Gillian Rodriguez, MA, LPC is a full-time faculty member in the Human Services Program at Texas A&M University San Antonio and the CEO of Trellis Counseling & Co. PLLC. She specializes in Suicide Pre/Inter/Post-ventions, Trauma and Traumatic Grief Counseling. Her most recent presentations have been received at Any Baby Can (2024), The American Association of Suicidology (2022), Psych Congress (2021), and The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2020). Gillian is trained in EMDR, Crisis Response Planning, and Virtual-Reality based therapeutic interventions as well as Trauma and Grief Component Therapy and Mental Health First Aid. She developed ©After Suicide: Survive, Learn, Heal, a virtual group therapy curriculum, in response to personally experiencing suicide bereavement in 2019. She has served as a crisis and trauma counselor in Uvalde, Texas after the Robb Elementary School mass-shooting tragedy, and as an advisor for the State of Texas Child Fatality Review Regional Team. She is the 2024-2025 President for the Texas Counseling Association Hill Country Chapter and is pursuing certification as an End-of-Life Doula. She continues to blend experience with innovation by integrating Trauma-Informed Virtual Reality Play Therapy (TIVRPT) in clinical practice, research, and academia. Finally, she is a two-time cancer survivor and has utilized VR to maximize her own recovery and further understand the participant’s perspective.

https://www.trelliscounselingco.com/

Overview:

Many presentations surrounding discussions of suicide risk, assessment, intervention and resources have given a standardized overview of demographics, behaviors, and statistics. But what if I told you, there's more to the story? What if I told you, it's not what you think? What if I told you, it's not who you think?

Join me as I challenge stereotypes, dispel misinformation, and provide you with updated information about suicide pre/inter/and postventions. This presentation provides an overview of modern prevention and detection strategies using technology, open-access evidence-based assessment resources and mobile apps, and postvention impacts on the couple and the family as a whole. Ethical practice and cultural-empathy facets will be interwoven throughout our discussion, and a resource pdf will be provided.

Learning Objectives:

After the presentation, attendees will be able to:
-Prevention: Define and discern between Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), Suicidal Ideation, Suicidal gesture, and Suicidal behavior/attempt.
-Identify diverse warning signs, including direct, indirect and digital/virtual
-Intervention: Review and utilize open-access assessment resources, such as the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)
-Learn about novel digital apps and interventions
-Postvention: How suicide affects the couple, the family

Audience:

This presentation is appropriate for professionals in the mental health industry who are interested in learning more about Suicide Pre/Inter/and Postvention.

Cost:

Presentation is free for 2024 SAART members and paid for non-members.

CEUs:

CEUs will be issued to all participants approximately 1 week after event. Signing in and out is required - you must be present for entirety of event. This presentation will satisfy LPC/LMFT board CEU requirements in the categories of "Ethics" and "Multicultural Issues."

1.5 CEUs

Registration will close September 18, 2024.