Consequently, different therapeutic interventions have been proposed for suicidal behavior in this particular population. Building a culture of care that prioritizes mental health, especially during adolescence, could be a powerful step toward reducing suicide rates among youth and saving the lives of generations to come (Cha et al., 2018). Understanding the conditions that lead to youth suicide is essential in shaping proactive, targeted interventions.
Additional Resources for Suicide Prevention
Whilst some potentially effective interventions may have been excluded (e.g., those designed to treat or prevent depression), this review is well-placed to provide guidance regarding what does and does not impact suicide-related outcomes in young people. Only three studies , , tested interventions among indigenous young people, despite this group being at elevated risk in many countries . The interventions tested typically comprised universal educational programs, gatekeeper training, screening, and treatment responses where appropriate, and appeared to positively impact young people. This finding is in contrast to a review by Ougrin and colleagues, which found evidence of benefit for clinical interventions in reducing the proportion of adolescents re-engaging in repeat self-harm . Two of the five studies testing a CBT-based intervention reported reductions in suicide-related behaviour , , and three reported reductions in suicidal ideation , , .
NASP: The National Association of School Psychologists
Senate Bill 122, which supporters dubbed “Josh’s Bill,” passed 24-9 after emotional floor debate about the balance between preventing suicides and criminalizing traumatized witnesses. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Senate passed legislation Monday creating a new crime for people who witness a suicide attempt but intentionally fail to call for help. Sign up to hike for mental health and explore Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula!
The Good Behavior Game (GBG) program that reduces aggressive–antisocial behavior leverages the influence of teacher practices and students across the classroom to promote behavioral control and classroom norms.11 The following considerations, drawn from epidemiologic and prevention science perspectives, guided selection of the most promising prevention targets and research pathways. Practitioners can address these research needs by contributing studies to the body of literature. As a practitioner, the provider may have clinical responsibilities with regard to either an individual patient, a broader community, or both. In 2019, NVDRS expanded data collection and now funds all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. If you have a question or an access need, please get in touch with us at
- As above findings are presented according to the outcome assessed, with the primary outcome (self-harm) reported first, followed by suicidal ideation.
- Primary care providers are the front-line for community intervention, which involve identifying and screening for people at risk for suicide.
- Several suicide prevention programs are available to intervene with youth at risk for suicide in the medical setting.
- More recently, strategies have called for interventions to be delivered in digital, as well as face-to-face, settings , .
- Suicide is one of the most frequently reported Sentinel Events to The Joint Commission (TJC) among behavioral health and medical patients.
Strategies must encompass evidence-based interventions if they are to reduce suicide . The majority of OECD countries have a national suicide prevention strategy and many identify young people as requiring specific attention , , . Although suicidal ideation is arguably a distinct concept from suicidal behavior, for ease of reading it is included under the term “suicide-related behavior” throughout this review unless otherwise specified. Together these findings suggest that important opportunities for youth suicide prevention are currently being missed. Additionally, many studies simply tested interventions that had previously been designed for adults as opposed to young people specifically.
Strategies for Community and School Settings
Because studies to guide continuation or maintenance treatment for young people at risk for suicide are not available, the length of treatment is determined by clinical judgment and the patient’s and family’s preferences. Other somatic treatments that have been applied to suicide risk in young people with little in the way of controlled trials include electroconvulsive therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation treatments such as theta burst stimulation. Initial management of suicide risk in young people is typically multifaceted, including elements of safety planning, optimizing environmental safety via education on lethal means restriction, crisis stabilization, enhanced monitoring, and linkage with further treatment. At follow-up, parents who received the education reported taking more action to limit access (for example, locking up firearms and medication) than those who did not receive the education.102 Other examples of selective interventions include those developed for young people bereaved by suicide, those presenting to the emergency department with suicidal ideation or depression and substance use, and those reporting high levels of perceived burdensomeness.103 Selective suicide prevention programs are developed for groups of young people known to be at an increased risk for suicide. By comparison, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends against stratification of suicide risk into low, medium, or high to determine who should be offered treatment or discharged from hospital or to predict future individual risk of suicide or self-harm.98 The NICE Guideline Committee determined that risk assessment measures cannot accurately predict risk of suicide or self-harm and that the potential harms of risk stratification outweigh any benefits, partly because of the dynamic nature of suicide risk but also because people who die by suicide often score low on these risk scores.
When staff at the Missouri Department of Mental Health (MDMH) receive questions about suicide or when news related to suicide is released, the MDMH director of public and legislative affairs works to organize a timely response. Virginia’s Injury and Violence Prevention Program houses two full-time staff devoted to data epidemiology and evaluation. Oregon uses these data to update public facing data SPRC Recover Together resources dashboards, which include state- and county-level, syndromic surveillance, and 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline call center data.