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Advancing Suicide Prevention: The Role of Technology and AI in Mental Health Care
Suicide rates in the U.S. have reached alarming levels, with 13.2 million adults experiencing serious suicidal thoughts annually, 3.8 million making a plan, and 1.6 million attempting suicide. These statistics reflect a public health emergency that demands urgent attention. Yet, access to quality...
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Leadership’s Responsibility for Postvention Following a Death by Suicide
While society has grown more open to discussions centering around suicide - both its prevention and its impact on survivors - the subject remains fraught among mental health clinicians who have treated people who have died in this manner. The death of a client by suicide can elicit in providers...
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NYSPA Report: New Federal Policy in Support of Suicide Prevention
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration launched a new national strategy on Suicide Prevention. According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): In the United States, someone dies by suicide every 11 minutes; the rates of suicidal behaviors have...
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Leveraging Digital Tools: Innovative Technology for Suicide Prevention and Support in Healthcare
Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with over 700,000 people taking their own lives each year (World Health Organization, 2021). Beyond the immense emotional toll it inflicts on families and friends, suicide places a heavy burden on healthcare systems. Over recent years,...
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A Unique and Insidious Grief: Losing a Loved One to Suicide
Deaths by suicide are unquestionably tragic by any measure, but considerably more so when considered in the context of their impact on surviving family members. Most public health initiatives have logically targeted individuals at risk of suicide and promoted prevention efforts accordingly; fewer...
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The Heavy Burden of Suicide Survivor’s Guilt: Understanding, Coping and Moving Forward
Family, friends, and even mere acquaintances are left with a wide range of feelings after someone in their life commits suicide. Feelings of responsibility, regret, and helplessness manifest in a complex experience called Survivor’s Guilt. This painful guilt grows from a sense of intense remorse...
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No Judgment. Just Help: What You Can Do to Support Suicide Prevention Month Efforts
Ask almost anyone about suicide, and you’ll likely find they have been personally impacted by the loss – or near loss – of a loved one. It’s perhaps not surprising given the statistics. In 2022 alone, more than 49,000 people in the United States died by suicide, the highest number ever...
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An Epidemic Rages On: “Treatment” Is Not Enough
Unprecedented rates of substance abuse and mental illness have afflicted nearly every segment of our population in recent years. This intractable public health crisis has led healthcare professionals, policymakers, and other stakeholders to reexamine longstanding assumptions concerning the...
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Caring for Yourself: Learning to Live with a Substance Use Disorder
Substance use and misuse have reached epidemic proportions across the United States. In a 2020 survey, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that more than 40 million individuals across the country over the age of 12 have a substance use disorder, with...
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Lessons Learned in Effectively Advancing Co-Occurring Competent Care
Recently, there has been great emphasis on enhancing organizational co-occurring competency and for good reason. Climbing overdose and suicide rates, with bi-directional contribution from mental health (MH) and substance use disorders (SUD), reflect our need to do better serving those with multiple...
