Educating people about suicide prevention and warning signs, as well as increasing their ability to respond to those at risk. Examples include Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).
Providing accessible, targeted information and resources to reduce stigma and increase hope. This includes posting signs on bridges that connect to a 988 suicide & crisis lifeline and talking therapies that have been shown to reduce suicide attempts and death.
Reduce access to lethal means
Suicide prevention strategies are most effective when people at risk do not have easy access to lethal means. This could include removing pills (over-the-counter and prescription), removing firearms, limiting access to ligature points, and more.
These measures can help individuals in crisis by reducing the likelihood of suicide and also by giving them time to get help. These measures can be part of an overall effort to reduce financial, cultural and logistical barriers that prevent individuals from receiving suicide prevention and treatment services.
Reducing lethal means also includes teaching coping and problem-solving skills to help people manage challenges, expanding options for temporary assistance and connecting individuals to quality mental and physical health care. This is one of the primary goals of a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention.
Enhance supportive relationships and community connectedness
Mental disorders, relationship breakdowns, a lack of access to care and a range of other risk factors contribute to suicide. When they do, the effects ripple through families and communities. A comprehensive community-based approach is needed to address these risks and prevent the long-lasting harms that can come from suicide.
Interventions designed to foster life skills and resilience reduce suicide risk. These upstream approaches might include teaching people to recognize warning signs, providing self-help tools, and lowering barriers to help-seeking by promoting social norms and making services more convenient and culturally appropriate.
Increasing connections in the community can be as simple as smiling and making eye contact when greeting someone, or asking how they’re doing. It can also be as complex as offering programs that build positive attachments and help people rely on one another during tough times.
Identify people at risk for suicide
People at risk for suicide often have many barriers to seeking help, including not knowing that support services exist, fearing that help won’t work, or feeling they don’t deserve it. Addressing these barriers through outreach, education, and self-help tools can be effective.
Supportive relationships and community connectedness are protective factors against suicide, helping to buffer individuals from stressors that might otherwise cause them to consider or attempt suicide. Addressing these protective factors through social programs for specific populations or general community outreach can reduce suicidal ideation and attempts.
When someone close to you expresses concern about suicide, ask them about their thoughts without judgment and listen. Providing them with resources like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and connecting them to a counselor or other trusted person can make all the difference.
Develop a full continuum of care
Many suicide prevention programs are fragmented. A community-based approach is needed to address the multiple factors that contribute to risk and protection from suicide.
Programs should focus on increasing access to culturally responsive and trauma informed care by working with local news media, law enforcement agencies, primary care physicians, pharmacies, and community health organizations. They should also identify and mitigate barriers to help-seeking, including stigma, by addressing the underlying conditions that create them.
The CDC technical package includes strategies to promote more comprehensive communities, such as allotting financial resources for suicide prevention, strengthening suicide-related care, teaching coping skills, encouraging social support, and identifying at-risk individuals. These programs need to be developed, improved, and implemented. They should also include a postvention plan that addresses the needs of people who have experienced suicide loss.
Develop a postvention plan
In communities and organizations where a suicide death takes place, a pre-established postvention plan can help people within those systems heal in the wake of the loss. Postvention guidelines, such as those from UC Davis, offer structure for coordinating communication, assigning tasks and mobilizing resources when a suicide occurs.
Effective postvention plans strategically communicate to prevent suicide contagion, and include procedures for identifying those most at risk. They also ensure that the right amount of information is disclosed, Niznik says. Oversharing can lead to copycat suicides.
For firehouses, that might mean setting up company meetings for firefighters as soon as possible to discuss the death and receive resources, therapy referrals and support. Ideally, these meetings would be led by peer counselors with mental health expertise.