Suicide Prevention Resources for Youth

#BeThe1To is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s message for National Suicide Prevention Month and beyond, spreading the word about actions we can all take to prevent suicide. Please review and share widely.

The five action steps for communicating with someone who may be suicidal are supported by evidence in the field of suicide prevention.

A Young Person’s Guide for Communicating Safely about Suicide Online.

AAKOMA builds the consciousness of youth of color and their caregivers on the recognition and importance of mental health, empowers youth and their families to seek help and manage mental health, and influences systems and services to receive and address the needs of youth of color and their families.

The AAP offers two new videos for teenagers coping with stress and anxiety that come from an accredited U.S. healthcare educator and are translated into 22 languages, including English. The videos are available now on the AAP YouTube channel. The video, “Anxiety Grounding Techniques: Finding Calm in Chaos,” leads viewers through the “5,4,3,2,1” technique, a simple yet powerful tool to help reconnect with the present. The video, “Unlocking Self-Compassion: Embrace Your Journey to Self-Love,” encourages viewers to practice self-compassion by discovering their unique strengths and embracing the quirks, challenges and beautiful qualities each of us has inside. Find the complete playlist here.

Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon when she was a junior at the University of Pennsylvania following the suicide of her older brother, and only sibling, Brian. Active Minds was incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization in late 2003. National organization impacting young adults and mental health. Now in more than 1,000 campuses and communities, we directly reach more than 1.9 million people each year through awareness campaigns, events, advocacy, outreach, and more.

More Than Sad has taught over a million students and educators how to be smarter about mental health. 

Learn more about each program and purchase More Than Sad to receive the two More Than Sad films, Teen Depression and Preventing Teen Suicide below. All programs may be delivered in person or virtually.

Dr. Matt Wintersteen, Associate Professor, Director Research at Thomas Jefferson University, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior talks about asking young people “are you okay?” and being prepared for the answer. Dr. Wintersteen has also received a research grant from AFSP.

1-877-652-7624

The Children’s System of Care (CSOC) is New Jersey’s public behavioral health system. CSOC serves youth under age 21 with emotional and mental health care needs, substance use challenges, and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families. CSOC provides community-based services that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to support the needs of the youth and family.

Mental health and suicide prevention in the Black community are explored in the new NorthJersey.com documentary, “Ending the Stigma.”

Informative PDF detailing the best way to help a friend who is in need of support.

JED empowers teens and young adults by building resiliency and life skills, promoting social connectedness, and encouraging help-seeking and help-giving behaviors through our nationally recognized programs, digital channels, and partnerships, as well as through the media. JED strengthens schools by working directly with high schools, colleges, and universities — representing millions of students — to put systems, programs, and policies in place to create a culture of caring that protects student mental health, builds life skills, and makes it more likely that struggling students will seek help and be recognized, connected to care, and supported. We mobilize communities by providing education, training, and tools to families, friends, media, and others.

The U.S. has a youth mental health crisis. School mental health services help address the crisis. Through our School Mental Health Initiative, the MHTTC Networks aims to accelerate the implementations of effective mental health services in schools.

My Life is Worth Living includes five powerful stories told over 20 episodes. In each episode, relatable teen characters wrestle with challenges that are all too familiar for many viewers and discover strategies to cope when it feels like their own thoughts are against them. Over the course of each character’s journey, they realize that life is worth living.

In November 2024, NJAMHAA launched a new campaign, Untold Stories You will read several success stories within these pages. These successes were realized by individuals who were fortunate enough to access the appropriate mental health and/or substance use treatment and supports they needed to assist them in reaching their goals of healthier and more productive lives. There are, unfortunately, so many untold stories – stories of those who are unable to access such services. They are tragically often counted among the statistics on suicides, hospitalizations, imprisonment and overdoses.

Project YES (Youth Empowerment & Support) offers free, anonymous, brief, self-guided mental health tools for teens. YES empowers teens to learn new ways of dealing with stress while helping others do the same.

Project YES was designed with teens (ages 11-17) in mind, but people of all ages are welcome to try the tools in Project YES, anywhere and anytime.

Project YES is run by scientists at the Lab for Scalable Mental Health, with partners at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the University of Miami, Lebanese American University, and Ankara University.

Promly is a social enterprise that aims to unify a generation by empowering human connectedness and providing holistic support and education for GenZ in places they will naturally gravitate to, both online and offline.

Download in the App Store!

Our mission is to break the grip of emotional isolation that is killing our young people. We do this by expanding and delivering measurable, science-based programs that fill critical gaps and equip America’s youth with the skills they need to thrive.

We are a movement—an uprising of teens to help other teens. We’ve made it our mission to stop the suicide epidemic that’s taking the lives of our friends.

Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide is dedicated to increasing awareness, saving lives and reducing the stigma of suicide through specialized training programs and resources that empower teens, parents and educational leaders with the skills needed to help youth build a life of resiliency.

Soluna is an app that offers free, confidential mental health support to New Jersey teens ages 13 to 18. Access self-guided tools, connect with peers in a safe online community, or chat 1:1 with a professional. Get started anytime at SolunaApp.com/NewJersey.

Available for download on the App Store and Google Play.

Are you feeling depressed, anxious or alone? Do you feel your family or friends can’t understand what you are going through? Do you feel like you are a burden? Do you have a friend or a loved one experiencing these feelings?

AFSP has partnered with the American Academy of Pediatrics to create several new resources for teens and their parents/caregivers.

Suicide CAN be prevented. This guide is meant to help you recognize signs of mental health concerns in yourself or your friends. It will also show you how to have important conversations that can help you get the right support.

Just released from the Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention

To support the shift to telehealth services in recent years, the Action Alliance produced a series of videos to facilitate the adoption of standard suicide risk screening practices in telehealth. The second video, launched on January 22, provides practical strategies for setting up virtual screening within an electronic health record portal and steps to take when virtual screening indicates that risk is present.

The Steve Fund is dedicated to the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color. Right at this moment, there are students of color who are failing academically, suffering emotionally and/OR in some cases are facing serious risk, because population-specific factors influencing mental health are too poorly understood and not acted upon.

Since 2000, the TLC has been providing support to communities affected by traumatic events such as homicide and illness; the most difficult being suicide.

AFSP supports increased awareness and promotion of mental health and suicide prevention resources on university and college campuses for faculty, staff, students, and their families.

Youth Aware of Mental health, also known as YAM, is a school-based program for young people ages 13 to 17, in which they learn about and explore the topic of mental health. YAM is an evidence-based program taking place in classrooms around the world. Students actively engage with the topic of mental health through role-play and student-led discussions.

Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis. Youth Mental Health First Aid is primarily designed for adults who regularly interact with young people.

In recognition of the current youth mental health crisis, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families has two public service announcements it is sharing this month to acknowledge September as Suicide Awareness Month and the start of a new school year. The first is our new PSA, illustrating how youth can seek help.  This PSAs was created with youth participation and parents also participated in the creation of the CSOC PSA.