Suicide Prevention Month 2024

As we approach Suicide Prevention Month (#SPM24) and Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 8-14), the Action Alliance is committed to bringing the field together to amplify messages about the significant role we all play in supporting each other. It is important that our field continues working together to develop and promote consistent messages of hope and help-seeking.

The Action Alliance will share resources, messaging guidance, and opportunities for engagement throughout September on social media, centered around the following key calls to action:

Take action to prevent suicide in your community.

#BeThere for those who are disproportionately affected by suicide.

Learn about the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and take steps to implement it in your community. View the full strategy here.

Develop effective messaging for suicide prevention, including the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Save the date!

Monday, September 9 at 1:00 p.m. ET

Mark your calendars on Monday, September 9, 2024, at 1:00pm ET for the #BeThere Twitter/X Chat. Join us for a discussion on enhancing suicide prevention strategies, promoting open, safe, and effective communication, and important resources like 988.

Throughout September, we encourage you to use #BeThere and #SPM24 on social media to promote hope and help-seeking, and offer support to anyone in need. Engage with the Action Alliance on social media, share our resources, and help amplify our partner campaigns.

How we publicly communicate about suicide can have either negative or positive impacts on help-seeking behaviors. Research has found that certain types of public messaging about suicide can increase risk among vulnerable individuals. However, communications can also be a powerful tool to promote resiliency, encourage help-seeking, and highlight effective prevention efforts.

The Action Alliance's Framework for Successful Messaging outlines the key components to consider when messaging to the public about suicide, including identifying a strategy, ensuring safety, conveying a positive narrative, and following applicable guidelines. This online, research-based resource outlines four key factors to consider when developing public messages about suicide:

• STRATEGY: Plan and focus your messaging efforts to be as effective as possible.

• POSITIVE NARRATIVE: Promote the positive by helping the audience envision forms of actions, solutions, ​resources.​

• GUIDELINES: Use messaging-specific best practices.

• SAFETY: Avoid unsafe and unhelpful messaging that undermines prevention.

We encourage you to use the Framework as you develop public messaging efforts about suicide and suicide prevention, especially leading up to and during Suicide Prevention Month.

Messaging to the Public about Suicide

Key Reminders

• Avoid oversimplifying
• Avoid conveying suicide as unsolvable
• Use appropriate imagery
• Avoid stigmatizing language
• Avoid glorifying
• Incorporate the voices of lived experience
• For more information, visit our website.

Key Messages to Share

• Suicide can be prevented.
• Suicide should be treated like any other health issue.
• Physical connection is a key protective factor.
• Support is available.
• Promote stories of hope, survival, recovery, and support.
• For more information on po, visit our website.

A Key Resource to Share

July 16, 2024, marked two years since the national transition to 988. Over two years, 988 has had 10 million contacts through calls, texts, and chats.

Anyone can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support, 24/7.

Since July 2022, 988 has served as the national hotline for mental health and suicide prevention. To enhance awareness and effectiveness, the 988 Formative Research Project was launched to understand attitudes and barriers among key populations impacted by suicide. Led by the Action Alliance, Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), and the Ad Council Research Institute, the research aims to improve culturally sensitive messaging, identify trusted messengers, and support effective communication strategies to encourage help-seeking behavior and trust in 988.

The Action Alliance encourages partners to incorporate 988 into your resources and continue to use the 988 Formative Research toolkits as you are planning for and developing your 988-related messages.

Positive social connections have been identified as an important protective factor for suicide. When you take action to build connectedness and #BeThere for others, hope becomes a reality. 

A recent study shows the majority of adults (94%) in the U.S. believe that suicide can be prevented, at least some of the time, and 96% of adults in the U.S. would take action if someone close to them was thinking about suicide.

It is important to equip people with the tools and resources needed to feel empowered to have conversations about mental health and suicide prevention and build positive social connections. We encourage you to use #BeThere messaging in September and beyond, to ensure the public is

informed about the actions they can take to help those in their life who may be in crisis.

Amplifying #BeThere Messaging Now and All Year Long 

The Action Alliance works collectively with its partners to leverage existing campaigns focused on educating the public about the ways they can take action to support themselves or a loved one who is struggling or in crisis.  

Additional Resources that Advance #BeThere Messaging

To learn about effective suicide prevention and how to center lived experience, spread the word about the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and be there for those who are struggling, check out SPRC's annual resource, Ideas for Action.

For additional information and resources that advance #BeThere messaging, check out SAMHSA's 988 Social Media Shareables and the CDC's A Time for Connection Toolkit.

STAY CONNECTED