CASE Approach Certification Using Scripted Group Role-Playing (SGRP)
appears on the Zero Suicide Website’s “Suicide Care Training Options” List
Certification Programs
Experiential Trainings on the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events
(CASE Approach) for Clinicians (Level 1 & 2 Certifications)
Dr. Shea provides full-day Level 1 certification role-playing trainings in the internationally acclaimed interviewing strategy for uncovering suicidal ideation, planning, actions, and intent known as the CASE Approach. These trainings are provided for groups of clinicians using Scripted Group Role-Playing (SGRP) and are designed to greatly enhance actual clinical skill at using the CASE Approach. It’s a rare opportunity for your staff to meet and interact for a full day with Dr. Shea himself.
In addition, Master Trainer Donna Amundson, LCSW provides Level 2 certification trainings for individual supervisors and clinicians in the CASE Approach using the innovative role-playing strategy of macrotraining.
Level 1 Group Certification Using Scripted Group Role-Playing (SGRP)
Click here for Description of Level I Group Certification Training (PDF)
About the Scripted Group Role-Playing (SGRP) Used in the Training
SGRP is a truly unique advance in role-playing developed by Dr. Shea over a twenty-year period. It essentially eliminates acting (creating a remarkably enjoyable role-playing experience). SGRP is unique among role-playing trainings reported in the clinical research literature with the highest satisfaction rating from participants of a full-day training in suicide prevention or clinical interviewing appearing in a refereed journal to date:
From the Psychiatric Clinics of North America 38(1):147-183, 2015
N=427 (20 consecutive trainings)
The average score across all professional disciplines and all levels of clinical experience from graduate school to over 40 years of postgraduate experience on a five point 0-4 Likert scale was a remarkable 3.9 out of 4.0 to the following statements:
1. The content of this training provided useful information
for my clinical work (3.9)
2. I would recommend this training to a fellow colleague (3.9)
Description of Level 1 Certification (including learning objectives, educational methods, and concise bio of Dr. Shea) pdf here.
Praise from across agencies!
“This is the most useful and practical training in which I have participated in my career – 4 stars!”
from evaluation form
Vet Division program of New England
Camp Rell, CT
“One of the best, if not the best, trainings I’ve ever attended. It provided me with skills I can actually use to save lives.”
from evaluation form
Crisis Intervention Center,
Denton County, Texas
“Training was terrific. Experiential scripted role-playing really solidified concepts.”
from evaluation form
College Counseling Center
University of Wisconsin,
Lacrosse Campus
Level 2 Individual Certifications
Now available via Zoom
on the
Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE Approach)
About Level 2 Individual Certifications using Macrotraining
“Without question the most practical, sophisticated, compelling, and enjoyable learning experience of my entire career. Donna Amundson is a magical trainer and macrotraining is the magic. It has not only greatly enhanced my ability to perform a suicide assessment, it has allowed me to successfully train the CASE Approach to over 300 of my staff.”
Lawrence A. Miller, LICSW, Clinical Training Manager at the Providence Center
Macrotraining is a unique individualized training opportunity, in which a single participant spends 4 hours with an independent trainer privileged by TISA (Donna Amundson) to provide macrotrainings on the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE Approach). Macrotraining, another role-playing innovation by Dr. Shea (click here to see journal article on macrotraining) uses carefully designed serial role-plays to advance the trainee to higher and higher levels of proficiency in using the CASE Approach. Each role-play consolidates previously learned interviewing techniques. The individualized training allows the macrotrainer to demonstrate the nuances and complexities of the CASE Approach to a degree not possible with a group of participants. The trainee then practices the techniques and strategies with varying client presentations and degrees of lethality in powerfully realistic role-plays. With each unique client presentation, the macrotrainer provides sensitive coaching carefully sculpting the trainee’s skill set. Cue sheets are never used, ensuring that the trainee has learned the material to as close to true fidelity as possible. As an added bonus, tips are provided by Donna Amundson on how to train others to more effectively use the CASE Approach adding an element of “training the trainer” to the session.
Donna Amundson, LCSW
Master Trainer
Donna Amundson is the Cofounder and Executive Director of the Genesis Training Institute and has over 30 years of field experience as a clinical social worker. She specializes in psychological trauma interventions, traumatic grief, and suicidology. She has also been privileged by the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing (TISA) to provide Level 2 Certifications in the Chronological Assessment of Suicide Events (CASE Approach) using macrotraining.
Ms. Amundson was employed for 27 years at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, University Behavioral HealthCare (now Rutgers University). She worked for 14 of those years as a direct care clinician and clinical supervisor. For the last 13 years she was the Program Manager for UBHC’s Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth Program. During that time, she developed and implemented suicide prevention, intervention and postvention programming statewide. She also collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in developing two national, best practice suicide awareness training programs for school personnel and other youth-serving individuals. As TLC Program Manager, she also created a statewide trauma response network that continues to provide posttraumatic stabilization for youth in schools and communities in the aftermath of suicide, homicide, accidents, and larger disasters.
High Praise from Participant Evaluations!
“Very different than studying reading material or just listening, the macrotraining was tremendously helpful.”
“I left feeling like I really knew what I was doing, it allowed me to dig deep into myself, no hiding allowed, yet comfortable.”
“I have adult attention deficit disorder, that has made learning very difficult for me. This Macrotraining was simply one of the most effective learning experiences I’ve ever had in my career.”
“With macrotraining you really get it.”
“Macrotraining was an enlightening experience of self-awareness.”
