Suicide Prevention Among Teens & Young Adults
Key Words: Mental Health, Violence, Suicide Awareness
Suicide Prevention lacks literature,
awareness, and most conventionally; peer
community support groups. Ultimately, I
would like to propose a program aimed at
teens and young adults to contribute to and
participate with like-minded and similar
individuals who are struggling with the same
issues. For example, a teen struggling with
opioid addiction would be paired with a
former opioid addict in recovery, therefore,
providing resources locally and with
community resources. According to the
World Health Organization, “Suicide is a
serious public health problem; however,
suicides are preventable with timely,
evidence-based and often low-cost
interventions. For national responses to be
effective, a comprehensive multisectoral
suicide prevention strategy is needed.”1
(“Suicide Facts” WHO, 2021)
What do exist are factors prohibiting further
resolution to prevention such as stigma and
taboo surrounding suicide prevention.
Because of these factors, community
awareness and breaking down the taboo of
suicide are dire.
Facts regarding Suicide Prevention2:
1. More than 700 000 people
die due to suicide every year.
2. Suicide is the fourth leading
cause of death among 15-19
year-olds.
3. 77% of global suicides occur
in low- and middle-income
countries.
1 Vital Statistics Rapid Release, Number 016
(November 2021)
(https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/VSRR016.p
df)
2 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm/Na
https://apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/topics/Suicid
e_Prevention.ashx
Methods: Detail possible treatments,
resources
Results: Information regarding
factors/history, individualized treatment,
alternative resources regarding Suicide
Prevention, Wellness Groups/Programs for
Troubled Teens (examples):
● Suicide Prevention Friends in the
Community Program flyer
Suicide in the United States has been a
prevalent, top-dominating fatality and
concerning issue with multiple variables
contributing to devastating consequences.
Factors contributing to suicide range from
societal standards, mental health status,
environmental components, etc. While the
rates seem to fluctuate from year to year,
the demand for resources, implementation
to prevention and guidance continue to
consistently rise. (National Vital Statistics
System – Mortality Data (2020) via CDC
WONDER.3(CDC, 2021)
Information surrounding possible factors to
suicide include: access to lethal means —
firearms drugs and other toxic substances,
prolonged stress such as from chronic pain
or long-term harassment, adverse life
events such as divorce, job loss, or death of
a loved one, exposure to another person’s
suicide or to graphic or sensationalized
accounts of suicide and lastly, family history
of suicide, or previous suicide attempts.4
3 American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
(ND). Risk Factors and Warning Signs. New
York, NY: https://afsp.org/about-suicide/.
Accessed 23 April 2018.
4
tional Vital Statistics System – Mortality Data
(2020) via CDC WONDER
(AFSP, “About Suicide”, 2018) Additionally,
all suicides committed in 2018 led to the
following results. The number of deaths in
total was 45, 979 with 14.0 of those deaths
being per 100,000 population. Broken down
into incidents of cause leads to 24,292
deaths from firearms, 12,495 from
suffocation, and 5,528 due to poisoning.5
family member. Simply providing additional
medical, counseling, and care linkage
services to suicide survivors has been
calculated to yield a benefit-to-cost ratio of
6:1.6 (APHA.org, “Suicide Prevention”)

Where information seems to be lacking in

this ongoing crisis appears to point to the
lack of resources and treatment available to
those struggling. When dealing with pre-
teens and young adults, resources available
are limited to national services such as
Suicide prevention resources for teens,
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and
other services offered broadly or nationally
like Suicide Prevention Youth.gov; but
where the true gap lies is local, community-
driven resources lacking exposure and
awareness. Are small communities able to
promote the services they provide to reach
these troubled teens? Without such
resources, the rates of younger generation
fatalities have the potential to rise without
help being advertised, essentially.

According to The American Public Health

Association, implementing three core
interventions will be imperative to finding
solutions to suicide. Outlining the actions
are: (1) separating suicidal individuals from
firearms; (2) providing psychotherapy in
emergency care; and (3) adding a car safety
feature to prevent suffocation from carbon
monoxide inhalation — which would reduce
suicide deaths by about 20 percent. (Many
law enforcement agencies and gun retailers
are already willing to provide temporary
storage for guns when an owner is
concerned about the mental health of a

5Suicide, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact- 6https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/

sheets/detail/suicide detail/suicide
 References

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (ND). Risk Factors and Warning Signs. New
York, NY: https://afsp.org/about-suicide/. Accessed 23 April 2018.

CDC. “FastStats - Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injury.” Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Jan. 2022,
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm.

“Suicide Fact Sheet.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization,

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide.

Suicide Prevention - American Public Health Association.

https://www.apha.org/-/media/files/pdf/topics/suicide_prevention.ashx.

Flier Proposal: Suicide Prevention “Friends in the Community”

 When thinking about the particular and ongoing crisis of suicide prevention, I couldn’t

help but think about where information may be lacking in the local resources. I think it would be

of great help to rally together in smaller cities with larger suicide rates in teens and young adults

to form some kind of community gathering of those who have suffered from suicidal thoughts or

backgrounds and give those who struggle an outlet to provide support and help. The creation of

my local flier would help suggest the “how & when” to seek out help if oneself or someone the

person may know needs help.