The CAMS Approach to Suicide Risk: Philosophy and Clinical Procedures

Abstract

The various and considerable challenges to effectively assessing and treating suicidal patients have truly plagued the field of suicidology for many years (Jobes, Rudd, Overholser, & Joiner, 2008). The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) is a relatively new therapeutic clinical framework that endeavors to address a number of these inherent challenges (Jobes, 2006). The CAMS approach described in this article has applied and adapted seminal work of many well- known clinical suicidologists who pioneered new and innovative ways of thinking about suicidal states with related implications for clinical care therein. For