VIRTUAL-Thursday, October 9, 2025, 9:00am-12:00pm-Understanding and Treating the Complex Puzzle of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury with Barent Walsh, Ph.D.

VIRTUAL TRAINING-Thursday, October 9, 2025, 9:00am-12:00pm

This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.

VIRTUAL-Thursday, October 9, 2025, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM

Understanding and Treating the Complex Puzzle of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

Barent Walsh, Ph.D.

One of the most challenging problems for clinicians and other professionals is dealing effectively with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Of special concern is that self-injury has moved from clinical populations such as those served in hospitals and group homes to the general population including middle, high school and college students.
This presentation will focus on understanding, managing and treating diverse forms of self-injury including arm and body cutting, self-inflicted burning, excoriation of wounds, and other more serious examples such as NSSI requiring medical attention and foreign body ingestion.
Self-injury will be distinguished from suicidal behavior in terms of a number of key characteristics, but will also be discussed as a major risk factor for suicide attempts.
A “Stepped Care Approach” regarding the management and treatment of self-injury will be reviewed, including:
Step I:
·         The informal response
·         Crisis assessment
·         Detailed cognitive-behavioral assessment
Step II:
  • Replacement skills training
  • Cognitive-behavioral treatment
  • The biology of and psychopharmacology for NSSI
A stepped care approach is used so that clients and families receive only as much support and targeted treatment as they need. Very practical suggestions in dealing with self-injury will be provided.
Following this training the participants will understand:
  • Differentiate self-injury from suicide, while also recognizing that ongoing self-injury is a risk factor for suicide attempts
  • Learn how to provide a detailed pragmatic assessment of self-injury
  • Review two steps in a stepped care approach in understanding, managing, and treating self-injury
  • Discuss the topic of self-care in working with persons who self-injure
YOUR TRAINER:
Barent Walsh, Ph.D. has written extensively and presented internationally on the topic of self-destructive behavior. He is the author of three books on non-suicidal self-injury, including Treating Self-Injury: A Practical Guide 2nd edition, Guilford Press, (2014). This volume has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Dutch and Polish. His most recent publication is, “Understanding and Treating Atypical Severe Non-Suicidal Self-Injury,” (2024) in the “Oxford University Press Handbook of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.”
Dr. Walsh is Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Clinical Consultant at Open Sky Community Services, a human service agency headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Walsh also was formerly a Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Walsh received the following recognition in 2021:
“On behalf of the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS) Board of Directors, we would like to honour your extensive contributions to the field by inviting you to be an Invited Fellow of ISSS. This invitation reflects the highest recognition of your many contributions to the field, notably your seminal work and publications in the areas of assessment and treatment of self-injury.”
An innovative recent presentation by Dr. Walsh was, “How Did Frida Kahlo Not Die By Suicide? A Story of Episodic Physical and Psychological Misery Met with Self-Exploring Exposure.” Mass. DPH Suicide Prevention Conference, April 2025.