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How to help someone who might be at risk of suicide

The deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade this week are a somber reminder of the growing problem of suicide across the United States. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate has increased in almost every state in the nation — and by more than 30 percent in 25 states — in the past two decades.

More than half of the people who died by suicide had no known mental health problems. The CDC noted that “relationship, substance use, health, and job or financial problems are among the other circumstances contributing to suicide.”

It’s important to note: Suicide is a rare event. Even though it is on the rise in this…

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  988 Lifeline - US and Canada

We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.

 116 123 Helpline - UK & Ireland

116 123 (UK & Ireland) Whatever you're going through, call us free any time, from any phone on 116 123. We're here round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you need a response immediately, it's best to call us on the phone. This number is FREE to call. You don't have to be suicidal to call us.

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How Suicide Quietly Morphed Into a Public Health Crisis

After decades of research, effective prevention strategies are lacking. It remains difficult, perhaps impossible, to predict who will commit suicide, and the phenomenon is extremely difficult for researchers to study.

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Resources

Crisis Text Line

Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime, about any type of crisis. Text HOME to 686868 from Canada, anytime, about any type of crisis.

World HelpLines

World HelpLines Help Hotlines for Kids, Teens & Women... Suicide, Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, LGBT, Runaways, Bullying & More.

Befrienders Worldwide

We work worldwide to provide emotional support, and reduce suicide. We listen to people who are in distress. We don't judge them or tell them what to do - we listen.

Know The Signs

Pain isn't always obvious, but most suicidal people show some signs that they are thinking about suicide. If you see even one warning sign, step in or speak up. Take the time to learn what to do now, so you're ready to be there for a friend or loved one when it matters most.

Live Through This

The intention of Live Through This is to show that everyone is susceptible to depression and suicidal thoughts by sharing portraits and stories of real attempt survivors—people who look just like you. These feelings could affect your mom, your partner, or your brother, and the fear of talking about it can be a killer.

PAPYRUS

We exist to reduce the number of young people who take their own lives by shattering the stigma around suicide and equipping young people and their communities with the skills to recognise and respond to suicidal behaviour.

Samaritans

Samaritans provides confidential non-judgemental emotional support, 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.

SAVE

To prevent suicide through public awareness and education, reduce stigma and serve as a resource to those touched by suicide.

Speaking of Suicide

A site for suicidal individuals and their loved ones, survivors, mental health professionals, & the merely curious.

Stop a Suicide Today

Stop A Suicide Today! can teach you how to recognize the warning signs of suicide in family, friends, co-workers, and patients, and how to respond as you would do with any medical emergency.

Suicide or Survive

To create and deliver innovative approaches that educate, inform and inspire people to cultivate good mental health and reduce stigma leading to less death by suicide

Suicide Prevention Resource Center

You can find a range of information from suicide prevention and mental health news to strategic tools for developing suicide prevention programs. The site includes individual state suicide prevention pages, news and events, an online library, training, and links to other web sites.

Suicide? Help!

When someone is in emotional distress, being a good listener can make a huge difference to the person in crisis. You may need to listen and respond in a way which is different to how you would usually interact with that person.

Survivors of Suicide

The grief that survivors of suicide experience is unique. The questions often left behind are at times unbearable. It is my hope that this site will offer information that will help answer some of those questions, as well as provide a safe place for survivors and friends of survivors to share their struggle and pain.

The Trevor Project

Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

Yellow Ribbon

Teen Suicide Prevention...Yellow Ribbon is a community-based program using a universal public health approach. This program empowers and educates professionals, adults and youth.

American Association of Suicidology

Suicide Prevention is Everyone's Business...Many people at some time in their lives think about completing suicide. Most decide to live because they eventually come to realize that the crisis is temporary and death is permanent. On other hand, people having a crisis sometimes perceive their dilemma as inescapable and feel an utter loss of control.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

AFSP is the leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research and education, and to reaching out to people with mood disorders and those impacted by suicide.

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention

We are the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. We are Canadians who want to reduce suicide and its impact in Canada. We want to end the silence. We want to ease the suffering, to heal our communities and our neighbours, as we have healed ourselves. We are survivors of loss. Among us, we have lost children, parents, family member, neighbours, friends, patients. We want to end the silence and prevent others from experiencing such loss.

CDC

Fast stats for suicide and self-inflicted injury for the U.S.

Centre for Suicide Prevention

We educate people with the information, knowledge and skills necessary to respond to people at risk of suicide. We teach prevention because prevention is the only solution to suicide.

Crisis Services Canada

Crisis Services Canada (CSC) is a collaboration of distress and crisis centres from across Canada, offering Canada’s first nationally available, regionally delivered suicide prevention service. Canada Suicide Prevention Service (CSPS) is now available 24/7, via toll-free phone, text or chat to anyone thinking about or affected by suicide.

Defense Suicide Prevention Office

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO) provides advocacy, program oversight, and policy for Department of Defense suicide prevention, intervention and postvention efforts to reduce suicidal behaviors in Service members, civilians and their families.

Find a Helpline

Free, confidential support from a helpline or hotline near you. Online chat, text or phone.

Lifeline

Lifeline is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. Somewhere in Australia there is a new call to Lifeline every minute. People call Lifeline’s 24 hour crisis line 13 11 14.

Lost All Hope

Welcome to Lost All Hope - one of the most comprehensive suicide resources on the web. You may be reading this looking for information on methods to commit suicide. They are here. Maybe you'd like to know statistical information about suicide - you're in the right place. Perhaps you are feeling really low; part of you wants to end it, and part of you just wants to be happy. You'll find information and links that might help you.

MentalHelp.net

Suicide Prevention and Societal Measures...The best, most wide-reaching suicide prevention techniques exert their effects by helping to make our country, communities, organizations and families as physically and mentally healthy as possible.

San Francisco Suicide Prevention

Founded in 1963 with the initial focus of providing telephone intervention to people experiencing suicidal crisis. Over the years, the focus of the agency has gradually shifted from strictly suicide prevention to more general counseling services.

Suicide Prevention Australia

Delivering national leadership for the meaningful reduction of suicide in Australia.

TeensHealth

Most teens interviewed after making a suicide attempt say that they did it because they were trying to escape from a situation that seemed impossible to deal with or to get relief from really bad thoughts or feelings.

WHO

Every year, almost one million people die from suicide; a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds. In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years in some countries, and the second leading cause of death in the 10-24 years age group; these figures do not include suicide attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.