Risk Assessment & Safety Planning
This term refers to a client having thoughts of self-harm without plan, means, or intent.
Passive suicidal ideation
This type of documentation records observable facts without personal opinion.
Objective documentation
This principle prioritizes the client’s right to make their own decisions.
Self-determination
This occurs when a client is quiet, disengaged, or minimally responsive.
Resistance
This trauma response involves emotional numbness or detachment.
Dissociation
This assessment evaluates danger to self, danger to others, and grave disability.
Risk assessment
This acronym BIRP, refers to a commonly used progress note format. What does it stand for?
(Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan)
This ethical dilemma occurs when client safety conflicts with confidentiality.
Limits of confidentiality
This skill helps lower defensiveness by acknowledging the client’s perspective.
Validation
This principle prioritizes emotional and physical safety.
Trauma-informed care
This protective factor includes reasons for living, responsibilities, or future goals.
Protective factors
This documentation principle reminds clinicians: “If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen.”
Legal defensibility
This concept requires choosing the intervention that limits client freedom the least.
Least restrictive alternative
This MI technique reflects both sides of a client’s mixed feelings.
Double-sided reflection
This refers to reminders that activate trauma responses.
Triggers
This tool is collaboratively developed with a client to reduce future risk during crises.
Safety plan
This involves clearly separating what the client reports from the clinician’s observations.
Distinguishing subjective vs. objective data
This occurs when personal beliefs interfere with professional judgment.
Countertransference
This approach avoids arguing and instead rolls with client resistance.
Motivational Interviewing
This occurs when helpers absorb clients’ trauma over time.
Vicarious trauma
This concept refers to a client being unsure about harming themselves but open to alternatives.
Ambivalence
This documentation practice uses neutral, behavior-based language and avoids assumptions or diagnoses not formally made.
Clinically objective and non-judgmental documentation
This ethical responsibility requires clinicians to seek supervision when unsure.
Consultation
This technique uses curiosity rather than confrontation to explore reluctance.
Open-ended exploration
This trauma-informed practice emphasizes collaboration and client choice.
Empowerment