Suicide Prevention Awareness Month 2027

About Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

In September, mental health organizations, schools, health agencies, employers and families focus on recognizing when someone may be thinking about suicide, talking about it safely, and connecting people with help. The month also makes room to remember people who have died by suicide and to support those who lost them.

No single founding organization or date is documented for the month itself. It grew around two older observances. World Suicide Prevention Day, on September 10, was first held in Stockholm in 2003 as an initiative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization, and became an annual event the next year. In the United States, the American Association of Suicidology sponsors National Suicide Prevention Week around that date. The US Senate has also passed resolutions supporting September as National Suicide Prevention Month, including in 2018 and 2020.

Crisis help is at the center of the month. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched nationwide on July 16, 2022, as an easy-to-remember number for the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. People can call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, to reach a trained counselor 24 hours a day. The service is free and confidential, offers Spanish-language support, and lets veterans press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line. Anyone in immediate danger should call 911.

The Lifeline's #BeThe1To campaign sums up five steps anyone can take when worried about someone: ask, be there, help keep them safe, help them connect, and follow up.

Sources: International Association for Suicide Prevention: About World Suicide Prevention Day, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Congress.gov: S. Res. 738 (116th Congress), supporting National Suicide Prevention Month, #BeThe1To: The 5 Action Steps. How we check dates.

How to mark Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

• Save 988 in your phone and share it with friends, family and coworkers; you can call or text it for yourself or for someone you're worried about.
• Learn the #BeThe1To steps: ask directly about suicide, be there, help keep the person safe, help them connect to support, and follow up.
• Take a suicide prevention or mental health first aid training offered by a local health department, school or nonprofit.
• Check in with someone going through a loss, breakup, job loss or other hard stretch, and keep checking in after the first conversation.
• If firearms or large supplies of medication are kept at home, store them locked and separately so a person in crisis can't easily reach them.
• Join a community walk or remembrance event around World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10.

Suicide Prevention Awareness Month dates