SPRC 2021 Tribal Suicide Prevention Needs Assessment Aggregate Technical Report

The primary purpose of the Tribal Needs Assessment is to help SPRC better understand tribal suicide prevention needs and track changes over time in suicide prevention capacity, while providing information to tribes and tribal health boards on their own progress and on tribal suicide prevention infrastructure and programming in the nation as a whole. 

Public Perception of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Survey Results

This report summarizes the results of a Harris Poll conducted in July 2020 about public knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and experiences related to mental health, access to mental health care, and suicide prevention among adults in the United States. The poll was conducted on behalf of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Education Development Center, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and builds on similar surveys from 2015 and 2018. It included questions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Lifeline Reports: January-June 2020

These reports examine call volume for each state and the territories of American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from January to June, 2020. They also provide five-year trends and the proportion of callers receiving responses from in-state crisis centers.

Click on the link for your state/territory to view your state/territory report.

AL AK AS AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA GU HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK  OR PA  PR  RI  SC SD TN TX UT VT VI VA WA WV WI WY

Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth

Healthy mental, emotional and behavioral development are protective against suicide. The publication of Preventing Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders among Young People: Progress and Possibilities made a strong research-based case for supporting mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) interventions in 2009. In the ten years since, a growing body of research has significantly strengthened understanding of healthy MEB development, factors that influence it, and how it can be fostered. This report discusses MEB influences in several environments; strategies to address MEB in homes, schools, healthcare and policy domains; and guidelines for implementation.  

Trevor national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health

This is the Trevor Project’s first wide-ranging report from a cross-sectional national survey of LGBTQ youth across the United States. 34,000 LGBTQ youth responded, reporting on discrimination, being pressured to change their sexual orientation, feeling sad and hopeless, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts. 

Health systems interventions to prevent firearm injuries and death

The Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop that examined the roles that health systems can play in addressing the prevalence of firearm violence, including suicide, in the United States. This publication summarizes the discussions held during the workshop and highlighted the lessons, practical strategies and opportunities for healthcare systems that were identified by the speakers to prevent firearm injury and death.

Behind the asterisk*: Perspectives on young adult mental health from “small and hard-to-reach” communities

Youth and young adults in small and hard-to-reach communities (white rural, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, urban Native American and the homeless) face special challenges, including suicide, to their mental health. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) worked with five focus groups drawn from these populations to arrive at a set of ten policy recommendations to promote systems reform and mental health equity. The purpose of this report is to inform policymakers, practitioners and advocates about the lives of these young people in order to achieve more effective and more equitable policymaking on their behalf.  

Improving care to prevent suicide among people with serious mental illness: Proceedings of a workshop

In September 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss preventing suicide among people with serious mental illness. Presenters reviewed what is known about the problem, what is currently being done and future directions. Special sessions focused on Military and Veterans, American Indians and Alaska Natives and Healthcare, including the development and implementation of Zero Suicide. 

Suicide rates by major occupational group — 17 states, 2012 and 2015

Using data from 17 states participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System in 2012 and 2015, the CDC analyzed suicide deaths by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) major groups for decedents ages 16–64 years. This report corrects an earlier one, Suicide Rates by Occupational Group — 17 States, 2012, retracted in 2018. The new report uses updated methodology, includes input from NIOSH and analyzes both 2012 and 2015 data.  
Although created in response to the earlier report, the attached Action Alliance statement provides many useful strategies and resources for preventing workplace suicide. 

Suicide Surveillance Strategies for American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

This report summarizes findings and recommendations from SPRC’s exploration of suicide surveillance among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities across the country. Each section describes challenges and provides strategies and resources to help AI/AN communities gather data on suicide to inform and evaluate their prevention efforts. The report was developed with input from national experts in tribal suicide data collection, including Garrett Lee Smith project staff and other AI/AN prevention professionals and community members. It is designed to support tribal Garrett Lee Smith grantees in their data collection efforts but could be useful to any practitioners working in suicide surveillance to learn about the challenges specific to tribal populations, as well to those already working with AI/AN communities.