The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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UNC School of Medicine

About Our Work

Our Mission

We work with North Carolina families, schools, communities, professional groups, health care professionals, and people with lived experience to:

  • Advance proven and effective ways to prevent suicide.
  • Share resources, solutions, and hope with people in a mental health crisis.| Offer clear action steps to keep people safe.
  • Help and support people who are impacted by suicide.
  • Reduce the number of deaths by suicide in North Carolina.
  • Create tailored prevention strategies and improve access for all people.

 

 

 

Our Work

At the Suicide Prevention Institute, a major part of our mission is to reduce deaths by suicide. We use science to guide this work. Science helps us find people who face greater risks of suicide and use strong evidence to guide our interventions.  

The graphic below shows a useful model of suicide prevention. A suicide attempt is like a waterfall in a stream. Prevention work can happen far upstream, near the waterfall, or downstream. Those levels can also be called primary (upstream), secondary (midstream), and tertiary (downstream).

Primary prevention addresses the root causes of suicide. This includes trauma, the ongoing mental health crisis, poor access to health care, and other risk factors.

Examples of primary prevention (upstream) strategies include:

  • Programs that enhance social connectedness (school-based programs, community events, etc.).
  • Programs that support high-risk and underserved groups of people (veterans, rural, older adults, firearm safety, etc.).
  • Resources for the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions that prevent suicidal behaviors.
  • Governmental policies that improve economic supports in communities
Secondary prevention identifies people who face emerging risks. It also intervenes to keep them safe and connects them to the right supports to prevent a suicidal crisis.

Examples of secondary prevention (midstream) strategies include:

  • Screening for mental health conditions and suicidal thoughts (schools, primary care, and pediatric settings, etc.).
  • Programs that decrease stigma and normalize help-seeking and help-giving behaviors (public awareness campaigns, education on safe messaging, etc.).
  • Training for people and populations about how to talk to other people about suicide (courses, events, virtual, etc.).
Tertiary prevention guides the response to suicidal crises. It also promotes approaches to these crises that have connection, dignity, and empowerment (and not fear).

Examples of tertiary prevention (downstream) strategies include:

  • Access to effective crisis response (988, mobile teams, walk-in centers, etc.)
  • Effective treatments to help people cope and recover (rapid therapeutics, multimodal interventions, etc.)
  • Steps to reduce access to lethal means (gun locks, medication lockboxes, bridge barriers, etc.)
  • Safety planning (help to create a clear plan, continuity in follow up/care, etc.)

 

How We Work

Suicide Prevention Institute collaborates with people in all professions and demographics to identify and scale programs that improve suicide prevention. Our work factors in the needs of survivors, families, and other community members who are directly impacted by suicide loss. We build, study, and expand programs at the grassroots level and work hand-in-hand with:

  • Administrators
  • Academia
  • Advocates
  • Clergy
  • Educators
  • Primary care in pediatrics, internal medicine, and family medicine
  • Graduate students
  • Medical students
  • Mental health clinicians
  • Neuroscientists
  • People from marginalized communities

  • People who have lived experience
  • Philosophers
  • Post-doctoral scholars
  • Professors
  • Psychiatrists
  • Psychologists
  • Public health professionals
  • Social workers
  • Statisticians
  • Undergraduate students

Our Newsletter

Access recent and archived editions of the Suicide Prevention Institute newsletter.

 

 

Our Resources

Learn and share information about our work in suicide prevention across North Carolina.

BMJ Medicine
Research that provides a provide a comprehensive analysis of initial suicide attempt, covering incidence, risk factors, outcomes, and healthcare use in the month before and after the suicide attempt.
View Resource