2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

https://www.hhs.gov/programs/prevention-and-wellness/mental-health-substance-abuse/national-strategy-suicide-prevention/index.html?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--tTYNJUxMCFaEWl-o8_SvS5cLbJw56s2o4DMjiv7PRzbhZ1UUATqtokQhqKvUEaxs5oqcx86iVjBXEnnenDNZwX3Nsuw&_hsmi=304722775&utm_content=304722775&utm_source=hs_email HHS releases a 10-year plan for suicide prevention The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a 10-year plan to address the country’s high suicide rate on Friday. Almost 50,000 people in the U.S. died by suicide in 2022. The report outlines goals to increase community-based suicide prevention measures, access to mental health care, and rigorous surveillance — all with a focus on health equity. “What’s exciting is that the plan takes a ‘whole of society’ approach,” Hannah Wesolowski, the chief advocacy officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, wrote in an email to STAT. The report includes a three-year plan with explicit action items for federal agencies. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, for example, was directed to produce briefs on hospital and emergency department utilization for suicidal ideation, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development was tasked with providing mental health first aid trainings to 500 people who may work with those experiencing housing challenges. Those kinds of government directives were lacking in the last strategic report from HHS, issued in 2012. In 2021, the surgeon general released a call to action to fully implement 2012 goals that had still not yet been achieved. “A lot has changed in our society in that time,” Wesolowski wrote. “But now that we have the strategies outlined, we have to roll up our sleeves and do the work.” https://www.statnews.com/2024/04/26/crisis-centers-empath-units-er-alternative-for-mental-health/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9T1ruza7qJiq050xV1eoONRLaQRmMBh_MWeeJ9GZsrSPQ5uNyK1QYRAP_20H8GTIy_eeb2Uwn44RnTzT_sh_TtUEaZBg&_hsmi=304722775&utm_content=304722775&utm_source=hs_email