A film and discussion exploring the emotional impact of suicide and overdose loss and the path to healing for providers.
This special event combines a film screening with guided discussion to explore the shared emotional, professional, and systemic impacts of losing a client to suicide or opioid overdose. Adapted from materials developed by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), the session provides behavioral health providers and administrators with practical postvention strategies to support healing, resilience, and professional recovery following client loss.
Through brief video segments and facilitated dialogue, participants will examine the parallels between suicide loss and overdose loss, discuss evidence-informed postvention strategies, and share experiences from the field. The event will also highlight clinical and community resources available through the Nevada Opioid Center of Excellence (NOCE) and SPRC to help providers and organizations respond with compassion, structure, and self-awareness in the aftermath of loss.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this presentation behavioral health providers and administrators will:
- Gain a greater understanding in how to implement actionable emotional, professional and organizational postvention strategies (knowledge).
- Understand what evidenced-based postvention strategies may help them increase their recovery after a client suicide loss and opioid overdose (knowledge).
- Feel more prepared to process a client suicide loss and parallel experiences with opioid overdose (attitudes/beliefs).
- Feel better able to make evidenced-based decisions on postvention strategies after a client suicide loss and opioid overdose (attitude/beliefs).
- Apply their knowledge as part of their postvention strategies and incorporate it into their prevention efforts (behaviors).
Presented by: Bianca D. McCall, LMFT
Bianca D. McCall, LMFT is a retired professional women’s basketball player. She is an international TED Speaker, and renowned mental health researcher and expert. Bianca is a licensed clinical therapist, with 25 years in Behavioral Health, and 12 years as a Healthcare CEO. In recent years, she has grown significantly in the digital health space, and created a first-of-its-kind social-emotional platform, designed to improve human health span.
For more than a decade, her work and research has been dedicated to psychological (mental) injury prevention and the discovery of innovations addressing existential isolation. Bianca is passionate about leading projects which promote ongoing research in mental injury prevention, integration of technologies, data analytics, and the discovery of culturally and linguistically responsive crisis interventions. Bianca represents Nevada, on national committees and namely the Suicide Prevention Resource Center; designated by SAMHSA, and Steering Committee for the U.S. Department of Public Health and is a contributor to the National Strategies for Suicide Prevention in areas of Clinical Education, Provider Standards, and Technology. Bianca is a subject matter expert, a curriculum developer, and instructor in higher education with the Centers for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT), Region 9, housed at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Continuing Education Units: 2 CEUs
This training is approved for continuing education by the boards listed here.
Funding for this activity was made possible in whole or in part by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Director’s Office through the Fund for a Resilient Nevada, established in Nevada Revised Statutes 433.712 through 433.744. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in our courses are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Nevada Opioid Center of Excellence or its funders.