Challenge
Suicide takes life without regard to age, income, education, or race. It is the 10th leading cause of death for all Americans, and its heartbreaking legacy continues long after death. Fortunately, strong evidence suggests that a comprehensive public health approach can effectively reduce suicide rates and save lives.
Suicide prevention has become a national public health priority. EDC serves as secretariat for the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance), the public-private partnership dedicated to advancing the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP). The Action Alliance is working to sustain this nationwide public health effort across many fronts, including integrating suicide prevention into health care reform, transforming health care systems to significantly reduce suicides, and changing the public conversation around suicide and suicide prevention.
Key Activities
As secretariat for the Action Alliance, EDC staff engage in the following activities:
- Provide infrastructure support and coordination for all ongoing activities, focusing on priorities at the national level
- Advance the NSSP by championing suicide prevention as a national priority, catalyzing efforts to implement high priority objectives of the NSSP, and cultivating the resources needed to sustain progress
Impact
- Released the Action Alliance Framework for Successful Messaging to engage the media, national leaders, and the suicide prevention field in changing public narratives around suicide and suicide prevention to ones that promote social support, connectedness, treatment, hope, resilience, and recovery
- Released A Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention: An Action Plan to Save Lives, a first-of-its-kind national action plan aimed at prioritizing suicide prevention research
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PROJECT DIRECTOR
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PARTNERS
Federal partners:
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- National Institute of Mental Health
- U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Department of Education
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Private sector partners:
- Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America
- Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
- Odyssey House
- The Kennedy Forum
- National Football League
- Entertainment Industries Council
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Vietnam Veterans of America
- Kaiser Permanente
- Universal Health Services
- Union Pacific Railroad
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