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Dear Partners,
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and at CSN we recognize the profound impact suicide has on children, adolescents, and families across the country. This month, we encourage you to explore and share resources that can help strengthen suicide prevention efforts in your communities.
July marked the fourth anniversary of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides free, confidential, 24/7 support from trained crisis counselors for people experiencing mental health-related distress and for those concerned about someone who may need help. SAMHSA's 988 Partner Toolkit includes ready-to-use communications materials to raise awareness of this important resource.
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center's Suicide Prevention Month: Ideas for Action offers simple ways to get involved in Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It includes suggestions for supporting suicide prevention in your community, such as learning about effective prevention strategies, sharing resources that promote healing, and encouraging people to support those who may be struggling. They also offer a free one-hour, self-paced online course on Safety Planning for Youth Suicide Prevention designed for licensed health and behavioral health professionals and students in clinical training programs.
Our Child Safety Learning Collaborative state teams have also been making meaningful progress in advancing youth suicide prevention in their communities. We are pleased to highlight the Child Safety Learning Collaborative Case Studies, which show how Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky expanded evidence-based suicide prevention practices, strengthened statewide partnerships, improved surveillance and training systems, and developed sustainable approaches to supporting youth mental health and preventing suicide.
Finally, we want to share an important update about this newsletter. Due to reduced funding, we are transitioning from a monthly publication to a quarterly one. Although our publication schedule is changing, our commitment to supporting Title V programs and our partners remains the same. Each issue will continue to provide the high-quality resources, research, events, and tools you have come to expect, and our team will continue to offer the same level of technical assistance and support.
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