Responding with Care: Suicide Prevention & Risk Assessment in Perinatal Mental Health

*REGISTRATION CLOSED*

Priority registration for WA state professionals who serve families in Clallam & Jefferson counties. A limited number of spots are available for WA state professionals serving other counties.

Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Time: 9am-4pm PST

Location: Zoom

Cost: FREE

Trainers: Dr. Mary Kimmel, MD, PhD & Karen Burns, MSW, LCSW-A, PMH-C

Training Objectives:
Upon conclusion of this program participants should be able to:

• Identify and differentiate perinatal mental health conditions (PMHCs) with an understanding of when symptoms require urgent or emergency intervention.
• Utilize effective screening and assessment tools to evaluate PMHCs and assess suicide risk, integrating strategies for building trust and rapport with perinatal individuals.
• Develop and implement safety plans that consider both the birthing parent and infant, incorporating family involvement and addressing real-world challenges in home and community settings.
• Identify appropriate community resources and patient support strategies including sleep strategies, peer support, and distress tolerance techniques.
• Apply conversational strategies for fostering open communication and reducing fear in high-risk situations.

Registration Deadline: May 5th at 12pm.

Register Now

Continuing Education:

• 6 CEUs pending for LICSW, LMHC, LMFT
• 6 Contact Hours approved for RNs: Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 17084 for 6 contact hours.

This is a live training and a recording will not be sent out. Questions regarding the training, please email: training@perinatalsupport.org

Dr. Mary Kimmel, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She previously was at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where she was medical director for the Perinatal Psychiatry Inpatient Unit and helped start and served as medical director of NC MATTERS, a statewide perinatal mental health consultation line. She is an affiliated researcher with Uppsala University in Sweden where she earned her PhD in maternal and child health. Her research interests include better characterization of stress in pregnancy; studying the interaction between obstetrical complications and perinatal stress, depression and anxiety; and utilizing the microbiota- gut-brain axis to improve diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She has published in Biological Psychiatry, Translational Psychiatry, Archives of Women’s Mental Health, Nature Communications, Child Development, among others.

Karen Burns, MSW, LCSW-A, PMH-C, is a Research Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Program Director for NC Maternal Mental Health MATTERS, the state’s perinatal psychiatry access program. She is also an outpatient therapist specializing in the treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Karen is certified in perinatal mental health through Postpartum Support International and is a trained Circle of Security Parenting facilitator. For almost two decades, she has led large-scale clinical and research initiatives focused on mental health and positive youth development. Her current work centers on expanding access to perinatal mental health care across North Carolina through clinical consultation, training, and systems-level support. She received her MSW and Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from UNC-Chapel Hill.

This free training is offered by Perinatal Support WA through a grant from Strengthening Families Washington at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).