How do you handle a patient who doesn’t want to talk about their suicidal thoughts? What tools and basic education strategies can we use for non-health-care professionals to highlight and prevent potential suicide/suicidal thoughts?  In this episode, Dr. Christine Moutier addressed your unanswered questions from the NEI Synapse Half Day: Before It’s Too Late: Strategies for Suicide Prevention.

Dr. Moutier is the Chief Medical Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).  Throughout her career she has focused on fighting stigma related to mental health and help seeking. Training healthcare leaders, physicians, and advocacy groups, Dr. Moutier has sought to change the healthcare system’s approach to mental health, in order to optimize care for those suffering from mental health conditions.

As a leader in the field of suicide prevention, Dr. Moutier joined AFSP in 2013, and has revitalized AFSP’s Education team, re-launched its Loss & Healing department, and expanded AFSP’s support to include those with lived experience of suicide.

Moutier has authored Suicide Prevention, a Stahl's series handbook, articles and book chapters for publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, Academic Medicine, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Depression and Anxiety, and Academic Psychiatry.

She has testified before the U.S. Congress and spoken at the White House, she was the host of AFSP’s documentary on surviving suicide loss, The Journey, and has appeared as an expert in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, The Economist, The Atlantic, the BBC, NBC, CNN, and other print and television outlets.

You can follow Dr. Moutier on Twitter at @cmoutierMD.

For more information on the AFSP please visit: asfp.org