Suicide prevention isn’t only about assessing current risk for self-harm. It’s also about recognizing that we can’t predict if and when that risk will increase. Patients spend most of their lives outside of our office, and an unexpected crisis can increase their risk of self-directed violence exponentially. The risk may be especially heightened for firearm owners, who have immediate access to a highly lethal method of injury. Fortunately, that risk can be reduced if we simply put a few moments’ delay between impulse and action in the form of secure firearm storage. Yet many clinicians, including our hosts, shy away from that conversation, especially with military-connected patients. Our guest today, Dr. Curt West, offers common sense and clinically sound advice for how to engage in this important discussion.

Dr. James “Curt” West is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and a Scientist at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and has presented to the APA on physician and patient conversations on firearm safety. In addition, he has participated in the forum on health and family firearm safety and created an online course for the APA on firearm safety. Dr. West is the host of the podcast “Let’s Talk About Your Guns.” Prior to his work at USUHS, he worked as a military psychiatrist and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as an Operational Stress Control and Readiness psychiatrist, and later served as the Deputy Commander of Behavioral Health at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• An article from the APA Monitor, “Navigating Firearm Safety Discussions in Clinical Settings.” https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/07-08/firearm-safety-clinical-settings

• The BulletPoints Project, a clinical resource for preventing firearm injury www.bulletpointsproject.org
• Fact sheets published by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress: www.cstsonline.org
• Let’s Talk About Your Guns podcast: https://www.cstsonline.org/suicide-prevention-program/projects/talk-about-guns
• Pause To Protect, a resource for safely storing firearms: www.pausetoprotect.org

Calls-to-action: For example:

• Explore the resources mentioned in this podcast to learn more about firearm safety and its connection to suicide prevention
• Listen to the “Let’s Talk About Your Guns” podcast to empower yourself to engage in conversations about firearm safety with your patients.
• Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice Podcast
• Subscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email
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