Preventing suicide is a complex endeavor and a responsibility shared by a range of community agencies. Schools have a unique role to play in recognizing warning signs and connecting students with help.
Asking someone directly if they’re considering suicide doesn’t increase risk – it may be life-saving. Reducing access to lethal items, like firearms or medication, also helps.
Identifying Risk Factors
There are a number of risk factors that can increase someone’s likelihood to consider suicide or make an attempt. These include a history of suicide in the family, substance abuse and depression, psychiatric disorders, social isolation, financial problems, relationship conflicts, chronic pain and physical illness, and the availability of lethal means.
Identifying warning signs of suicide can help save lives. Talk, mood and behavior can all be indicators of suicidal thoughts. Look for a person talking about being hopeless or trapped, changes in mood, and an increased use of drugs and alcohol.
Protective factors can decrease a person’s vulnerability to suicide. These can include a supportive family and community, religious and cultural beliefs that discourage or disapprove of suicide (e.g., sati in Hindu communities), and the use of suicide prevention strategies (e.g., restricting access to lethal pesticides). Life skills training and resilience-building activities also can be protective. These can teach people how to cope with difficulties like poverty, divorce and chronic illness.
Identifying Triggers
Suicide can be triggered by any event that creates a life crisis, including death of a loved one or pet, divorce or break-up of a relationship, diagnosis of a serious illness or loss of a job. It can also be triggered by specific forms of self-harm and dangerous behavior, such as reckless driving or engaging in unsafe sex.
It’s important to look for dramatic changes in a person’s behavior. Some warning signs include withdrawing from friends and family, avoiding other people, sleep problems, weight fluctuations, lack of interest in personal hygiene or appearance and a change in their sense of hope.
Providing ongoing support and contact to someone at risk can help reduce their suicide risk. This can be done through follow-up calls or e-mails, visits, or by using an app such as BeyondNow. Research shows that these types of contacts can increase feelings of connectedness and decrease risk for a person at high risk for suicide.
Creating a Safety Plan
A safety plan gives individuals who experience suicidal thoughts a clear set of steps they can take when those feelings come up. It may include coping or distraction techniques, how they can make their immediate environment and situation safer (such as removing lethal objects) and who to contact for help.
Creating a safety plan should be done collaboratively with the individual. This allows them to have ownership over what goes into the plan and for it to feel relevant to them. It also reduces the risk that a provider may provide a checklist that the person is unlikely to use.
It is important that the individual writes a plan that they can easily access in a crisis and that they review it regularly to ensure it’s still appropriate. It should include key phone numbers for friends and family as well as professionals such as their GP or mental health worker and national resources like 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Getting Help
People of all ages face challenges that can trigger feelings of hopelessness and depression. Life events such as divorce, the loss of a job or a loved one, or physical ailments such as chronic illness, can lead to psychological distress and suicidal thoughts.
A full range of prevention strategies can help prevent suicide, including teaching coping skills and warning signs to those most at risk; providing accessible and culturally appropriate mental health and crisis services; increasing options for temporary assistance; and reducing access to lethal items and places.
You can help prevent suicide by being there for someone who is struggling – by listening without judgment, calling, dropping by or visiting. Stay involved with them over the long haul by encouraging healthy lifestyles (eating well, getting enough sleep and exercise), reducing access to lethal means and promoting suicide awareness and prevention. Join your community in recognizing 988 Day on September 8, and get involved in advocating for better mental health and crisis support.