Gillian Murphy Ph.D.

Dr. Gillian Murphy has over 25 years of experience in the field of crisis intervention and suicide prevention and is a leading expert in suicide assessment and intervention practices for crisis services.

Over the past 15 years, through her work with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) (most recently serving as Asst. Deputy Director), Dr. Murphy led a clinical team to establish national standards of excellence and clinical best practice guidelines in suicide assessment for telephone, chat, and text-based services. The clinical guidelines developed at the Lifeline now serve as the standardized approach for crisis centers nationwide through the newly established 988 service. As a key member of the 988-transition leadership team, she established strategic priorities for clinical practice that included the development of the first national standardized training program for 988 centers, developing the core curriculum, and serving as key subject matter expert and writer.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Murphy led the establishment of the first online crisis response program for suicide prevention (Lifeline Crisis Chat); spearheaded crisis center follow-up and community collaboration initiatives associated with hospital/emergency department discharges; managed the development of the Lifeline research/evaluation agenda; served as the lead grant writer for successful large federally funded grants; and led multiple advisory groups involving key behavioral health stakeholders, state mental health commissioners, researchers, and funders. Dr. Murphy also served as co-chair for the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) special interest group for crisis hotlines and was a founding member of the World Alliance of Crisis Hotlines (WACH) which served to push forward WHO recognition of crisis hotlines as essential in any suicide prevention initiative. Dr. Murphy has published articles and book chapters on best practices in crisis hotline clinical practice.

Dr. Murphy received both her Masters and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Prior to the Lifeline, Dr. Murphy led a Manhattan-based Mobile Crisis Team serving individuals experiencing acute psychiatric crises and served as a consultant and subject matter expert in crisis intervention practices with high-risk populations. She currently maintains a private psychotherapy practice in NYC where she works extensively with both adults and teens experiencing depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. She is trained in both CBT and DBT and provides clinical supervision, consultation, and training in suicide assessment, intervention, and crisis management for clinicians. Dr. Murphy has presented extensively at conferences, both nationally and internationally, on subjects related to best practices in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.