38. How to Cope When You Lose a Client or Supervisee to Suicide

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we are highlighting this important topic throughout the podcast this month. As we work together to de-stigmatize the societal beliefs around therapy and increase access to outpatient care, we recognize there's a LOT we can do to bring this often taboo topic into a new light while raising awareness about suicide as a public health concern, educating about prevention, and by supporting the healing of those affected by suicide. This week Keith Myers, LPC joins the podcast to discuss his personal experience with losing therapy clients and a clinical supervisee to suicide. He provides advice for how he coped with these losses and offers support to therapists that might be going through similar experiences. Keith Myers has worked in clinical mental health for almost 20 years. He received his PhD in Counselor Education & Supervision at Mercer University and his Master’s in Community Counseling at Southeast Missouri State University. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Approved Clinical Supervisor. Much of his clinical practice and research is about traumatic stress and military issues and resulted in his first book, Counseling Veterans: A Practical Guide (2021). He works with couples, survivors of interpersonal violence, and trauma therapists who are experiencing secondary trauma. He is an adjunct professor with both Walden University and Richmont Graduate University. Therapist Thrival Guide is a video-podcast by Ellie Mental Health. The intention is to move therapists beyond surviving and into the realm of THRIVING by covering all the things that graduate school didn't teach you! This mental health podcast is hosted by Miranda Barker, MSW, LICSW and rotating co-hosts from the Ellie Therapist network. Each episode features a therapist at Ellie speaking to their areas of expertise, clinical interests, and personal experiences of being a therapist. This podcast covers topics like burn-out, self of therapist, cultural considerations, client retention, session structure, advancing clinical skills, innovations in therapy, and balancing professional relationships with our personal lives. Every now and then, we'll even cover the happenings of how therapists are portrayed in pop culture. Miranda Barker, MSW, LICSW, has been practicing as a therapist for two years. She previously worked as a child protection investigator, adoption social worker, and case manager. She's new to the therapy game and loves soaking up all of the knowledge from the expert therapists in her life. She's the Executive Producer at Ellie Mental Health's in-house creative agency and believes that creativity is an important aspect of mental health care. Therapist THRIVAL Guide is one of many creative productions from ⁠Ellie Mental Health⁠. Ellie is a national mental health brand organized around community-based outpatient mental health clinics. It all began with a single office in St. Paul, Minnesota back in 2015, and since then has expanded to over 24 clinics in Minnesota and an explosive number of locations nationwide after franchising our model in 2021. Ellie will be opening over 500 locations in communities nationwide with new clinics opening each week. #therapy #mentalhealth #suicideprevention