A report of findings to direct the development of national guidelines for workplace suicide prevention

In 2010, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention established a Workplace Task Force to assist with the implementation of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention [1]. In 2017, this task force forged a collaborative partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and United Suicide Survivors International to develop this nation’s first set of guidelines for workplace suicide prevention. In November 2018, the CDC published a report ranking industries by rates of suicide, galvanizing the nation to urgent action. In 2019, the American Association of Suicidology adopted the Workplace Task Force, creating the Workplace Prevention and Postvention Committee
(Workplace Committee), and became yet another national strategic partner in the effort. Together the partners underwent a nine-month exploratory analysis to get a better sense of what employers wanted and would use in their efforts to implement a comprehensive and sustained strategy for suicide prevention. The framework for this “needs and strengths assessment” was based in a public health understanding that suicide is not just the consequence of a mental health problem, but that environmental factors also play a role. In other words, change comes from helping people and from changing systems and culture. In the justification section of the report many arguments are made for why workplaces and professional associations are essential partners in the nation’s effort to prevent suicide. The intention of this report and the subsequent call to action to implement “best practices” in aspiring to a zero suicide mindset is to enroll leaders and other stakeholders through a process of change — from awareness to action.