Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide

2011

Guidelines

Information

Guidelines/Recommendations
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), Annenberg Public Policy Center, Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, National Alliance on Mental Illness, New Hampshire (NAMI NH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)

See This Resource

Recommendations for reporting on suicide

This website provides free access to research-based recommendations for reporting on suicide

Program Objectives

Media that implement the recommendations will:

  1. Reduce the type of language in reporting that may increase suicide risk of contagion.
  2. Reflect in their reporting an understanding of the causes of suicide, its relationship to mental illness, and the effectiveness of treatments.
  3. Avoid reporting myths and misunderstandings about suicide.
  4. Better understand the questions to ask and angles to pursue when reporting about suicide