed in jobs and then trained by on-site coaches, is a radically new conceptual approach to vocational rehabilitation designed for people with developmental disabilities. The Individual Placement and Support (IPS) method utilizes the supported employment concept, but modifies it for use with the severely mentally ill. It is the only approach that has a strong empirical research base: rates of competitive employment are 40% or more in IPS programs, compared to 15% in traditional mental health programs. The third volume in the Innovations in Practice and Service Delivery with Vulnerable Populations series, this will be extremely useful to students in psychiatric rehabilitation programs and social work classes dealing with the severely mentally ill, as well as to practitioners in the field.

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Forensic Art and Illustration Review

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(More customer reviews)As an officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety's Special Crimes Service, I have seen firsthand how a competent, professional, forensic artist can make the difference between success or failure in an investigation. Karen Taylor, in particular, has been instrumental in putting countless violent criminals behind bars. Numerous police agenices, communities, investigators and crime victims owe Karen Taylor a tremendous debt of gratitude for her contributions to law enforcement; many other individuals as well, because swift apprehension of predators meant they never had to experience the pain of becoming a crime victim. Unfortunately, I have also seen the wasted time and effort and the counterproductive confusion that accompanies substandard or marginal forensic art attempts. Forensic Art & Illustration should be "the reference" that sets the standard for forensic artists. It is also imperative that investigators, police administrators and prosecutors read and digest every word of this book. These professionals need to be able to evaluate the credibility of individual police artists and the techniques they employ to ensure that serious criminal investigations are not compromised. Thank you Karen for giving them the means to understanding. The intense labor and meticulous research that went into writing this book is apparent from start to finish. Karen Taylor has handed down to us a career's worth of precious and priceless knowledge. Her next project should be an anthology of case studies!!

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As the number of stranger-on-stranger crimes increases, solving these crimes becomes more challenging. Forensic illustration has become increasingly important as a tool in identifying both perpetrators and victims. Now a leading forensic artist, who has taught this subject at law enforcement academies, schools, and universities internationally, offers readers the benefit of her extensive knowledge and experience. Forensic Art and Illustration is the first book to provide complete coverage of all aspects of the field, and includes much previously unavailable information.Beginning with the first-ever in-depth documentation of the history of forensic art, this book proceeds logically through explanations of facial anatomy, practical methodologies and techniques, case examples, and a glossary of terms. More than 700 illustrations and photographs depict art methods used in identifying and locating crime victims and criminal offenders. Numerous successful examples, taken from actual solved cases, demonstrate applications of the methods and techniques presented. Ideal for both forensic artists who want to improve their skills and those who work with them in law enforcement, Forensic Art and Illustration is a practical guide as well as a complete look at the state of the art of forensic illustration today.

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