Suicide Prevention
Resource Brief

Hotlines

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. A free, 24-hour, confidential hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Call for yourself or someone you care about. Your call will be routed to the nearest crisis center. Telephone: (800) 273-TALK or (800) 273- 8255 (voice); (800) 799-4889 (TDD) or (888) 628-9454 (Spanish).
  
  
• Trevor Lifeline. A free, 24-hour, confidential crisis and suicide-prevention lifeline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. TrevorChat is a free, confidential, and secure online messaging service that provides live help with trained volunteers.
  

Websites

• American Association of Suicidology (AAS). Fact sheets, statistics, and publications for health, education, and social services professionals and families about reducing the incidence of suicide and suicidal behaviors among children and adolescents. Includes information about education and training opportunities for health and education professionals. Also includes resources and support for those thinking about suicide, suicide loss survivors, and suicide attempt survivors.
  
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Suicide Prevention. Fact sheets, program information, definitions, and data about suicide. Includes information about suicide risk and protective factors, consequences, and prevention strategies.
  
  
• National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance). Information about suicide and the Action Alliance, a public-private partnership to promote suicide prevention as a national priority. Resources include
  
  National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action, rev. ed. (2012). [Report, Overview, Fact sheet]. Developed by the U.S. Surgeon General and the Action Alliance.
  
  National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Individuals in Justice and Child Welfare Settings. (2012). [Fact sheet].
  
  
• Reach Out. Youth-generated, expert-reviewed information and stories with opportunities for adolescents to connect with one another in a supportive, safe environment. Topics include warning signs for suicide, depression, and eating disorders, as well as relationship advice and coping strategies. Includes tips to help cope with tough times and tips for helping a friend.
  
  
• Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. Recommendations for the media about safe and accurate reporting of suicide to reduce the risk of contagion and encourage help-seeking behavior. Lists the warning signs of suicide.
  
  
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Suicide prevention information, training materials, and other resources to assist professionals, advocates, and families with developing suicide prevention programs, interventions, and policies. Includes an online library of resources about suicide, suicide prevention, and mental health. Also presents descriptions of and resources from state efforts to prevent suicide. SPRC is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Resources include
  
  After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools. (2011).
  
  Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention. Program descriptions and contact information for suicide prevention programs that effectively address specific objectives of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.
  
  Continuity of Care for Suicide Prevention and Research: Suicide Attempts and Suicide Deaths Subsequent to Discharge from an Emergency Department or an Inpatient Psychiatry Unit. (2011). [Report].
  
  
• TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups. Resources for the early identification of mental illness in adolescents, including kits for developing a mental health screening initiative in primary care offices, schools, and community-based programs; evidence-based resources for providing mental health checkups to adolescents as part of their routine health care; fact sheets on mental health, depression, and suicide; and a state resource center with information about adolescent suicide, mental health issues, policy, and state and federal government contacts. TeenScreen is affiliated with the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
  
  
• The Trevor Project. Facts and warning signs about suicide, tips on how to help a person in crisis, and an online directory for finding local resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Also offers information about a classroom tool and other resources that can be used to generate discussion about the issues surrounding suicide, personal identity, and sexual orientation. Resources include
  
  Talking About Suicide and LGBT Populations. (2011). This guide was developed by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Johnson Family Foundation, Movement Advancement Project, and The Trevor Project.
  
  
• Center for Mental Health Services. 2012. Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
  

Grief Support

• American Association of Suicidology (AAS): Suicide Loss Survivors. A newsletter, articles, a handbook, personal stories, and fact sheets for survivors of suicide. Includes an online directory of suicide survivor support groups by state. Also offers a fact sheet for family members, friends, and coworkers about helping a survivor heal and resources for mental health clinicians who have lost a client to suicide.
  
  
• Compassionate Friends: Grief Support After the Death of a Child. Brochures for parents, grandparents, and siblings who have experienced the death of a child at any age and from any cause. Also offers support via online support groups and local chapters.
  

Related MCH Library Resources

• Adolescent Violence Prevention knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
• Bullying resource brief
• Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Challenges in Children and Adolescents knowledge path, family resource brief, school resource brief
  
  

Suicide Prevention: Resource Brief. (July 2011). (Updated: January 2013).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewers: Lauren Agoratus, M.A., Family Voices and Family-to-Family Health Information Resource Center at the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of N.J.; Olivia Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library; Judi Siegel, L.I.C.S.W., Children's Hospital Boston; Sandy Swan, M.L.S., M.P.H., C.H.I.S., Phil Johnson Historic Archives and Research Library.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.