How do you approach firearm safety counseling for outpatients with elevated suicide risk who do not meet the criteria for involuntary psychiatric hospitalization?  

I have found the framework outlined by the BulletPoints Project (created by the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis) to be very helpful.  I start by asking about the patient’s goals for owning firearms. I think it is important to recognize that guns often form an impo...

For firearm safety, I always use collateral source and have the patient agree to hand over the forearms to the collateral. It can be time-consuming, but it is worth the time. If that fails, I will start an involuntary admission.

Mental health professionals often allow themselves to be placed in a difficult position in that they have concern about someone's safety, but make their own guess about whether that patient meets the criteria for involuntary commitment or not. My answer, which I have followed for almost 45 years an...