Risk detection and suicide prevention in the workplace (IN: Davidson, J.E., Richardson, M. (Eds)., Workplace Wellness: From Resiliency to Suicide Prevention and Grief Management)

Suicide is a serious public health problem, a leading cause of death in the United States overall and the fourth leading cause for work-age Americans of 16–64 years. Among health care professionals, research finds elevated suicide risk among certain disciplines, including physicians and nurses. The impact of suicide encompasses emotional, health, and fiscal burdens of a broad spectrum of suffering with approximately half of the American population knowing someone or having personally experienced suicidal ideation, attempt, or loss to suicide. As a complex health outcome, suicide risk is driven by multiple interacting risk and protective factors. Because environmental factors are critical in this mix, the workplace and the culture within the health care profession hold great potential for reducing suicide risk and preventing untimely loss of life to suicide. Approaches for suicide prevention include stigma reduction, (educing barriers to help-seeking, institutional and national policy initiatives, peer support and mentor initiatives, and individual approaches to optimizing mental health and resilience.