Silence, Shame & Stigma:
Expressive Arts and Suicide Prevention
Enroll in the Online Self-Study and complete the training on your own schedule.
1.5 CE hours available for behavioral health clinicians
How do we help when words alone are not enough? This powerful course explores the healing potential of expressive arts to reach those facing the despair of suicidal thoughts—illuminating paths forward through creativity, connection, and compassion.
In a field where burnout, helplessness, and clinical limits can leave providers feeling overwhelmed, this course offers a meaningful approach to suicide prevention—one that honors the emotional depth of those in pain while equipping professionals with creative, evidence-informed tools.
Register for the 1.5 CE Online Self-Study for $45
Payment Options are listed at checkout
Register for the 0 CE Training Video for $23
Payment Options are listed at checkout
The course is led by a trio of powerful voices: Diane Kaufman, MD, a child psychiatrist and internationally recognized suicide prevention advocate; Lucia Martinez Rojas, an award-winning media artist, designer, and illustrator; and Starlit Swan, an author, poet, and lived-experience expert of chronic pain and survivorship. Together, they blend clinical expertise, lived experience, and creative expression into a profoundly moving and instructive program. Their combined perspectives offer clinicians a holistic, compassionate lens for supporting clients who are suffering, especially those silenced by stigma and shame.
This course invites learners into a multidimensional experience of expressive arts-based suicide prevention. Dr. Kaufman guides participants through the emotional terrain of clinical care, while Rojas and Swan provide creative and visual tools that illuminate the healing power of story, image, and metaphor. Their approach is both trauma-informed and humanizing—centering the client’s lived narrative while offering clinicians a means to hold space with authenticity and hope.
Instructor
Diane Kaufman, MD
Diane Kaufman 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 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).
To learn more about Dr. Kaufman, please visit the Instructor and Disclosure tab.
Dr. Kaufman can be reached at diane@holdoncampaign.org.
Instructor
Lucia Martinez Rojas
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.
Instructor
Starlit Swan
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.
To learn more about S. Swan, please visit the Instructor and Disclosure tab.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand expressive arts interventions: Learn how to use creative techniques to address suicidal ideation and emotional pain.
- Apply trauma-informed creativity: Gain specific, adaptable arts-based strategies to use with clients in crisis.
- Support your own well-being: Discover how creative processes can foster healing and resilience in clinicians, especially after patient loss.
Why this course?
- A trusted organization: Telehealth Certification Institute is dedicated to empowering healthcare professionals with high-quality, ethically sound continuing education.
- An unparalleled instructor: Dr. Kaufman’s rare blend of clinical expertise, artistic accomplishment, and lived experience offers unmatched depth and authenticity.
- A meaningful approach: This course provides emotional insight and tangible strategies for the real-world challenges clinicians face when working with suicide risk.
Learning Objectives:
- Define the expressive arts and understand how they can be applied to help prevent suicide.
- Explain bio-psycho-social reasons why the expressive arts are helpful in suicide prevention.
- Apply at least three expressive arts techniques in their therapeutic work.
- Discuss how expressive arts can benefit the mental health provider’s well-being when they are working with depressed and suicidal patients, as well as when patients die by suicide.
This course is an invitation to reimagine how we respond to suicide—not only with protocols, but with presence; not only with clinical tools, but with creative care. Let the power of expressive arts expand your capacity to help others hold on—and to hold yourself with compassion along the way.
Enroll in this course now to gain the skills, insight, and emotional resilience needed to support healing through creativity when your clients need it most.
This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Instruction consists of 90 minutes of video instruction and a post-test.
Select each tab for course details
Availability:
From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.
Who Should Attend:
This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.
Teaching Methods:
This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.
How to Attend:
Instructions for attending and completing a course can be found here.
This program was recorded February 28, 2025.
Testimonials
Iveyana Kiara Smith
Jessy Hainbach
Bryant Wilson
Ben Keyser
Mei Chan
Meghan Co, LCSW-C, LICSW