A comprehensive suicide prevention program includes work at the individual, systems and community levels. Efforts to reduce suicide include means restriction (including gun safety locks, limiting access to lethal medications, removing barriers from bridges) and public education and awareness campaigns.
Protective factors include a history of trauma and major life crises (like death or divorce, academic failures, financial troubles). Social support and spiritual connections also help people resist suicide.
Identifying People at Risk
People who attempt suicide often have a mix of risk factors. These include a history of depression, relationship problems or feeling disconnected from others, a strong desire to die, and access to lethal means (like guns or pills).
Warning signs may include thinking about suicide, acting recklessly or impulsively, and behaving differently. Family members and friends can be alert to these changes and encourage their loved ones to seek help.
Research shows that reducing the burden of negative conditions, known as social determinants of health, can reduce suicide rates. Examples of these include educating the public about suicide warning signs, gatekeeper training, and teaching self-help tools like mindfulness practices. In addition, programs like the Seeds of Understanding Speakers Collective bring individuals who have lived experiences with suicide into the community to humanize the issue and inspire hope and openness. These and other strategies have been shown to be effective. Suicide prevention efforts also can focus on specific communities at high risk, such as military veterans, those living in rural areas, and individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups.
Building Life Skills
The school community can do many things to promote protective factors for youth at risk of suicide. These activities can include prevention education about warning signs, myths and facts. Prevention education also can help destigmatize mental health issues, especially suicide.
Educators can use clinically-proven suicide prevention methods. A good example is the QPR (Question, Ask, Listen, and Refer) protocol. This is a set of 3-steps to help a student at risk tell someone they are struggling. Then the school staff can escort them to a health care professional.
School-based mental health services can include a full continuum of support from crisis intervention teams, walk-in and mobile crisis centers to hospital-based psychiatric emergency services. These services can be a lifeline for people in distress and can reduce the risk of suicide among those who attempt it. They can also provide ongoing support for those at risk and those bereaved by suicide. They can build resiliency and connect youth with ongoing support from peers, families, and community resources.
Developing Resilience
Resilience is the ability to adapt well to life’s many twists and turns. It can help people cope with adversity, tragedy and major sources of stress such as serious illness, loss of loved ones and relationship difficulties.
Resilient people have a strong sense of self-efficacy and are confident that they can overcome challenges. They prioritize healthy habits and maintain a balance between work, family, leisure and relationships. They also avoid blowing situations out of proportion and find ways to learn from each experience.
Increasing resilience takes time and practice. People who want to build their resiliency can start by finding positive role models in their lives. They can also seek mental health support from a therapist or counselor who can guide them through the process. Other important strategies include identifying and reaching people at risk of suicide; teaching warning signs and coping skills; and raising awareness through social campaigns. These strategies can reduce the number of deaths by suicide and lessen the harms that can be caused by suicide.
Raising Awareness
Suicide prevention requires a multifaceted approach that includes education, open dialogue and leveraging data and evidence. It is important to tailor these efforts to the needs of specific communities, ensuring that they are culturally relevant and resonant with local populations.
In addition to preventing suicide, raising awareness can reduce stigma surrounding mental health issues and make people more likely to seek help. This is especially true for groups and individuals that have experienced higher rates of suicide, such as American Indian/Alaska Native youth, white male adults and racial and ethnic minority populations.
Individuals can take action to raise awareness and support suicide prevention by educating themselves on the warning signs and risk factors of suicide, promoting open discussions about these topics and supporting organizations that offer resources for those in crisis. Additionally, they can support the well-being of a loved one who is suicidal by providing ongoing support and encouraging them to seek treatment. Examples of this support include providing access to services like 988, teaching coping and problem-solving skills and limiting access to lethal means.