Suicide Prevention

Suicide has grown into a major public health problem. In response, New York State has been aggressively pursuing impactful suicide prevention programming. While both the nation and State have witnessed an increase in the suicide rate over the last two decades, New York’s rate has stayed about the same since 2012.

The Centers for Disease Control lists New York as having the lowest suicide rate in the nation. But even one death by suicide is too many.

More work must be done.

What Is New York State Doing to Prevent Suicide?

OMH's Suicide Prevention Office

The mission of OMH’s Suicide Prevention Office (SPO) is to promote, coordinate, and strategically advance suicide prevention… with the aim of reducing suicide attempts and deaths among New Yorkers.

To advance this mission, SPO has established and funds the Suicide Prevention Center of New York (SPC-NY) to implement suicide prevention research and activities.

Visit www.preventsuicideny.org to find trainings, county-coalitions, and other resources.

Research & Collaboration

• Governor Cuomo’s 2019 Suicide Prevention Task Force report focuses on high-risk populations (veterans, LGBTQ, Latina adolescents, black youth, and rural residents), and highlights strategies to support communities in effective suicide prevention.
• The Office of Mental Health sponsors an annual Suicide Prevention Conference bringing together experts in suicide prevention.

New, Innovative Programs

• New York is the first state in the nation to implement an innovative pilot program called ASSIP, or the Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program. The program has been shown to reduce new suicide attempts by previous attempt-survivors.
• The State is using Suicide Fatality Reviews (SFR) in four counties significantly affected by suicide. The reviews recommend interventions; such as training staff at animal shelters after research highlighted how often people surrender pets when planning suicide.
• OMH is a leader in promoting the Zero Suicide initiative. New York was the first state to receive a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for this effort. More than 500 outpatient mental health clinics now use the Zero Suicide model of care. We expect our newest youth focused grant to reach 35,000 young people over five years.

Training

New York State provides a variety of evidence-based trainings, workshops, online learning modules, and resources to meet the specific needs of clinicians, other health care workers, community members, and school staff.

• New York State supported more than 10,000 school personnel trainings in 2018.
• Clinician focused trainings from the Suicide Prevention – Training, Implementation, and Evaluation (SP-TIE) program of the Center for Practice Innovations.
• More than 7,000 New Yorkers have received suicide prevention training in their local communities.
• OMH’s Suicide Prevention Office is developing suicide prevention training for 600,000 state and county workers.

Resources:

• When clinicians lose a client to suicide
  A guide for professionals after the loss of a client.
• Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide
  A resource for media covering suicide.
• Suicide Prevention in New York Schools
  Resources and best practices for educators.
• 2020 Report on Suicide Prevention Activities
  Outlines suicide prevention programs OMH is overseeing and supporting across the State.
• 1700 Too Many: the 2016-2017 New York State Suicide Prevention Plan
  Approaching suicide prevention in both healthcare and community settings, using data to inform and evaluate efforts over time.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Crisis Text Line: Text "Got5" to 741-741

Comments or questions about the information on this page can be directed to Suicide Prevention.