Empowering Communities Through Suicide Prevention Education
Public understanding of suicide and mental health has come a long way since AFSP’s founding. Today, it is more widely understood that mental health is just as important as physical health, and that suicide is a serious public health matter that needs a public health response. The good news is that, with the help of scientific research findings, we now know suicide can often be prevented. Equipped with the right information, we can all play a role in helping to fight this leading cause of death. That’s why suicide prevention education is a cornerstone of our mission — so that each of us can confidently spot the risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs of suicide in others, and so that we can be sure what steps to take when someone we know is struggling.
Expanding Our Reach With Evidence-Informed Programs
AFSP offers a range of education programs backed by research and delivered in communities across the country. Our flagship education program, Talk Saves Lives: An Introduction to Suicide Prevention (TSL), was created to address the scope of this leading cause of death, and to share the research on risk factors and warning signs of suicide, as well as strategies to help prevent it. Since its original conception, Talk Saves Lives has been adapted for versions that meet the specific needs of a range of communities, including LGBTQ+ people, Latinx and Hispanic people, construction industry professionals, and those in correctional environments. This past September 2025, Talk Saves Lives earned recognition from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) on its Best Practices Registry (BPR).
Through TSL and other impactful programs like L.E.T.S. Save Lives: An Introduction to Suicide Prevention for Black and African American Communities, It’s Real and More Than Sad for supporting youth mental health, and other programs created by and for specific groups, AFSP’s education programming empowers communities with knowledge that helps to save lives and raise awareness about suicide and mental health.
Deepening Our Work in Firearms and Veteran Communities
In October 2024, AFSP launched its first learning collaborative, AFSP CONNECTS: Firearms, with the goal of helping our nationwide network of chapters better understand how to engage firearm communities in suicide-prevention efforts. Over the course of nine monthly meetings, the firearms learning collaborative has led 13 volunteers from 10 AFSP chapters to become more confident in firearms suicide prevention. In January 2025, that same learning collaborative model was adapted to create AFSP CONNECTS: Veterans, designed to help chapters increase engagement with veteran communities.
This past year, AFSP updated our firearms webpage, which now includes information about the broader scope of firearm suicide, and how to protect yourself and others through secure storage and help seeking; specific guidance for ranges, retailers, and instructors; and an in-depth description of AFSP’s stance on firearm-related public policies. On the webpage, you can now find the “Suicide Prevention Toolkit for Firearms Instructors,” which includes a scripted slide deck that instructors can use to incorporate suicide prevention into their firearms courses. To date, over 100 instructors have downloaded the slides, potentially reaching over 10,000 firearm owners this year alone.
