Best Practices Registry

Based on topics or factors included in evidence-based frameworks such as
SPRC’s Comprehensive Approach to Suicide Prevention, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Implement the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, and the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model, here are additional descriptions of the categories the program or intervention aims to impact:

Reduce risk factors (including upstream factors) including factors such as: thoughts of suicide; prior suicide attempts; knowing someone who died by suicide, particularly a family member; chronic diseases; mental disorders (depression, mood disorders); disability; access to lethal means; alcohol
use, illicit drug use; poverty; social isolation; stress resulting from prejudice or discrimination; stress resulting from attitudes towards gender and sexual identify, trauma or Historical trauma; loss of identity, sense of belonging, or connections with community; adverse childhood experiences (ACES); neighborhood violence; disruption in medical care, loss of coverage, or cessation of medication use

Promote protective factors (including upstream factors) including factors such as: coping and problem-solving skills; health education; screening and support for those at risk for suicide; cultural identity, connections, and community; family engagement; economic stability; stable housing policies; physical education and opportunities for physical activity; wellness (nutritional, environmental, workplace, social and emotional climate); safe and secure physical environment

Improve community factors including factors such as: stigma reduction; connectedness; protective environment; positive expectations; policies and practices to reduce bullying; support for learning; positive social norms; supportive relationships; opportunities for skill building

Improve suicide care (postvention) is care and support to individuals affected by suicide deaths and attempts to promote healing and implement community strategies to help prevent further suicides. Postvention efforts also include interventions after a suicide, often consisting of support for survivors of suicide loss who may also be at risk, with the intention of preventing contagion (suicide risk associated with the knowledge of another person’s suicidal behavior, either firsthand or through the media). Materials that provide guidance on how institutions should respond in the immediate aftermath of suicide. Materials about addressing the long-term needs of those bereaved by suicide.

Improve health care system quality including efforts such as: suicide prevention promotion as a core component of health care services; therapeutic or psychological counseling, faith-based care, and other needed psychological and social services; access to effective mental health treatments or interventions intended to address an individual or population’s suicide risk, risk factors for suicide, or suicide attempt; access and delivery of quality suicide care; provider response to crisis and improved patient care transition; effective transitions in care to help reduce suicide risk among individuals receiving health or behavioral health services. One example would be a person with suicide risk who connects with outpatient mental health services following an emergency department visit.

Improve communication about suicide including research-informed communication efforts designed to prevent suicide by changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors; responsible media reporting of suicide; accurate portrayals of suicide and mental illnesses in the entertainment industry; and the safety of online content related to suicide

Improve provider (e.g., physicians, mental health professionals) attitudes, knowledge, and skills about suicide including: community and clinical service provider trainings on the prevention of suicide and related behaviors; stigma reduction strategies; effective clinical and professional practices for assessing and treating those identified as being at risk for suicidal behaviors.