September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call or 988 or text HOME to 741741 immediately.
Suicide prevention has progressed over the years to a point where many people with serious thoughts of suicide are being assessed and provided with a safety plan. While this may help to keep people alive, it fails to treat them.
Unfortunately, the number of people with serious thoughts of suicide continues to increase. The latest numbers from SAMHSA show that there are 15,600,000 Americans with serious thoughts of suicide. That is 12,300,000 adults and 3,300,000 youth (ages 12-17).
Now is the time to reduce these numbers by TREATING individuals using evidence-based, suicide-specific treatments so that suicide is no longer seen as an option and each person can envision a life worth living with meaning and purpose.
Thoughts Matter
Observing National Suicide Prevention Month is important – but suicidal distress and mental illness take a toll on Americans all year long.
The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) has been extensively researched for over 40 years and is recognized as a “Well Supported” treatment by CDC criteria.
CAMS is proven to work best for the largest population of people, those with serious thoughts of suicide, in as few as 6 to 8 sessions, within outpatient care.
That’s why, for the entire months of August and September, CAMS-care, the official training company of CAMS, is providing a 20% discount on all training courses (except for the new 3rd edition CAMS book) when you use coupon code NSPM2023 at checkout.
We encourage you to become CAMS Trained and add your name to our Clinician Locator as people with serious suicidal thoughts in our nation deserve the best possible care.
Training & Certification for Mental Health Professionals
Learn through on-demand courses, gain hands-on experience with role-play training and consultation calls, and earn Continuing Education credits through your participation
Outpatient & Telehealth versus Emergency Departments & Hospitalization
Too often, current systems for “prevention” involve long Emergency Departments wait times or hospitalizing a person with serious suicidal thoughts, even though hospitalization and certain medications have long been associated with increased suicide risk. For the vast majority of people experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, outpatient treatment is most desirable and can be highly effective.
People with serious suicidal thoughts in this nation deserve better treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned that many patients prefer talking from the comfort of their own home as it avoids the stress of traveling to an office and the stigma of publicly seeking therapy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has acknowledged that people experiencing emotional distress can “access care from their homes with more options for safety, privacy, and convenience” through telehealth.
CAMS has been successfully used to support and treat people via telehealth. For more information on using CAMS and the Suicide Status Form within Telehealth, consult our toolkits:
Hope has a New Number
The “988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline” has been active since July 2022! And further help can be obtained by texting HOME to 741741 for Crisis TextLine help!
We must ensure that individuals reaching out for help get exactly what they need. CAMS is an evidence-based program, proven to reduce suicidal ideation, overall symptom distress, while increasing hope and decreasing hoplessness. We must do more than identify suicidal individuals, especially when they’re reaching out themselves – we must provide the effective treatment they are seeking.
Systems of care managing suicidal individuals can benefit from more CAMS-care clinicians and the general public can benefit from receiving robust evidence-based treatment. For more information on CAMS availability in your state, consult the CAMS-care Clinician Locator.
Final Thoughts and Additional Resources
We recognize that states and counties are concentrating considerable resources to these major public health threats. But the solution must go beyond funding evidence-informed programs that merely identify suicidal thoughts, without applying an effective treatment. The evidence-based CAMS approach gets to the root of the issue, by quickly reducing distress, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts and increasing hope.
You can access additional information for World Suicide Prevention Day, Suicide Prevention Week, and National Suicide Prevention Month through the following resources:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline National Suicide Prevention Month
- National Suicide Prevention Month – National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Crisis Text Line
If you are an individual clinician, state agency or community-based health organization, make sure you visit our training options and use the 20% discount on all training courses (except for the new 3rd edition CAMS book) during the months of August and September when you use coupon code NSPM2023 at checkout.
Training & Certification for Mental Health Professionals
Learn through on-demand courses, gain hands-on experience with role-play training and consultation calls, and earn Continuing Education credits through your participation