2019 Awareness Day Final Report 2019_ADay_FinaReport_FINAL_pages | Page 5

“Engaging in conversations around this difficult topic brings it
into the open and hopefully provides more opportunities to
intervene with young people who are in trouble.”
— LYNN JOHNSON, Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Beyond educating audiences about the issue, experts who participated in SAMHSA’s Awareness Day event provided further context
about the public’s ability to play a role in suicide prevention.
Research has shown that effective suicide prevention is the result of comprehensive strategies and approaches that target risk
and protective factors across individual, relationship, community, and societal levels and across all sectors. Awareness Day 2019
sought to shed light on not only the growing need for suicide prevention efforts among the nation’s youth but also the best practices,
programs, and resources that have been proven to help save lives.
“The most effective way to prevent suicide is through a comprehensive and integrated approach,” said Aaron Lopata, M.D., M.P.P.,
chief medical officer for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),
an agency within the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “Health care providers that integrate primary care and
behavioral health provide ideal settings for diagnosing and treating mental health and substance use disorders and for preventing
suicide.”
SAMHSA officials emphasized that system of care communities represent another part of the solution to suicide among youth. A
2016 SAMHSA report showed that one year following the intake of a child or youth into a system of care, rates of suicidal thoughts
were reduced by 43 percent, and rates of suicide attempts were reduced by 45 percent.
For SAMHSA, there has never been a more important time to lead the conversation about suicide prevention. The agency has
invested in a range of resources and programs—including a mobile app called Suicide Safe—to provide information and support to
individuals who may be in crisis, as well as concerned friends and family members.
On a local level, SAMHSA’s Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant program is intended to strengthen the capacity of youth-
serving organizations, including education institutions, to recognize when young adults are at risk for suicide and provide them with
the appropriate care.
The agency also collaborates with other prevention-focused organizations, including federal agencies, to spread the message that
when we have the facts, we all can help prevent suicide.
Dr. Everett stated that federal partners in this work include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Representatives from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HRSA, the Indian Health
Service, and the Defense Health Agency also shared evidence-based practices and resources from their agencies on suicide
prevention.
SUICIDE PREVENTION: STRATEGIES THAT WORK
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