Year: 2019 Source: Chicago, IL: National Commission on Correctional Health Care; New York: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2019. 40 p. SIEC No: 20190797

Through the Suicide Prevention Resource Guide, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have joined forces to work toward reducing the incidence of suicide in jails and prisons. The guide focuses on three areas key to suicide prevention in corrections: assessment, intervention and treatment, and training. The aim is to educate the field on how to better identify and help inmates at risk for suicide, safely manage those identified as at high risk, and provide consistent, comprehensive training to all involved personnel. Combining NCCHC’s knowledge of correctional mental health care with AFSP’s expertise in suicide prevention represents a  unique opportunity to develop solutions that can effect real change – and save lives. In its Project 2025, AFSP identified corrections as one of four critical areas with the highest potential for preventing suicide, with the goal of reducing the suicide rate 20% by the year 2025. Joining in the NCCHC–AFSP partnership are mental health experts serving some of the nation’s largest jail and prison systems, private health care providers, and leaders from within the corrections field – individuals who operate on the front lines of the suicide crisis and offer real-world perspective. The result of this partnership to date is this Suicide Prevention Resource Guide. NCCHC and AFSP are deeply indebted to the cadre of experts  who contributed writing, research, scholarship, review, critique, input, and wisdom to the resulting product.