By Brett Dumke
September 6th through September 12th is Suicide Prevention Week. This national campaign draws attention to this public health crisis and how we can take action. There are many things that individuals, local communities, and places of employment can do to help in this effort. Several local and national organizations can assist those who would like to get involved, here are just a few:
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), based here in Minnesota, offers a variety of educational materials and resources via their website.
Check out the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), which provides an abundance of information and is a good starting point on how to create an effective approach for preventing suicide. In addition, SPRC has compiled a list of ideas and activities that may also be helpful.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an outreach partner of MHAM, has an updated suicide prevention page for this campaign as well.