The Only Authorized Source for Adherent CAMS Suicide Prevention Training
Our online or in-person Practical Role-Play Training Day is designed to enhance knowledge regarding the philosophy and theory of CAMS while providing an opportunity to practice using the CAMS Framework®. Our expert CAMS-care consultant-trainers will demonstrate the use of CAMS in a live unscripted role-play which is based on actual patient experiences. Following each demonstration, participants, who pair off, will practice what has just been demonstrated by the consultant-trainers. While participants are role-playing, our trainers “float” from dyad to dyad, supporting their efforts to use CAMS, answering questions, and making helpful suggestions. For Online Training, we use the Zoom platform with Zoom Breakout Rooms.
This model provides an effective immersive experience in the use of CAMS. There are ample opportunities for group discussion and Q&As. Our attendees invariably report that the larger group discussions are useful in providing effective strategies for challenging clinical issues, sharing different techniques and tactics, and consideration of systems-level issues that may occur when implementing CAMS into routine clinical use. While suicide is a serious topic, our experienced and talented trainers bring clinical wisdom, insight, and humor to the training experience. As our trainers demonstrate the clinician’s role in live unscripted role-play demonstrations, there is a shared sense of mutual and collaborative learning that most participants find rewarding, supportive, and even inspiring as the entire training group endeavors to learn how to save lives using CAMS-guided care.
By the end of this training, participants should be fully prepared to begin to use CAMS with suicidal patients. To support optimal clinical outcomes, participation in a series of CAMS-care Consultation Calls is highly recommended subsequent to completion of the Practical Role-Play Training.
In Person Immersive Experience in the Use of CAMS
- Interactive exercises to practice using CAMS
- Demonstrations of the use of CAMS in live unscripted role plays
- Group discussions to strategize challenging case presentations, different techniques and tactics, and application to specific patient populations
- Recommendations for implementation in systems
- Opportunity for one on one questions with trainers
We had 50 registered and we had 47 who attended. The feedback on the training was very positive. One therapist contacted me and said that she used CAMS the same night of the training when her second client came in with extreme suicidality. She reported that the session went great, she used all of the CAMs materials and new knowledge, and she felt competent and confident in partnering with her client to assess risk, develop a plan and avoid hospitalization. I would say that is an excellent outcome already!
Kathy Dollard, Psy.D., L.P.
Director, Behavioral Health, MidMichigan Health
We have trained all of our Outpatient Therapists in CAMS, using the online training, followed by a full day in-person training. We are seeing encouraging results and the therapists appreciate having specific interventions to utilize with clients who are at acute risk for suicide. Therapists have been able to start implementing CAMS right after completing the training.
Lenape Valley Foundation
Doylestown, PA