Behavioral Health Care
Because suicide is closely linked to mental health and substance use disorders, behavioral health care providers play a key role in treating suicide risk and related behavioral health problems. Providers who work in health care settings like primary care practices and emergency departments are also essential to treating patients at risk for suicide. By offering patients high-quality suicide care, they can reduce suicide risk among some of the most vulnerable individuals.
Providers in other health care settings are also essential to treating patients at risk for suicide.
Why Address Suicide Prevention
- Treating suicide risk directly, not just as a symptom of an underlying condition, is considered safe suicide care.
- Inpatient hospitalization—often considered the first resort for patients at risk for suicide—is the most costly and restrictive option.
How Behavioral Health Care Providers Can Take Action
The best way to prevent suicide is to use a comprehensive approach that includes these key components:
- Train all staff in effective suicide care, the specific protocols to follow, and the delivery of collaborative suicide care
- Create agreements to accept referrals from other health care providers (primary care, hospitals)
- Ensure safe transitions of care
Learn More
- To learn more about safe and effective care for suicide risk, visit the Zero Suicide website.
- See the Recommended Resources below selected by SPRC personnel.
- See All Resources Related to Behavioral Health Care for a full list of materials, programs, trainings, and other information available from SPRC. Use the filters on the left to narrow your results.
- For more on other settings and groups, see our Settings and Populations pages.
Recommended Resources
Zero Suicide website
This website provides information, resources, and tools for implementing Zero Suicide.
R3 Report Issue 18: National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 15.01.01 for suicide prevention
The Joint Commission realized that suicide rates have not improved over the past decade and has...
Suicide Screening and Assessment
This SPRC resource presents two approaches to evaluating suicide risk and links to resources.
Reformulating suicide risk formulation: From prediction to prevention
This article presents a model for conducting context-based rather than categorical (high-medium-low) suicide risk assessments.
Safety planning guide: A quick guide for clinicians
This quick guide for clinicians may be used to develop a safety plan - a prioritized written li...
VA/DoD clinical practice guideline for assessment and management of patients at risk for suicide
This practice guideline was developed under the auspices of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
All Resources Related to Behavioral Health Care
Displaying 115 results. Refine results using the filters on the left.
NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Mental Health Respite Facilities Are Filling Care Gaps in Over a Dozen States
2023
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MASSACHUSETTS: Program at William James College Tries to Reduce Veteran Suicide by Focusing on Relationship to Guns
2023
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Almost Half of Children Who Go to ER With Mental Health Crisis Don’t Get the Follow-Up Care They Need, Study Finds
2023
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Lessons From Ecuador on Responding to the Mental Health Crisis in the U.S. and around the World
2023
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Safety Planning and Means Reduction in Large Health Care Organizations
2022
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Principles of Effective Suicide Care: Evidence-Based Treatments
2022
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Zero Suicide Webinar: The Role of Peer Support Services in Caring for Those at Risk of Suicide
2022
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: After a Suicide: Postvention in Health and Behavioral Healthcare Settings
2022
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Data-Driven Quality Improvement in Zero Suicide
2022
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Pre-application Webinar: Cooperative Agreements to Implement Zero Suicide in Health Systems
2022
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Safe Care Transitions in a Zero Suicide Framework
2022
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Webinar/Training
SPARS Training for New National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and Zero Suicide Prevention Grantees: Overview of IPP Quarterly Data Entry Requirements and Annual Performance Goals and Budget Estimates
2022
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Addressing America’s Mental Health Crisis—Especially in Rural Areas—Starts by Making Care More Accessible
2022
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Survey of Americans Who Attempted Suicide Finds Many Aren’t Getting Care
2022
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
NEW YORK: How a Hospital and a School District Teamed Up to Help Kids in Emotional Crisis
2021
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Facing a Broken Mental Health System, Many U.S. Teens Fall Off a Dangerous “Cliff” in Their Care
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
For Stressed-Out Black Americans, Mental Health Care Often Hard to Come By
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
"We're Losing Our Kids": Black Youth Suicide Rate Rising Far Faster than for Whites; Coronavirus, Police Violence Deepen Trauma
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
INTERNATIONAL: Suicide Risk and Prevention during the COVID-19 Pandemic
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
COLORADO: Mental Health Care in Colorado Has Gone Virtual Thanks to Coronavirus. For Some Patients, It’s Long Overdue.
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
WASHINGTON: Mental Health Experts Race to Help Children Cope with Stay-at-Home Life amid Coronavirus Closures
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
UTAH: Utah Becomes Latest State to Ban Discredited LGBTQ “Conversion Therapy”
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Annual Report Shows National and International College Mental Health Trends
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
IOWA: DMU Becomes First Medical School to Require Mental Health Course for Students
2020
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MICHIGAN: Michigan Providers Seek to Improve Whole Communities by Integrating Behavioral and Physical Health
2019
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Study of a Suicide Prevention Intervention Delivered by Peer Support Specialists
2019
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
VIRGINIA: Virginia's 40 Mental Health Clinics to Offer Walk-In Evaluations
2019
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Suicide After Surviving Mass Trauma Isn’t Inexplicable. And There Are Ways to Help.
2019
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Sexual Orientation, Gender, and Attempted Suicide among Adolescent Inpatients
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MISSOURI: Following Tragedy, St. Louis Hospitals Renew Commitment to Postpartum Mental Health
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Using Electronic Health Records to Predict Suicide Attempts and Deaths in Outpatient Care
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Recommended Standard Care for People with Suicide Risk: A Critical Step Forward
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Zero Suicide Training Offered to Local Health Professionals
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
INTERNATIONAL: Lack of Follow-Up Visits a Factor in Increase in Suicide Rates, Study Shows
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
ENGLAND: Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Trust Develops New Suicide Plan
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
CALIFORNIA: Community Paramedics Work to Link Patients with Mental Health Care
2016
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
GERMANY: Psychiatry on Closed and Open Wards: The Suicide Risk Remains the Same
2016
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
CANADA: Social Workers Adopt New National Policy on Suicide Prevention Thanks to Waterloo Students
2016
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
UNITED KINGDOM: New research examines suicide in new and expectant mothers
2016
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
WASHINGTON: As PTSD cases surge, Army overhauling mental health services
2015
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Los Angeles County implements program to ensure mentally ill get treatment
2015
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