Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. Yet even now, the silence, shame, and stigma imposed upon mental illness can lead to deadly consequences for those suffering in body, mind, and spirit: the very ones who are in such desperate need of hope and healing.

The purpose of this course is to increase awareness of the vital role expressive arts can play in promoting and restoring mental health and well-being. The use of expressive arts can enhance suicide prevention in public health efforts and mental health treatment and be of help to suicide loss survivors in postvention. Mental health professionals at the start of their career as well as those who are much more experienced will find this course beneficial.

We will explore expressive arts as “creative resilience” from bio-psycho-social and meaning-making perspectives. Presenters will share lived mental health experiences and demonstrate how poetry, song, story, and visual art help break through silence, shame, and stigma. Self-compassion and courage to creatively reclaim, discover, and express one’s own unique voice allows for insight, healing, and a felt sense of community. The creative origins of the Hold On Campaign for Suicide Prevention, which uses the power of art to educate, connect, express, and heal, will be shared. Strategies and resources will be offered on how clinicians can integrate expressive arts into therapeutic work with patients.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define the expressive arts and understand how they can be applied to help prevent suicide.

2. Explain bio-psycho-social reasons why the expressive arts are helpful in suicide prevention.

3. Apply at least three expressive arts techniques in their therapeutic work.

4. Discuss how expressive arts can benefit the mental health provider’s own well-being when they are working with depressed and suicidal patients, as well as when patients die by suicide.

This webinar is also offered without CEs for half-price.

Register for the 0 CE Live Event for $22.50

February 28, 2025 1-2:30 pm EST

Payment Options are listed at checkout

Diane Kaufman, MD is a poet, artist, internationally award-winning lyricist, humanism-inmedicine awardee, and retired child psychiatrist with over forty years of clinical experience. In 2019 she received the SUNY-Downstate Medical Center Alumni Association’s Dr. Frank L. Babbott award for her distinguished service to both the medical profession and the general community.

Dr. Kaufman is a suicide attempt and suicide loss survivor with Bipolar II Disorder and is dedicated to transforming trauma and despair into life affirming creativity. She is the founder/director of the Hold On Campaign for Suicide Prevention that uses the power of art to educate, connect, express, and heal. (www.holdoncampaign.org).

Dr. Kaufman’s story, “Bird That Wants to Fly” inspired an opera and is narrated by actor, Danny Glover. The internationally award-winning songs, “Don’t Give Up,” “Hold On,” “Lift You Up,” “Holding The Heart When It Breaks” and “For You My Lovely,” were all inspired by her lyrics and help prevent suicide. Dr. Kaufman has extensive training and experience in the therapeutic use of poetry and story, and is also a certified Expressive Arts Educational Facilitator (Salve Regina University, Newport, RI). She presents internationally on Creativity and Suicide Prevention. Dr. Kaufman loves to collaborate with kindred spirits. She has just launched with South African DJ. music producer/entrepreneur, and independent artists’ mental health advocate, Kino Isaac, “Talking Back 2 Suicide” which is a podcast to share lessons learned from invited guests’ lived mental health experiences that led to suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior, and the interventions that helped them, and expertise from healthcare providers. Dr. Kaufman can be reached at [email protected].

Proudly born in Colombia in 1987, Lucia Martinez Rojas holds a Bachelors in Industrial Design from the University of the Andes in Bogota, where she co-founded a design studio called Dos de Pica and has worked as a freelance designer. She also has a Masters Degree in Media Art and Design from the Bauhaus University of Weimar in Germany. Now she dedicates her time to work on projects that have a deep purpose and is in pursuit of becoming a prolific videographer, illustrator, designer, and human being.

14 years ago, Starlit Swan, aka S. Swan, had a surgery that triggered the onset of the rare illness Causalgia that ravaged her life. Little did she know, it was a new beginning. It made her an atypical expert on how to get up when life knocks you down.

S. Swan is a Lived Experience Expert of Causalgia, also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type II (CRPS II), considered the most painful illness in the world. It is one of the illnesses nicknamed Suicide Disease because the pain can drive a person to suicide. It is a priority for her to bring to the forefront the lack of protocols to prevent and address suicide in patients with CRPS and other severe pain illnesses, as is bringing awareness about CRPS to healthcare professionals and lay people alike. Another priority for Starlit is to find a cure for this terrible illness and to bring awareness to possible palliative treatments that could be beneficial.

Starlit Swan writes poems, short stories and is writing her first novel. She is an illustrator and a narrator too. She uses writing to create wondrous worlds to escape the pain from CRPS II. She uses poetry to work through the difficult emotions from a past of abuse and a present of pain. The award winning animation “Marble Me Free” based on her poem “The Marble Block” is an example of the latter. For more information you can visit marblemefree.com.

Starlit is trying to take away the stigma of talking about pain - physical and emotional - through her candid writing. The brain doesn’t differentiate between physical and emotional pain. For the brain, both are equally real. Physical pain can be the source of emotional pain as emotional pain the source of physical pain. A person in pain should not be dismissed, ignored, nor made to feel weak for acknowledging they are in pain. In fact, to live in pain is a testament of strength. It is not pretty, it is not easy, and it takes courage as Starlit has experienced by breaking through her marble block and allowing her golden flower to bloom. The Marble Block & The Poems It Inspired anthology encourages others to grow their own golden flower.

S. Swan has written and illustrated two other poetry books: the Christmas illustrated book How Reindeer Learn How to Fly, and the illustrated poem Anything Is Possible—also available as a journal and coloring book. For more information you can visit her website starlitswan.com.