Educate yourself and your community about suicide prevention. Learn about the warning signs, risk factors, and how to respond if someone is at risk.
Help prevent suicide by reducing access to lethal items, such as guns and medications like Tylenol. Reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviors through psychological resilience programs that promote optimism and connectedness is also important.
Identifying People at Risk
Identifying people at risk for suicide is one of the greatest challenges to effective prevention efforts. A person may be at risk if they have had previous thoughts or attempts or a history of family members who committed suicide. People at risk also include those who have a chronic or serious physical illness, like end-stage kidney disease, cancer, dementia, heart failure, or quadriplegia, or those who have a chronic pain condition, such as fibromyalgia or migraine.
Individuals may also be at risk if they are in the military and have experienced trauma, or if they have a mental health condition, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety. Other factors that increase suicide risk include social isolation, lack of family and friends, incarceration, poor housing conditions, substance use, a history of abuse or neglect, poverty, and religious beliefs that encourage suicide as a noble solution to a personal dilemma.
Enhancing Community Connectedness
The community’s ability to gather resources, communicate with residents, address threats, and recover from adversity is essential to preventing suicide. Programs that foster social connectedness can help reduce isolation and increase access to services for people at risk.
Providing people with life skills training and other tools that enable them to cope with challenges, like a crisis hotline or support groups, is one way to help reduce their risk of suicide. These activities can also build resilience, which is the ability to adapt to change and bounce back from adversity.
Many people who are considering suicide will make preparations, like cleaning their home or car and giving away personal possessions, to leave a final message. Reducing access to lethal means is another important prevention strategy. A person who is contemplating suicide may become more desperate if they believe they will be discovered and taken into custody by the police. Asking a person who is thinking about suicide if they are considering it, and encouraging them to seek help, is also crucial.
Providing Supportive Relationships
The suicide of a young person has many negative consequences for family and friend networks, school communities, and the broader community. These effects also have a direct impact on the health of those who remain, often leading to mental health difficulties and a greater risk of suicide attempts for those left behind.
A healthy social network can serve as a buffer against the negative effects of risk factors. These include a history of suicide in the family, loss and other significant life events (e.g., breakup of a relationship, death of a loved one, academic failure, legal or financial difficulties), and exposure to the suicide of others.
Studies in large representative samples of the general population have shown that a high level of social support is associated with decreased likelihood of suicide attempt. This has been shown even after controlling for a variety of related predictors. A simple act like smiling at someone and making eye contact, asking them how they are doing, or talking about a favorite television show can help to foster a sense of connection that may lead to a discussion about any struggles they are having.
Providing Mental Health Services
Providing mental health services to help people cope with distressing situations is crucial for reducing suicide risk. This includes teaching coping skills, providing emotional support, and making lethal means less available or deadly. Social programs that promote a sense of belonging and emotionally supportive relationships also help protect against suicide, as do interventions designed to reduce isolation.
Schools can play a key role in identifying and referring youth with mental health needs, particularly those at risk for suicide. They can foster a caring community and build resilience by promoting psychosocial competencies, increasing mental health literacy, and supporting student well-being through peer supports, a supportive school culture, and social and emotional learning.
A comprehensive approach to suicide prevention must include upstream, community-based initiatives as well as treatment and crisis services. These strategies should be complemented by a postvention plan that ensures continuity of care and includes the participation of people with lived experience. Continuity of care can be increased through tools like formal referral protocols, interagency agreements, cross-training, follow-up contacts, and patient and family education.