Suicide Prevention Resources for Caregivers

#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.

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.

Attitudes In Reverse® or AIR® offers a comprehensive mental health plan to educate youth, from elementary level through college-age. AIR’®s programs are wrapped in messages of understanding, empathy and kindness towards all.

The Bergen County STIGMA-FREE Initiative is a county-wide program which aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. We are dedicated to raising awareness of the disease of mental illness and create a culture wherein residents who have the disease feel supported by their community and neighbors and feel free to seek treatment for the disease without fear of stigma.

A Stigma Free Toolkit is available for download.

An open letter from a parent on what to expect and how to manage it.

Dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. Leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

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.  Both PSAs were created with youth participation and parents also participated in the creation of the CSOC PSA.

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.

The job of a cop is stressful, demanding, and often dangerous. The lifestyle affects the lives of officers, spouses, partners, children, and friends. We’ve been there, and are here now, to provide resources, guidance, understanding, and support.

Call for Support: 866-267-2267

Is your child in crisis? This PDF will help you know the signs. All kids have bad days. But, trauma and life-changing events can create lasting challenges.

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

We know that parents can help push education in their community and open up the conversation to help break stigma around teen depression. We know that, together, we can get your child, and children across the country, access to tools and resources in their schools.

Resources for parents of high school and college/university students.

Practice-based digital learning to improve mental health and well-being in schools, campuses, and communities. Kognito role-play simulations enable organizations to rapidly build the capacity of educators and students to lead real-life conversations that change lives.

At Minding Your Mind, we create experiences that open minds and show people they are not alone when they are struggling. Our group of young adult speakers, who have successfully and productively coped with their mental health challenges, share their stories of hope, recovery, and resilience.

It is New Jersey’s free or low cost behavioral health system for kids up to age 21. It provides eligible youth with coordinated access to mental health
supports, substance use treatment and services for intellectual or developmental disabilities.

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.

Created by the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, Not My Kid: What Every Parent Should Know is an online learning experience that features videos of parents from culturally diverse backgrounds asking mental health professionals a variety of common questions about youth suicide. You may be interested in receiving information to help your child, a family member or a friend of your child, and Not My Kid provides this information from a variety of mental health professionals.

Not My Kid contains a variety of videos that assists parents, guardians and trusted adults in knowing the warning signs of youth suicide, explains how to have important conversations and provides valuable resources to help keep their children safe. It includes developmentally appropriate information for youth of all ages including Elementary, Middle and High School-aged youth and Young Adults.

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.

The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide has compiled a list of Crisis and informational resources for parents and caregivers.

Resources for caregivers provided by Monmouth University, School of Social Work.

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.

Explaining suicide death to a child or teen can feel overwhelming and intimidating. As adults, we often want to protect them from the stigma and shame that can accompany such a death. Here are some tips for talking with children and teens about a suicide death and ways to support them in their grief.

As a parent, you can approach suicide prevention in the same way you do other safety or health issues for your children. By educating yourself, you can learn what puts kids at greatest risk for suicide – and what protects them most strongly.

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.

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

“With all of the recent media coverage of stories about suicide, I find that it’s becoming more common for my middle school students to talk about suicide. How can I tell who is serious about it and who isn’t?”