"Suicide Safety Planning Group Treatment: Project Life Force"

"PLF, a 12-session, group psychotherapy intervention, combines Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skill based and psychoeducational approaches, to enhance suicide safety planning development and implementation. Veterans revise their plans over several weeks while learning distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and friendship building/interpersonal skills to incorporate into their safety plans and also receive lessons on gun safety and minimizing access to lethal means. Sessions are augmented with 1) training in the use of a suicide safety planning mobile App to promote accessibility and maximize implementation, and 2) didactic information to bolster recovery, including fostering improved connection with the treatment team, and Veteran's family. Importantly, the group format mitigates loneliness and fosters increased belongingness, both key risk factors for suicide."