Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS™ Framework™) for Non-Clinical Behavioral Health Providers

This training is now full. If you are still interested in attending, please join our waitlist.

This registration is for non-clinical behavioral health providers and may include peer support specialists, behavioral health aids, and case managers.
(Clinical behavioral health providers, please click here for registration options)

Message from Dept. of Health and Social Services, Division of Behavioral Health, Suicide Prevention
The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) is an integral component of work being done within Alaska and nationally to advance the crisis continuum of care. The Alaska Division of Behavioral Health is actively implementing many efforts aligned with this goal, including enacting Zero Suicide, a framework for comprehensive suicide care within healthcare settings. CAMS aligns with the tenets of the Zero Suicide framework and ensures that those in the behavioral health field have the foundation to provide appropriate care to those struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The Division of Behavioral Health is advocating for the behavioral health field to receive discipline specific suicide education to better serve the populace of Alaska and to advance Zero Suicide and the crisis continuum of care.

Description
CAMS Framework™ is first and foremost a clinical philosophy of care. It is a therapeutic framework for suicide-specific assessment and treatment of a patient’s suicidal risk. It is a flexible approach that can be used across theoretical orientations and disciplines for a wide range of suicidal patients across treatment settings and different treatment modalities.

In terms of CAMS philosophy, the clinician’s honesty and forthrightness are key elements. For any patient teetering between life and death, there can be no more important component of care than direct and respectful candor when suicidal risk is present. The CAMS clinician endeavors to understand their patient’s suffering from an empathetic, non-judgmental, and intra-subjective perspective. The clinician never shames or blames a suicidal person for being suicidal; we endeavor to understand this struggle through the eyes of the suicidal patient.