About this event

Dates: Tuesdays 29th September, 6th and 13th October at 8:15pm - 9:45pm.

A series of three hybrid seminars with William Crouch.

This series will be recorded and available to participants for 1 week after each seminar. 

Worldwide over 720000 people die by suicide every year, which is more than one every minute (WHO, 2025). This is therefore a serious health and social problem, requiring skilled and effective intervention. 

From a psychoanalytic perspective suicide must be understood as relational, emotional and having a powerful impact on others. Hale (2026) observes that suicide always takes place in the context of a relationship, where suffering is experienced by its survivors. Psychoanalysis would consider that such relationships include the person’s relationship with their own body as well internal “objects” and external figures in their life, including professionals.

These seminars are an opportunity to learn more about psychoanalytic thinking about suicide and self-harm and its application to modern clinical practice, not just in formal psychoanalysis or psychotherapy, but also in the more general settings of psychiatry, nursing, social work and within the voluntary sector.

The structure of each of the seminars will be the same: participants will read a paper in advance, and the reading will provide the starting point for a brief presentation and clinical discussion. Participants will be encouraged to bring situations and dilemmas from their own work. Clearly any case material will have to be highly anonymised.

Although the seminars will be aimed at clinicians and practitioners working with those at risk of suicide and self-harm, they are open to all clinicians working within psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and mental health; if you are unsure if this applies to you, please contact [email protected].

View full series programme here.

William Crouch was a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in the NHS. He is a fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society and now works in private practice. He has published several papers on the understanding of and work with self-harm and suicide. With Stephen Briggs and Alessandra Lemma he is editor of “Relating to Self- Harm and Suicide", which is now in its second edition.

Registration is for the full series and cannot be booked for standalone seminars.

REFUND POLICY: Full refunds are offered for cancellations made before 14 days before the event date or first day of an event or series. For full event booking terms and conditions click here.

Concession tickets are available, for students, BPAS candidates and NHS trainees and nurses. Please email [email protected] if you are unsure if you qualify for a concession ticket.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers. We expect delegates to respect the confidentiality of clinical material discussed in our events. The content must not be recorded, conveyed or disseminated in any format and participants must not share access to the event with non-registered participants.

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