Student’s Suicide Pressures Campus for More Resources
04/16/2015
Paul Soutter, a sophomore at the College of William and Wary, was a popular and talented young man with many friends and academic interests.
Policy News & Updates
AFSP works hard to create a world in which people no longer die by suicide. While we understand that suicide is personal and complicated, we also know that thoughtful public policies can reduce the number of suicides.
To help make that happen, we work closely with hundreds of well-informed and passionate advocates, all committed to educating officials at every level of government about suicide, and persuading them to act.
To ensure that public officials and the general public have the information they need to make informed decisions about suicide, we provide the links below. These links will take you to news and information about advocacy efforts and public policies related to suicide prevention. The links also connect to the work we’re doing here at AFSP, in our Advocacy and Public Policy office, and to our powerful national network of suicide prevention advocates.
VA Still Has Room for Improvement on Veteran Suicide Prevention
04/15/2015
America loses almost 22 veterans every day to suicide. Many of these suffering veterans look for treatment at their local VA clinics, particularly in Veterans Crisis Lines.
First Lady Calls for Support for Native American Youth Mental Health
04/15/2015
First lady Michelle Obama recently spoke at an event at the White House, co-hosted by the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute where she called for action against the many issues faced by the Native American community, including mental health and suicide.
Advocates Push for Mental Health Parity Enforcement
04/14/2015
Mental Health Parity was signed into law in 2008 – however, mental health advocates say that the federal government still has a long way to go in terms of actually practicing it.
Discharged Veteran Groups at High Risk for Suicide
04/13/2015
A study of post-9/11 service members conducted by the Defense Department's National Center for Telehealth and Technology, or T2, has produced some new results regarding suicide risk among veterans.
California City Aiming to Prevent Suicide
04/13/2015
In Palo Alto California, men and women are working at railroad crossings to be on the lookout for people attempting suicide.
Wyoming Opens Dialogue on Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention
04/09/2015
A segment appeared on the Wyoming News 13 on Wednesday morning with anchor Amanda del Castillo, who discussed the issue of mental illness in the state.
Obama Administration Proposes Rules for Medicaid Mental Health Parity
04/07/2015
On Monday, a rule was proposed by the Obama administration that allows Medicaid recipients to access the same mental health and substance abuse benefits as those on private plans.
Report: State-Based Exchanges Seeing Higher Enrollee Attrition
04/07/2015
In 2015, the federally-facilitated exchange states re-enrolled approximately 78% of those who opted for health care under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
Largest-Ever Suicide-Risk Study Identifies New Prevention Opportunity
04/06/2015
In Ontario, Canada, The Hospital for Sick Children, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre conducted a large-scale suicide-risk study to identify new suicide prevention opportunities.
