Currently, there is a plethora of screening tools and questionnaires to assess suicide risk. However, none of the existing instruments seem to constitute a reliable aid for suicide prediction. Fluctuations in suicide ideation represent a clear obstacle to evaluation through a ‘static’ tool. In addition, suicide risk prediction is not necessarily synonymous with risk assessment and formulation, which we argue reflects a systematic acquisition of understanding about a person’s momentary state of suicidality. Within the profession of psychology and importantly, the training of psychologists, there is little direction on specialised and scientific understandings about suicidal behaviour, even less about clinical assessment of such client presentations.