Understanding and preventing suicide through research, education, and advocacy
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.
04/22/2015
On April 22nd, 2015, AFSP Public Policy Associate Tracy Kamen and Manager of Federal Policy Trevor Summerfield watched the Swearing-In ceremony for the new Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. AFSP congratulates Dr. Murthy on becoming the 19th Surgeon General of the United States and looks forward to working with him to prevent suicide.
04/20/2015
Veterans have a high suicide rate – approximately 22 lose their lives each day. Stockton University in southern New Jersey has been creating a month-long visual project to represent just how many lives are lost.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
04/13/2015
In Palo Alto California, men and women are working at railroad crossings to be on the lookout for people attempting suicide.
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.
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.
