Defining suicidology and the titling of suicidologist?

In January 1970, the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) held a historic conference on suicide and suicide prevention in Phoenix, Arizona. Fifty leaders and students in the field of suicide prevention convened for 3 days to “consider the state of suicide prevention in general with particular attention to establishing directions and priorities for the field” for the next decade (Hathorne & Resnik, 1973, p. v). Six working committees were created and tasked with formulating a set of recommendations to be considered for the conference’s final report. Notably, the Committee on Education and Training’s primary objective was to give shape and form to the aborning profession of suicidology by addressing the question of how to educate and train one who is to be a suicidologist.