Past Initiatives

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance) has played a role in leading a number of initiatives to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (National Strategy) and to strengthen the national response to suicide since its launch in 2010.

The below are some of the past initiatives of the Action Alliance.

Faith Communities

Faith-based groups contribute to suicide prevention by increasing hope, supporting emotional well-being, fostering the development of positive social connections, and serving as critical sources of support during challenging times. The Action Alliance’s Faith Communities Task Force developed Faith.Hope.Life to help faith communities, regardless of creed, address suicide prevention.

Clinical Workforce

Nurses, social workers, physicians, mental health professionals, school counselors, and other providers routinely care for persons who may be at risk for suicide. Yet many of these providers may lack training on how to support suicide prevention when working with patients or clients. The Action Alliance’s Clinical Workforce Preparedness Task Force developed a core set of training guidelines for the clinical workforce aimed at ensuring that health care providers are adequately prepared to treat persons at risk for suicide.

Communities

Community-based efforts to implement effective suicide prevention strategies are key to reducing the rate of suicide nationwide. A community-focused resource developed by the Action Alliance is Transforming Communities: Key Elements for the Implementation of Comprehensive Community-Based Suicide Prevention, which identifies seven key elements for comprehensive community-based suicide prevention.

Crisis Services

Care for mental health crises is often fragmented, with crisis services being provided by on-call therapists or in crowded emergency departments. As a result, some individuals at risk for suicide may fail to receive appropriate services and follow-up. Therefore, effective crisis care that saves lives requires a systematic approach. To advance progress in this area, the Action Alliance’s Crisis Services Task Force developed Crisis Now: Transforming Services is Within Our Reach, a report identifying the core elements of effective crisis care and which resulted in the Action Alliance-catalyzed Crisis Now initiative.

Data and Surveillance

Collecting timely and accurate suicide-related data is critical to developing successful suicide prevention efforts and measuring the impact of work. To advance work in this area, the Action Alliance’s Data and Surveillance Task Force reviewed existing national data systems and issued several recommendations aimed at enhancing data collection and surveillance.

Financing of Suicide-Related Care

The financing of suicide-related care is key to the adoption of best practices and recommended minimum standard care. Specifically, providers need to be able to seek reimbursement to deliver suicide-related care, and health systems need a better grasp of which practices are reimbursable and through what mechanisms. In 2015, the Action Alliance convened representatives from several major U.S. health plans to discuss the role of health plans in suicide prevention.

Juvenile Justice

Involvement with the juvenile justice system has been linked to an increased suicide risk among youth. Administrators, staff, and others in the juvenile justice system can play an important role in suicide prevention. The Action Alliance’s Youth in Contact with the Juvenile Justice System Task Force developed several resources aimed at supporting suicide prevention in juvenile justice settings.

Lethal Means

To advance efforts to reduce access to lethal means among individuals who may be at risk for suicide, the Action Alliance’s Lethal Means Stakeholder Group developed Lethal Means and Suicide Prevention. This guide equips community and industry leaders with the background, knowledge, and guidance they need to aid in reducing access to lethal means among those who may be at risk for suicide.

Military Service Members and Veterans

The Action Alliance sought to strengthen systems that would help link service members, veterans, and their families to timely, safe, and effective care when needed. Action Alliance efforts focused on: advancing public-private sector strategies to scale up comprehensive community-based suicide prevention and building community capacity to support all service members, veterans, and their families—especially those in crisis—anywhere and at any time.

National Response to COVID-19

The Action Alliance mobilized diverse sectors to lead the coordinated Mental Health & Suicide Prevention National Response to COVID-19 (National Response). By acting and uniting together—across sectors and agencies—to accelerate actionable solutions and emerged stronger than going into the pandemic. To help support messaging efforts, the Action Alliance and its partners also compiled the COVID-19 Messaging Guidance, a list of resources.

Real Stories

Real Stories was launched as a collaborative approach to help news and entertainment media effectively develop news coverage and on-screen depictions that educate the public about suicide and suicide prevention. Learn more about our work with news and entertainment media.

Research Priorities

The Action Alliance supports national efforts to prioritize suicide prevention research with the highest potential to save lives. A prioritized research agenda identified strategies that showed the most promise for decreasing suicide attempts and deaths, research pathways, and short- and long-term objectives.

Sport

The sport industry has the unique ability to address many issues surrounding mental health and suicide prevention in communities across the country. The Action Alliance formed a partnership with Beyond Sport. This global organization promotes, supports, and celebrates the use of sport to drive sustainable social change in communities around the world, bringing together leaders in sport, mental health, and suicide prevention. Founding members launched the Stay in the Game Network, a membership-based network aimed at driving year-round collaboration between national mental health and suicide prevention experts and leaders in the U.S. sport industry.

Workplaces

Most of the people who die by suicide are of working age. Yet many workplaces may not be prepared to help employees at risk for suicide or respond to a suicide death. Promoting mental health and wellness in the workplace will not only support suicide prevention, but it will also increase productivity and well-being among workers. The Action Alliance’s Workplace Task Force developed several resources, including those with a focus on public safety and construction.

Zero Suicide

The Action Alliance helped to catalyze Zero Suicide initiatives from its Clinical Care and Intervention Task Force. The result of their work was a report that established the framework for the Zero Suicide initiative, which is now housed at EDC.

10th Anniversary

Launched on World Suicide Prevention Day in 2010, the Action Alliance spent its first 10 years bringing together diverse multi-sectoral partners around a common vision of making suicide prevention a national priority.