With 2026 underway, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance) recognizes another year of collective impact in advancing suicide prevention nationwide. September marked 15 years since our launch as the nation’s public-private partnership, and a steward of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (National Strategy), uniting leaders and organizations to drive progress in suicide prevention. 

Thanks to the dedication, collaboration, and expertise of our partners, we are putting the National Strategy into action in meaningful ways through our Strategic Priorities: strengthening data and accountability; advancing research gaps; improving crisis response; enhancing care transitions; and promoting consistent, hopeful, and aligned messaging. 

Together, we continue to demonstrate the power of cross-sector collaboration and the shared responsibility we all carry in preventing suicide. 

Our five Strategic Priorities are being translated into action and strengthened in coordination across public and private sectors through the Action Alliance’s five Advisory Groups.



These efforts are building alignment and momentum that will inform more comprehensive updates and continue advancing the National Strategy.  

Measuring progress toward the National Strategy requires shared metrics, strong data systems, and a commitment to learning and transparency.

Over the past year, the Action Alliance’s Progress, Accountability, and Data Advisory Group moved this work forward by developing a new Evaluation Framework, preparing to launch its first national metrics identification group, and expanding international collaboration. 

Together, these efforts are shaping Hope Counts, a bold new vision for a national data dashboard that will track progress on the National Strategy. 

Hope Counts will provide partners across sectors with useful insights to better understand what's working, identify gaps, and take informed action to advance suicide prevention strategies. 



This work will continue to focus on identifying and communicating progress on the key measures of progress in suicide prevention, and building tools that make data more transparent and easier to use by those making critical funding, programmatic, and policy decisions. 

To strengthen suicide prevention nationwide, research must better reflect real-world settings, address gaps, and generate practical guidance for implementation. Opportunities remain to align research priorities, metrics, and funding with the most urgent prevention needs. 

Over the past year, the Action Alliance collaborated with partners to update national research priorities, with a focus on strengthening the evidence base to support healthcare-based prevention systems in serving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. 

The Research Advisory Group developed a structured framework to assess research needs tied to key National Strategy goals, helping identify high-impact prevention strategies, clarify what should be measured to understand reach and outcomes, and highlight where additional research is needed. 

Intersecting with the work of the Healthcare Advisory Group, the Research Advisory Group is developing a brief on research priorities for suicide prevention in healthcare settings. Drawing on interviews with key informants, focus groups, and subject matter experts, the brief will inform gaps between evidence-based practices and their implementation in healthcare settings.  

Moving forward, the group will engage experts in healthcare to translate these findings into practical guidance that can advance suicide prevention in real-world settings. The group will then move to identify research gaps in the other priority areas identified by the National Strategy, producing a series of research briefs to offer direction to the field. 

A strong, coordinated crisis care continuum is essential to ensuring that people in distress can access timely, effective, and compassionate support. However, fragmentation across systems and sectors continues to limit consistent implementation of best practices nationwide. 

Over the past year, the Crisis Care Continuum  Advisory Group developed a plan for a national approach to strengthening the full continuum of care, building on the Action Alliance's Crisis Now framework and SAMHSA’s 2025 National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care.

This work will emphasize the need for a continuous system of care anchored in the principles of someone to talk to, someone to respond, and a safe place for help, while improving coordination across systems and partners. 



Looking ahead, the Action Alliance will bring together crisis care leaders to help states put these guidelines into practice and develop ways to track progress in crisis care nationwide. 

Healthcare settings are a critical point for suicide prevention, yet adoption of evidence-based practices remains uneven across systems.

Over the past year, the Healthcare Advisory Group advanced the development of a comprehensive care transitions pathway and established a Payor Working Group comprised of members from the nation’s leading health plans and key national payor associations who will work together to improve alignment, financing, and implementation. 

This work will continue by refining the care pathway, establishing consensus clinical definitions, and advancing coordinated, sustainable suicide prevention across healthcare systems. As a part of these efforts, an in-person Payor Summit will bring healthcare payors together to strengthen collaboration and drive actionable solutions. 

Despite the growing volume of suicide prevention information, guidance, and campaigns, suicide prevention messages often vary across sectors. 

The Messaging and Communications Advisory Group is working to shape a coordinated national vision for suicide prevention messaging that promotes hope, alignment, and accessibility, including efforts focused on upstream suicide prevention, access to lethal means for individuals at risk, and data-driven decision-making.  

As this work evolves, efforts will prioritize coordination and strategic integration to avoid duplication, leveraging the strength of partners to amplify consistent, actionable messaging across sectors.

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is supported as part of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) through a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Action Alliance’s Secretariat, which serves as the home for strategy, communications, and operations for the Action Alliance partnership, is supported by this cooperative agreement, and we are delighted to continue this partnership for the next five years.

The Action Alliance is funded through both public and private sector support, and we gratefully acknowledge the support of our private sector partners who continue to support the implementation of specific Action Alliance initiatives including Executive Committee partners Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) and CARF International, as well as Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and The Pew Charitable Trusts. We extend our sincere thanks to all individual donors and all partners whose contributions make this work possible.  



The Action Alliance looks forward to continuing to build and scale cross-sector partnerships, advancing the goals and objectives of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, and driving forward the Strategic Priorities.  

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