Military Suicide “PAIR” Certification Program

Summary

Military Suicide "PAIR" Certification Program is a comprehensive and Biblically-based training program that helps to identify and assist our military servicemen and women who are contemplating suicide. This course offers everything you need to incorporate effective prevention and intervention strategies for your practice or ministry, focusing specifically on ministering to veterans and current military members and their families.

Course Lessons

MSIP 101: The Dynamics of Suicide: What, Why, Who and How

Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A.

Runtime: 57:59

MSIP 102: Choosing to Die: A Model of Understanding

Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A.

Runtime: 51:30

MSIP 103: A Theology of Suicide: Biblical Principles and a Christian Response

Frank Page, Ph.D.

Runtime: 44:42

(Not for licensed professional CE's)

MSIP 104: Combat Stress, PTSD, Reintegration and Suicide

Glen Blomstrom, M.Div.

Runtime: 51:47

MSIP 105: Mental Illness and the Epidemiology of Suicide

Linda Mintle, Ph.D.

Runtime: 49:30

MSIP 106: The Ethics of Suicide Intervention

Miriam Parent, Ph.D.

Runtime: 47:15

MSIP 107: Military Suicide, Prevention and Intervention: What You Need to Know

Glen Bloomstrom, M.Div.

Runtime: 51:39

MSIP 108: Conducting a Suicide Assessment: Using the Safe-T Model

Gary Sibcy, Ph.D.

Runtime: 1:06:37

MSIP 109: Families in Crisis: The First 48 Hours Following Suicide

Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A. and Kevin Ellers, D.Min.

Runtime: 49:41

MSIP 110: The Impact of Suicide on Military Marriages and Families

David Mikkelson, Ph.D., and Suzanne Mikkelson, Ph.D.

Runtime: 53:20

MSIP 111: Grieving a Suicide: Long-term Support for Survivors and Loved Ones

Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A. and Eric Scalise, Ph.D.

Runtime: 52:53

MSIP 112: Caregivers in Crisis: When Clients Take Their Lives

Eric Scalise, Ph.D. and Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A.

Runtime 50:33

Bonus Session #1: The Ethics of Suicide Intervention for Educators and Church and Community Leaders

Miriam Parent, Ph.D.

Runtime: 49:05

(Not for licensed professional CE's)

Bonus Session #2: Conducting a Suicide Intervention: The Role of Ministry Leaders and Caregivers (with demonstrations)

Gary Sibcy, Ph.D.

Runtime: 50:20

(Not for licensed professional CE's)

 

Presenter Biographies

Glen Bloomstrom, M.Div., is currently the Military Director and Faith Community Liaison for LivingWorks Education, an international suicide intervention training company. Prior to joining LivingWorks, Glen served as a U.S. Army chaplain at all levels from battalion to the Army staff, retiring as a Colonel after 30 years of active duty. While serving at the Pentagon for the Army Chief of Chaplains, Glen helped develop and field innovative soldier and family ministry, suicide prevention, and chaplain professional development programs. His combat deployments include the initial invasion of Panama and tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to his work with LivingWorks, Glen serves as a consultant with the U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Navy, where he oversaw their 2015 Professional Development Training Conference: “Pastoral Care in Suicide Prevention Intervention and Postvention.” Glen also serves as an adjunct professor at Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis, MN, helping train the next generation of pastors and chaplains.

Tim Clinton, Ed.D., Ed. D., is President of the nearly 50,000-member American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), the largest and most diverse Christian counseling association in the world. He is Professor of Counseling and Pastoral Care, and Executive Director of the Center for Counseling and Family Studies at Liberty University. He is recognized as a world leader in faith and mental health issues and has authored over 20 books including Breakthrough: When to Give In, When to Push Back.

Jennifer Cisney Ellers, M.A., is a life coach, crisis response trainer, author and speaker. She conducts training, counseling and coaching in the field of grief, crisis and trauma through the Institute for Compassionate Care. Jennifer is an approved instructor for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, teaching several CISM courses. Also, Jennifer provides divorce coaching, training and speaking through Emerge Victorious, a ministry for women rebuilding their lives after divorce. She is the co-author of The First 48 Hours: Spiritual Caregivers as First Responders, with her husband, Dr. Kevin Ellers. In addition, Jennifer co-authored, Emerge Victorious: A Woman’s Transformational Guide after Her Divorce, with Sandra Dopf Lee. Kevin Ellers, D. Min., is the Territorial Disaster Services Coordinator for The Salvation Army in the U.S.A. Central Territory. He is also president of the Institute for Compassionate Care, which is dedicated to education, training and direct care. Dr. Ellers is an associate chaplain with the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, serves as faculty for the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, adjunct professor at Olivet Nazarene University, and is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors Crisis Response Training Team. He has extensive training and experience in the fields of crisis response, grief, trauma, disaster management, chaplaincy, pastoral ministries, marriage and family therapy, and social services. As an author and speaker, he teaches broadly in these related topics.

David P. Mikkelson, Ph.D., grew up in a Marine Corps family and later served as a Marine Corps artillery officer for 10 years and an Army chaplain for 17 years, including 15 months in combat in Iraq. He established and directed a pastoral counseling training center at Ft. Bragg, NC, where he counseled many soldiers and families affected by combat. David retired in 2013 and is currently in private practice in North Carolina as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, clinical supervisor, and consultant on the topics of military counseling, Christian counseling, and PTSD. He and his wife, Dr. Suzanne Mikkelson, live in High Point, NC.

Suzanne E. Mikkelson, Ph.D., is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 20 years of experience counseling military and civilian couples and families, primarily in faithbased settings. Her clinical specialties are trauma recovery, adultery recovery, marital issues, and parenting. She is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant for EMDR trauma therapy. Suzanne is also an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, providing clinical supervision for therapists in training. She and her husband, Dr. David Mikkelson, are in private practice together and live in High Point, NC. They have been married 31 years and have three adult sons.

Linda Mintle, Ph.D., is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), professor, author, and national speaker. She serves as Chair of Behavioral Health at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she is an expert on relationships and the psychology of food, weight, and body image. Dr. Mintle also serves as a national news consultant, BeliefNet blogger, and radio show host. She is a best-selling author with 19 book titles, including I Married You, Not Your Family and Divorce Proofing Your Marriage.

Eric Scalise, Ph.D., is the former Vice President for Professional Development with the American Association of Christian Counselors, as well as a current consultant and their Senior Editor. He is also the President of LIV Enterprises & Consulting, LLC, and a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with more than 35 years of clinical and professional experience in the mental health field. Specialty areas include professional/pastoral stress and burnout, combat trauma and PTSD, marriage and family issues, leadership development, addictions, and lay counselor training. He is an author, a national and international conference speaker, and frequently consults with organizations, clinicians, ministry leaders, and churches on a variety of issues.

Gary Sibcy, Ph.D., is Professor of Counseling and Director of the Ph.D. program in Professional Counseling and Pastoral Counseling at the Center for Counseling and Family Studies at Liberty University, where he teaches courses in advanced psychopathology and its treatment. He is both a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (LCP) and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), has been in private clinical practice for more than 20 years, and currently works at Piedmont Psychiatric Center. Dr. Sibcy specializes in anxiety disorders, including OCD and panic disorder, and chronic depression in adults, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of children with severe mood dysregulation. He is currently developing an empirically supported treatment within the framework of interpersonal neurobiology and attachment theory. Dr. Sibcy has co-authored several books with Dr. Tim Clinton, including Attachments and Why You Do the Things You Do.

Frank Page, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. His mission is to encourage Baptists everywhere to participate in our shared task of reaching men, women, and children with the life-changing message of salvation through Jesus Christ. He has served in ministry for 35 years. He is the author of Melissa as well as several other publications. Dr. Page holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Utah.

Miriam Parent, Ph.D., holds a Ph.D. from Rosemead Graduate School. She has served as a counselor educator for more than twenty years. Prior to coming to Trinity in 1993, she taught at Liberty University in the School of Religion. Dr. Parent is a licensed clinical psychologist. She practiced full-time for several years prior to teaching; since then she has maintained a counseling practice providing individual and marital counseling, as well as diagnostic evaluation and assessment. Over the years her speaking and writing have focused on areas such as spiritual formation, stress management, burnout, and ministry and professional ethics. She also enjoys speaking in women’s groups and church retreats on a variety of Bible and counseling topics. Her areas of interest include professional ethics, diagnosis and treatment planning, stress management, women’s issues, and spiritual formation.

 

Continuing Education 

9.50 CE Credits available for LPC, LMFT, LSW. 

12.00 CE Credits available for IBCC Credential Holders.  

The American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) offers some psychologists, therapists, counselors, social workers and play therapists Continuing Education (CE) credit due for good standing with certain states and a limited number of professional organizations. It remains the responsibility of each participant to be aware of state licensure and CE requirements. Participants should check their state and/or local regulations regarding required continuing education hours. For more information Light University Continuing Education programs, please visit: https://lightuniversity.com/continuing-education-statements/.