CDC Suicide Prevention Resource for Action

Suicide Prevention Resource for Action (cdc.gov)

A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence

2022 Division of Injury Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Suicide Can Be Prevented

Like most public health problems, suicide is preventable.1-3 The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s vision of “No lives lost to suicide” relies on implementing a comprehensive public health approach to prevention. These efforts rely on timely data and evidence, prompting an update of the 2017 Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices. This 2022 version, now called the Suicide Prevention Resource for Action (or Prevention Resource, for short), weaves in new evidence that can be implemented and adapted for the community-specific context.

About the Suicide Prevention Resource for Action

The Suicide Prevention Resource for Action maintains the features of the 2017 Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices. It lays out a core set of strategies to achieve and sustain substantial reductions in a specific risk factor or outcome, such as suicide.4 This resource is intended to help communities and states learn about the best available evidence for suicide prevention. Communities and states can pair this information with their local context and experience to prioritize prevention activities. This resource has three components. The first component is the strategy or the preventive actions to achieve the goal of preventing suicide. The second component is the approach or the specific ways to advance the strategy. This can be accomplished through policy, programs, and practices, which are the third component and are based on the evidence for each of the approaches in preventing suicide or its associated risk factors.

This Prevention Resource represents a select group of strategies based on the best available evidence to help communities and states focus on prevention activities with the greatest potential to prevent suicide. These strategies include:

  • Strengthen economic supports

  • Create protective environments

  • Improve access and delivery of suicide care

  • Promote healthy connections

  • Teach coping and problem-solving skills

  • Identify and support people at risk

  • Lessen harms and prevent future risk