Clinical supervision in prison settings: three strategies for approaching suicide risk

Abstract

Purpose – Delivering suicide risk services (SRS; i.e., assessment and intervention) is an important and demanding aspect of psychological practice in prison settings. Yet the authors know from the training literature that supervised opportunities to build skills in this domain are hard to obtain. The unpredictable nature of these crisis events and the seriousness of their consequences make it difficult for psychologists-in-training to gain experience managing them. An effective method for building the foundational base of such skill is through clinical activities during internship. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the topic from the perspective of doctoral psychology internship training in prisons. Conceptualized within a developmental training perspective, three specific supervisory actions that facilitate the practice of SRS for interns are detailed: locating opportunities to monitor the practice of developmentally appropriate SRS skills; utilizing an assessment tool to shape documentation and provide structured feedback on the quality of SRS work; and developing group-based role plays to practice the management skill of verbal interdisciplinary communication. Design/methodology/approach – Conceptualized within a developmental training perspective, three specific supervisory actions that facilitate the practice of SRS for interns are detailed. Findings – Findings include three actions: locating opportunities to monitor the practice of developmentally appropriate SRS skills; utilizing an assessment tool to shape documentation and provide structured feedback on the quality of SRS work; and developing group-based role plays to practice the management skill of verbal interdisciplinary communication. Practical implications – The authors have proposed three clinical supervision activities that can be used to facilitate the SRS learning experience. The strategies proposed are flexible enough to address variability within an individual intern or across a group of interns. While the authors apply the activities to interns, the authors believe it can also be used with early career psychologists as they transition to licensure and/or clinical independence within this practice setting. Ongoing consideration of how supervision is used to transmit the essential skills in this setting is paramount, and the authors hope this paper has provided sufficient justification for beginning the dialogue in this area. Originality/value – This work has never before been published.