I wanted to pass on a note of thanks from our team and attendees yesterday. Most found your message very compassionate and healing. It was a different angle on the subject than most have heard before, and they were grateful. - L.A., Colorado
Speaking & Training
Photos from ceremony for suicide loss survivors, Eagle County, CO, Sept. 2023. White beads represent loss of a child to suicide.
IF YOU'D LIKE A DYNAMIC, engaging speaker for your next support group meeting, peer support staff training, conference on suicide prevention or bereavement, let's talk. I'm keen, and available, to offer my gifts, experience, and unusual perspectives for this work.
Before my daughter's suicide, I presented at a number of conferences, support groups, and continuing education events for medical professionals, therapists, and patients on a novel solution-focused, biopsychosocial (BPS) approach to pain self-management, which I developed after suffering from chronic pain for decades myself. That's where the name of my private practice, "BPS Health," comes from. Since Beth's death, I've reoriented my focus from chronic physical pain to both acute and chronic psychological and social pain.
Ironically, suicide is driven largely by unbearable pain (social pain, caused by threat or injury to one's social bonds), while suicide grief is a traumatic form of social pain. My unique perspective as an experienced pain management specialist informs everything I do today, as a suicide bereavement specialist and independent suicidologist. I know of no others in the field who come from such a background.
Before my daughter's suicide, I presented at a number of conferences, support groups, and continuing education events for medical professionals, therapists, and patients on a novel solution-focused, biopsychosocial (BPS) approach to pain self-management, which I developed after suffering from chronic pain for decades myself. That's where the name of my private practice, "BPS Health," comes from. Since Beth's death, I've reoriented my focus from chronic physical pain to both acute and chronic psychological and social pain.
Ironically, suicide is driven largely by unbearable pain (social pain, caused by threat or injury to one's social bonds), while suicide grief is a traumatic form of social pain. My unique perspective as an experienced pain management specialist informs everything I do today, as a suicide bereavement specialist and independent suicidologist. I know of no others in the field who come from such a background.
Everyone I spoke with really appreciated your message on Sunday . . . You have continued to help others heal while honoring your daughter's life in a beautiful way. - A.P., Colorado
In May 2023, I gave a standing-room-only presentation to mental health professionals and suicide loss survivors at the annual Suicide Prevention Coalition of Colorado (SPCC) Conference entitled "The Why Question & the Healing Power of Narrative."
In honor of National Suicide Prevention Month, in Sept. 2023 I was the keynote speaker at a memorial ceremony for loss survivors in Eagle County, Colorado. And, in Sept. 2024, I was invited to give a TED-style talk on "How I Survived My Daughter's Suicide" to a gathering of loss survivors, attempt survivors, peers, mental health advocates and professionals in Summit County, Colorado. |
I WOULD BE DELIGHTED to give a 30-90 min. talk or keynote presentation, host a half-day or one-day workshop, or facilitate a multi-week group for your organization, clients or staff, depending on your needs, interests, and budget. Please get in touch.