Suicide Prevention Month: Protecting the People We Love
Suicide prevention isn't a single conversation. It's a set of small, consistent actions taken by families, schools, providers, and communities, long before a crisis ever reaches a hotline.
September is Suicide Prevention Month, and I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about something I have carried with me since my time working the crisis line at NJ Hopeline: prevention is not one person's job alone. My hope with this post is to share some of the research on what works, so we can all feel a little more equipped to help the people we love.
Why Suicide Risk Often Goes Unrecognized
One finding that stood out to me is how often risk goes unrecognized. Oquendo and colleagues (2024), published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that roughly one in five people who attempt suicide do not have a previously diagnosed mental health condition. That statistic reframes prevention for me. We cannot rely solely on diagnosis or treatment history to identify who might be struggling. We need broader, community-level awareness, not just clinical vigilance.
Prevention Strategies With Strong Research Support
A rapid review summarizing suicide prevention research from 2024 highlighted several strategies with real supporting evidence: crisis helplines, brief interventions like safety planning and lethal means counseling, gatekeeper training, and social prescribing programs that connect at-risk individuals to community supports.
Gatekeeper Training
Gatekeeper training teaches everyday community members, such as teachers, coaches, and coworkers, to recognize warning signs and know how to respond. A systematic review by Holmes and colleagues (2021), published in Archives of Suicide Research, found measurable long-term benefits: trained gatekeepers reported lasting improvements in their knowledge, confidence, and willingness to intervene.
The Safety Planning Intervention
The Safety Planning Intervention, developed by Stanley and Brown (2012) and published in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, remains one of the most well-supported brief interventions in the field. It's a short, collaborative process where a person at risk works with a clinician to build a personalized plan covering six areas: recognizing personal warning signs, internal coping strategies, social contacts who provide distraction, people who can offer direct support, professional and crisis resources, and steps for making the environment safer by limiting access to lethal means.
Limiting Access to Lethal Means
That last piece, often called means restriction, has research behind it as well. Hawton's foundational work on restricting access to methods of suicide found that limiting access during a crisis, even temporarily, can meaningfully reduce risk. Many suicidal crises are shorter and more situational than people assume.
More recent scoping and narrative reviews on adolescent suicide prevention (2025, published in Frontiers in Public Health and Frontiers in Psychology) reinforce that the strongest programs treat suicide risk as multifactorial. Family dynamics, peer relationships, school climate, and broader social and environmental factors all interact with individual mental health. The most effective school and community-based programs combine education, early identification, and clear pathways to care rather than relying on any single approach.
What This Means for Parents, Educators, and Clinicians
None of this research is meant to suggest that any one person can single-handedly prevent a suicide, and it is not meant to place that pressure on you either. Prevention works best as a shared responsibility, spread across the people in someone's life.
If you are a parent or caregiver, this might look like learning the warning signs and asking direct questions when something feels off, rather than avoiding the topic out of fear of making things worse. Research consistently shows that asking someone directly about suicidal thoughts does not increase risk and often provides relief.
If you are an educator, coach, or community member, gatekeeper training is widely available and has a genuine evidence base behind it.
If you are a clinician, building safety planning and lethal means counseling into your standard practice, rather than reserving it for the highest-risk cases, reflects where the research is pointing us.
I would also encourage anyone reading this to think about connection as prevention. Several of the studies I reviewed pointed to social support, community belonging, and consistent check-ins as protective factors in their own right. Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can offer someone is simply staying present.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does asking someone about suicide increase their risk?
No. Research consistently shows that asking someone directly about suicidal thoughts does not increase risk, and often provides relief for the person being asked.
What is a safety plan?
A safety plan is a short, collaborative document a person builds with a clinician, covering personal warning signs, coping strategies, supportive contacts, professional resources, and steps to limit access to lethal means during a crisis.
What is gatekeeper training?
Gatekeeper training teaches everyday community members, like teachers, coaches, and coworkers, to recognize warning signs of suicide risk and respond appropriately, including how to connect someone to help.
Can most people who experience a suicidal crisis recover?
Research shows many suicidal crises are shorter and more situational than people assume, which is part of why limiting access to lethal means during a crisis can meaningfully reduce risk.
A Note on Safety
If you or someone you know is currently struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please know that help is available right now. You can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7. If you are ever in immediate danger, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
As always, if you have questions about this topic or would like to talk further about risk assessment, safety planning, or how to support someone you love, please don't hesitate to reach out. I would love to hear your thoughts.
ReferencesHawton, K. (2007). Restricting access to methods of suicide: Rationale and evaluation of this approach to suicide prevention. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 28(Suppl 1), 4–9.Holmes, G., Clacy, A., Hermens, D. F., & Lagopoulos, J. (2021). The long-term efficacy of suicide prevention gatekeeper training: A systematic review. Archives of Suicide Research, 25(2), 177–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1690608Oquendo, M. A., et al. (2024). Suicide risk among individuals without a diagnosed mental disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 81(6), 572.Highlights from suicide prevention research in 2024. (2024). Rapid review, PubMed database search. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12437733/Stanley, B., & Brown, G. K. (2012). Safety Planning Intervention: A brief intervention to mitigate suicide risk. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 19(2), 256–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2011.01.001A comprehensive approach to adolescent suicide prevention: Insights from a narrative review perspective. (2025). Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1612067Suicide prevention program on suicidal behaviors and mental wellbeing among school-aged adolescents: A scoping review. (2025). Frontiers in Public Health, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1506321