by Kevin Caruso
The Suicide.org Suicide Prevention Program is Free and easy to implement.
It can be used for schools, groups, organizations, police departments, fire departments, the military, etc.
So ANY group or organization of any kind that can benefit from a suicide prevention program can use the free Suicide.org Suicide Prevention Program.
For schools, I recommend that you start the suicide prevention program with 7th graders.
For the free school suicide prevention program, please click below
Suicide Prevention Program for Schools
All other organizations please take the following steps to implement the free suicide prevention program.
1) Appoint a person to organize the program.
2) Prepare the handouts that will be given to all participants in the suicide prevention program.
This will be done by choosing the pages on the Suicide.org website that you want to include in your program.
There is no charge for using any pages of the Suicide.org website for a suicide prevention program (in print media only - not on the Internet) as long as no fee is charged for the program and no profit of any kind is derived from the program.
Please note that all of the pages on Suicide.org are copyrighted by Kevin Caruso and Suicide.org and thus all handouts
need to clearly display the following copyright notice (verbatim):
Reprinted with permission from Suicide.org (http://www.Suicide.org). Written by Kevin Caruso. Copyright Kevin Caruso. All Rights Reserved
The recommended pages and page order is:
Suicide.org Home
Suicide Warning Signs
Suicide Causes
Suicide FAQs
Depression and Suicide
Bipolar Disorder and Suicide
Schizophrenia and Suicide
Suicide Myths
Stigma and Suicide
Suicide Statistics
Teen Suicide and Youth Suicide
Bullying and Suicide
Elderly Suicide
How to Help a Suicidal Person
How to Talk to a Suicidal Caller
What Should I do After a Suicide
Suicide Hotlines
(note: copy suicide hotline numbers for your area only)
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However, please feel free to use any pages that you want in any order that you want.
3) Determine how you will meet.
It is important that the meeting be in SMALL GROUPS.
For best results, strive to keep the groups at 50 people or less. So if your organization has 120 people, three groups of 40 would work out well.
4) Establish group leaders.
If the organization consists of 50 people or less, then only one group leader is necessary. For organizations of 50 or more, assign one leader for each group.
5) Determine the best location to meet.
Find a place that is comfortable, private, and where there will be no distractions.
6) Determine the best time for the meeting.
Try to set the meeting at a relatively early time, and try to not have a time limit.
Suicide prevention is extremely important, so give yourself as much time as you need. For instance,
the meeting can start at 9:00 a.m. – and when all of the material is covered and everyone's questions are answered, you are done.
7) Thoroughly study all of the material that will be presented.
All group leaders need to thoroughly study each of the pages that they will be covering and should be prepared to answer questions.
8) Have the suicide prevention meeting.
Pass out the handouts at the meeting and go over the pages one at a time.
Make sure that the suicide warning signs and causes are thoroughly covered.
Do not try to cover every piece of information on every page.
Emphasize what you deem to be the most important parts of any page.
And emphasize these points:
- Untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide.
- Depression is highly treatable, and the vast majority of people who receive treatment get better.
- Over 90% of the people who die by suicide have a mental illness.
- People ALWAYS need to reach out for help when they are suicidal. They can call 911, 1-800-SUICIDE, 1-800-273-TALK,
a suicide hotline, their local emergency number, a friend, or they can go to an emergency room. They can also go to Suicide.org
for information and resources.
- Suicide is preventable.
Again, emphasize the need for people to reach out for help if they are ever suicidal and
make sure that everyone has a list of suicide hotlines for the area that they live in.
And emphasize that people can call 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-273-TALK twenty-four hours a day from any location in the United States.
And let them know that that additional information and numerous resources
are available at Suicide.org 24 hours a day – Suicide.org
is constantly updated with new articles and new resources, so they can continue their eduation
about suicide prevention by visiting Suicide.org on a regular basis.
After going over the pages and pointing out the most important aspects of suicide prevention, open the meeting up to questions.
When all of the questions have been answered, encourage everyone to take the handout home and
continue studying it, and to visit Suicide.org to continue learning more about suicide.
And before the meeting ends, make sure that an environment is established in which people can talk about suicide at any juncture in an open and comfortable way.
So, please get started!
You have everything that you need right here on Suicide.org to start your suicide prevention program today.
And the program is free.
Again, please get started...
Because suicide is always urgent.
Good luck.
Take care of yourself,
Kevin Caruso
Suicide.org
Founder, Director, Editor-in-Chief