Framework for Successful Messaging
The Framework is a research-based resource that outlines four critical issues to consider when messaging to the public about suicide. Visit the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Framework for Successful Messaging website for more information.
To prevent suicide, we need to be able to talk it openly—without fear or shame. But how we talk about suicide matters. These conversations can be helpful or harmful.
Strategic Communication Planning
Strategic planning is key to developing effective communication materials for suicide prevention. The following five-to-six-minute webinar clips feature expert advice on developing a communication plan, understanding your audience, and evaluating your efforts. Adapted from SPRC’s Strategic Communication Workshop Series, each video has a free, downloadable worksheet to help you put these skills into practice.
Download "Language Matters" PDF (nowmattersnow.org) >>
Download "Language Matters" PDF (speakingofsuicide.com) >>
Download "Language Matters" PDF (UW-Madison) >>
Download "Let's Talk About Suicide" (UW-Madison) >>
Val Donovan, Suicide Prevention Coordinator with UW-Madison's University Health Services, developed these resources to provide helpful information to any members of the UW campus community who lead discussions about suicide or mental health issues. UHS encourages dialogue about mental health on campus and wants to help support these conversations so they may happen in safe, effective ways.
Formative research on messaging about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is now available here. This mixed-methods research study describes the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, barriers, and motivations related to 988 and adopting help-seeking behaviors among populations at higher risk for or disproportionately impacted by suicide.
Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide
Suicide is a public health issue. Media and online coverage of suicide should be informed by using best practices. Visit Reporting on Suicide for guidelines on safe and sensitive reporting.
National Recommendations for Depicting Suicide in the Entertainment Industry
The recommendations, which were informed by both representatives from the entertainment industry and the suicide prevention field, aim to help members of the entertainment industry - content creators, scriptwriters, producers - tell more balanced and authentic stories involving suicide and suicide prevention.
Suicide-related messages must be conveyed in ways that support safety, help-seeking, and healing. Towards this goal, the Action Alliance leads efforts focusing on three key groups: the news media, the entertainment media, and other organizations that regularly disseminate messages related to suicide.
Media as Partners in Suicide Prevention
The American Association of Suicidology (AAS), in partnership with The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, has released an updated, comprehensive, and evidence-based set of recommendations for media organizations and journalists who report on suicide and suicide prevention activities - Suicide Reporting Recommendations: Media As Partners in Suicide Prevention. Download the pdf here.
Media Messaging Workgroup
This Action Alliance group brings together influential communication leads from our national partners to develop coordinated and consistent messages about suicide prevention. The group is dedicated to ensuring that the suicide prevention field coordinates its efforts to ensure that all messages:
- Are developed and delivered in a coordinated, consistent, and timely way
- Help promote hope and help-seeking (and are aligned with the Framework for Successful Messaging)
- Educate the public about available services, resources, and supports