Suicide is difficult to prevent, but people who have mental health conditions and those experiencing life crises can be helped. Prevention strategies found to be effective include means restriction, responsible media coverage and general public education, screening, gatekeeper training and primary care physician education.
Know the warning signs and stay with someone who is exhibiting them. Remove objects that could be used for hanging and keep medications like Tylenol (acetaminophen) and ibuprofen locked away.
1. Take Care of Yourself
Taking care of yourself is important for everyone, but it can be especially important for people who are struggling with thoughts of suicide or who have suicidal plans. This can include taking regular mental health breaks, getting enough sleep and avoiding substances like alcohol and drugs.
It’s also important to be there for someone who is struggling, whether in person or on the phone. Being there can help to reduce the risk of suicide, and can help them feel less alone. This could include listening and talking, but it can also mean helping to connect them with services and providing a safe place to stay.
Research has shown that increasing someone’s connectedness to others and reducing isolation can protect them against suicide, even when they have risk factors such as a low sense of belonging. This can be done by providing social programs for specific population groups, and by promoting community connections and emotional support.
2. Talk to Someone
When a friend tells you that they are suicidal, ask them about their thoughts and feelings. If they are in a crisis, talk with them about how they can stay safe and help them connect to a mental health professional who can help.
It is also important to talk with them about their plans for suicide, as well as any access they might have to weapons or other means of self-harm. Asking about these things does not push people into acting on their suicidal thoughts, and the more details they can provide, the better you can assess the severity of their risk.
Psychiatrists at Columbia University have developed a tool called the Columbia Protocol that can guide you through these questions and help determine the severity of a person’s risk. It can be found here. You can also encourage them to seek counseling, as research shows that a type of therapy known as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is very effective in reducing suicidal thinking.
3. Get Help
Many people at risk for suicide don’t ask for help or don’t know where to turn. You can contribute by encouraging those in need to seek care, by teaching coping skills and wellbeing practices and by helping to reduce access to lethal means.
Talking about your feelings and being open with friends and family can be a big step. Be a good listener – don’t argue about how they feel or tell them to “snap out of it.” Instead, listen to their concerns and provide support.
If they are threatening to harm themselves or have a specific plan, call your country’s emergency services number (911 in the US) or take them to the hospital right away. Also remove any weapons or other dangerous items from their home. You can also ask your school to find out whether they have a crisis team or whether they could train teachers, counselors and staff on how to recognize warning signs.
4. Change Your Environment
In addition to promoting hope and emotional support, communities can help prevent suicide by limiting access to lethal means. Examples of this include changing medication packaging, removing ligatures from bridges, and installing barriers at risky spots.
Gatekeeper education and screening programs have shown promise in reducing suicide rates. However, scalability limits their impact and they do not address all risk factors for suicide, including underlying depression and anxiety, sleep disturbance and acute alcohol intake, and impulsivity.
Achieving Zero Suicide requires top leadership commitment and front line champions to drive change and provide a safe, blame-free environment. It requires a culture of learning that creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge and adapts to new evidence. It also requires a workforce trained in best practices and a whole-of-society approach to preventing suicide. This includes leveraging people with lived experience and building partnerships with faith-based groups. Lastly, it requires data and tools for prioritizing prevention activities, advancing best practice interventions, and monitoring suicide death trends.