Helping Prevent Suicide

A Not Too Technical Guide for Parents

• A Place of Hope and Compassion – When no one knows your pain.
• CDC Preventing Suicide – Suicide Fact Sheets.
• KidsHealth for Parents – Understanding & Preventing Teen Suicide.
• Men and Suicide – Suicide help links for men.
• Some Myths of Suicide Loss – Suicide loss is the subject of many myths.
• Teen Suicide – Teen suicide statistics, risks, facts and resource information.
• Teen Suicide – Getting Help Before It's Too Late.
• The Jason Foundation – The Jason Foundation, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in youth suicide awareness, education and prevention.
• The Suicide Paradigm – A site for those who have experienced suicide loss
  and those who want to know more about suicide and its aftermath.
• Youth Suicide Prevention Education Program – YSPEP, seeks to prevent suicide among adolescents and young adults by providing information and resources to youth, parents and the community.

Additional Reading:

• Dealing with Grief and Loss – Crisis Management - Dealing With Grief and Loss
  Understanding Grief
  Places to Visit Online
  Books

Books

• Youth Suicide – Books from amazon.com

Depression and Anxiety

• Depression – If you are feeling suicidal, it is highly likely that you are experiencing some form of depression. This is actually good news -- because depression is treatable. There are specific things physicians and psychotherapists can do for you...
• MN Prevention Resource Center – "Why didn't I see it coming?" "What could I have done to stop it from happening?" These are questions that anyone touched by a teen suicide asks themselves.
• Teen Depression / Teen Suicide – Let this site and others like it, be the living proof of a new life that exists for you, yet unseen. You can believe in those of us who have been there before you. Hear our voices calling to you in the darkness. We have all been there where you are. We too felt there was no hope. Now here we are - we have made it through.
• Understanding and Dealing with Anxiety – Anxiety disorders are very common psychiatric conditions and are very responsive to treatment. At one time or another everyone has experienced anxiety or fear.

Loss and Grief Associated with Suicide

• Recovery from Grief and Loss – Poorly resolved grief has many causes. Its origins are often in childhood. We may have had parents who were unable to grieve normally, and were unable to be good models for healthy grieving. We may have received explicit or covert messages from our families or culture that expressions of grief were unacceptable
• Suicide Loss FAQ's – An informational resource for suicide grievers.
  What causes a suicide? It is the outcome of severe stress generated by a serious personal crisis. Risk increases as the crisis, or the individual's perception of it, worsens.
• Surviving Your Child's Suicide – The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
• The Suicide Paradigm Guide – Sites for Suicide Loss Grievers
  Sites for Those With Suicidal Thoughts
  Facts and Statistics
  Education and Information Links....

More Detailed Aspects of Suicide

• Common Misconceptions About Suicide – SAVE's Mission is to prevent suicide through public awareness and education, eliminate stigma and serve as a resource to those touched by suicide.
• Focus Adolescent Service – Teen Suicide.
• LifeForce – Resources & Links (Aust).
• Message on Suicide Prevention – A print-friendly version of the social policy statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on suicide and suicide prevention.
• National Strategy for Suicide Prevention – Suicide Facts.
• National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (USA) – Represents the combined work of advocates, clinicians, researchers and survivors around the nation. It lays out a framework for action to prevent suicide and guides development of an array of services and programs that must be developed.
• Police Officers and Suicide Prevention – Police Officers: Control, Hopelessness, & Suicide.
• Sites with Suicide / Prevention information – SAVE's Mission is to prevent suicide through public awareness and education, eliminate stigma and serve as a resource to those touched by suicide.
• Suggested Online Resources for Survivors of Suicide – A list of suggested sites that have information for survivors of suicide, as well as information on depression and on suicide prevention.
• Suicide – Understanding and Dealing with the Risk of Suicide.
• suicide @ rochford.org – Suicide Information & Education.
• Suicide and Mental Health Association International – SMHAI, founded in February 2004, is dedicated to suicide and mental health related issues.
• Suicide and the School – Recognition and intervention for suicidal students in the school setting.
• Suicide Prevention Information – Information and resources about mental health issues for consumers, professionals, students and supporters.
• Suicide Resource Links – Crisis Centers in your area.
• Teen Suicide Theme Page – Has links to resources related to the study of Teen Suicide. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic.
• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – Helpful information on suicide in America.
• The Surgeon General wants to Prevent Suicide – The latest U.S. Government Initiative on Mental Health.
• Yellow Ribbon Suicide Information & Prevention – Helpful information about suicide and how to help prevent this tragedy.

Preparing to Help Someone Prone to Suicide

• Helpful Links – Today's children face grief and loss issues we never dreamed of.....
  death, not only of parents and family members, but of child friends...and not just "normal" death, but murder and suicide. Parents may be gone even if not dead - as in divorce or in jail. Todays kids know about and live with daily anxiety about drugs, AIDS, abuse and violence...
  
• Helping Someone Who May Be Suicidal – Be yourself. “The right words” are unimportant. If you are concerned, your voice and manner will show it.
  Listen. Let the person unload despair, ventilate anger. If given an opportunity to do this, he or she will feel better by the end of the call. No matter how negative the call seems, the fact that it exists is a positive sign, a cry for help.
• National Strategy for Suicide Prevention – To most of those who have experienced it, the horror of depression is so overwhelming as to be quite beyond expression. . . if depression had no termination, then suicide would, indeed, be the only remedy. But. . . depression is not the soul's annihilation...
• SAVE - Suicide Awareness Voices of Education – SAVE's Mission is to prevent suicide through public awareness and education, eliminate stigma and serve as a resource to those touched by suicide.
• Suicide Information & Education Centre – If You or Someone You Know is Suicidal
  The Suicide Information & Education Collection is a special library and resources centre providing information on suicide and suicidal behavior. We are not a crisis centre. If you are suicidal or concerned about someone...
• Suicide Prevention Services Inc (Canada) – Dedicated to the mission of reducing and
  eliminating suicide and suicide attempts through
  education, advocacy, and collaboration.
• Suicide, Learn More, Learn to Help – Signs of depression and suicide risk:
  Change in personality-becoming sad, withdrawn, irritable, anxious, tired, indecisive, apathetic
  Change in behavior-can't concentrate on school, work, routine tasks
  Change in sleep pattern-oversleeping or insomnia, sometimes with early waking
  Change in eating habits-loss of appetite and weight, or overeating ...
• Suicide... Read This First – If you are feeling suicidal now, please stop long enough to read this. It will only take about five minutes. I do not want to talk you out of your bad feelings. I am not a therapist or other mental health professional - only someone who knows what it is like to be in pain.
• Things to Watch for when Assessing Potential Risk – Quick Refrence Guide...
• Youth Suicide: Leader's Guide – Promoting Awareness of a growing problem.