Our Team

Whitcomb Terpening, DrPH, LCSW-S

Founder | Lead Therapist (she/her/hers)

Why do you willingly work with suicide?

This is the first question most people ask me, so let’s just get it out of the way! I choose to work with suicide because I have been profoundly affected by suicide. I have never met anyone who works in suicide prevention who accidentally happened upon this work, and while that feels heart-wrenchingly painful when I allow myself to think about it, it is also beautiful: you will not find anyone who pursues working with suicide for any reason other than that they want to.

I understand how all-consuming suicide can be – and I also know that it doesn’t have to be. In my nearly two decades of looking suicide in the face, the most fundamental thing I’ve learned is that when suicide has an open, non-judgmental, fully-accepting space to vent, to be heard, and to be seen in all of its ugliness, suicide can lose its power.

Credentials

Professionally, I am a clinical suicidologist, a clinical social worker and social work supervisor (licensed in TX, DC, and MD), and a Doctor of Public Health. I earned my masters degree at The University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work and my doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

I served as one of the founding Board members for the Behavioral Health & Suicide Prevention Task Force in Montgomery County, TX and currently serve on the Harris County Suicide Mortality Review Team in partnership with the Houston Area Suicide Prevention Coalition and other area organizations working to prevent suicides in the Houston area. I have focused my entire clinical training on understanding the intricacies of suicide and working with suicide intensity.

But how are you able to keep doing this work? What do you do for fun?

I love going to baseball games and on adventures to find the best coffee shops; I love on my family and chosen family every day; I practice gratitude faithfully, and I am on a mission to live an unbusy life. I am an extra big fan of well-timed puns, sarcasm that is on point, snowboarding down adrenaline-producing double blacks, live jazz music, and tattoo therapy.