Interested in expanding your network, or learning about a therapy approach that’s new to you? Our event listing includes seminars, workshops and events. Some events are suited for therapists, while others may be of interest to members of the public as well.
Please note that CAPT does not evaluate any of the events advertised below.
Summary: Suicide is at the back of our minds in a lot of our work with patients. Given its importance and the fear that it generates, it is surprising that there is very little known about its nature or aetiology. This talk aims to confront the ‘Truth’ about suicide. What leads someone to take their own life? Can it be prevented?
The profound effect the suicide of a patient has on the clinician working with them will be discussed. Knowledge gained about how to process and work with this trauma will also be shared.
Please note: This Lecture is only open to CAPT members.
Cost: Attendance is free for all CAPT members.
Continuing education credits:The lecture counts as two hours of professional development.
The presentation is approximately 60 minutes, followed by breakout sessions where members meet in smaller groups to discuss the lecture material and share additional thoughts or clinical experience before returning to the forum for Q+A.
The Seasonal Lecture series aims to promote knowledge transfer within the field of psychodynamic therapy, and provide free professional development to members of CAPT.
Note: To protect patient confidentiality, there will be no recording of this presentation in either audio or video format.
Bio: Dr. Rachel Gibbons has worked in the NHS for more than 20 years in various psychiatric settings as a consultant psychiatrist and consultant medical psychotherapist. She is a psychoanalyst and group analyst and has been Chair of the Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Psychiatrists for 7 years.
She is now Vice-Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty, at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She has worked on suicide and homicide, and its impact on those bereaved including clinicians over the last 16 years. She is the national expert in the UK on the Impact of Suicide and Homicide on Clinicians and developed the first global guidance for mental health organisations for pastoral care of clinicians following a death by suicide of a patient.
Website: https://www.drrachelgibbons.co.uk/
Publications:
Gibbons, R. (2024). Eight ‘truths’ about suicide. BJPsych Bulletin, 48(6), 350–354.
doi:10.1192/bjb.2023.75
Gibbons, R. (2024). Understanding the psychodynamics of the pathway to suicide: The secret is that only that which can destroy itself is truly alive Carl Jung (1953). International Review of Psychiatry, 36(4–5), 508–516. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2024.2351937
Gibbons, R. (2025). Someone is to blame: the impact of suicide on the mind of the bereaved (including clinicians). BJPsych Bulletin, 49(1), 36–40. doi:10.1192/bjb.2024.37
Gibbons, R. (2025). Rethinking suicide prevention: from prediction to understanding. BJPsych International, 1–4. doi:10.1192/bji.2025.9