For more information visit Pacific Northwest Suicide Prevention Resource Center
Suicide Rate = 12.84/100,00
Suicide Rate = 15.78/100,00
Suicide Rate = 13.0/100,00
Suicide accounts for more deaths than homicide in the United States.
Suicides are preventable. Know the risk factors and warning signs so you can help.
While mental health problems are an important risk factor for suicide, they do not fully explain the differences in suicide between states and regions. Other factors, such as demographics and the prevalence of firearm ownership are important in explaining differences in suicide.
While suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults, the highest rate of suicide is in middle aged adults.
While females are more likely to attempt suicide; males, particularly white males, are more likely to die by suicide. 7 in 10 suicides in 2014 were white males.
A vast majority of individuals who attempt or die by suicide have risk factors or show warning signs ahead of time. Learning about those signs can help you save a life.
Studies have found that more than 75 percent of all completed suicides did things in the few weeks or months prior to their deaths to indicate to others that they were in deep despair. Anyone expressing suicidal feelings needs immediate attention.
It’s best to talk to the person as soon as you suspect something might be wrong. In a study of suicide survivors, 24 percent reported that less than five minutes elapsed from the time they decided to end their life and their suicide attempt.
While pill overdoses account for a large number of suicide and suicide attempts each year, most suicides are actually firearm-related.
An estimated 90 percent of suicide attempts using a firearm result in death, while those who attempt suicide by other means are far more likely to survive a suicide attempt. 2 percent of suicide attempts by pill overdose and 1 percent of suicide attempts by cutting survive their attempt. Means matter.
Keeping firearms locked and unloaded is associated with a lower risk of suicide among those living in the household, including children and adults.
In a nationwide study of adolescents who live in households with firearms, 41 percent reported that they could easily access the gun. Adolescents with mental health problems were just as likely to report easy access to a household firearm as adolescents without mental health or substance abuse problems.
FREE Forefront Suicide Prevention & Grief Trainings – (Click to view)
UW Forefront’s Suicide Prevention Work highlighted by New York Times – (Click to view)
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Suicide Prevention – (PDF)
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Suicide Prevention Resource Guide – (PNG) | (JPG)
LEARN Saves Lives – (PNG) | (JPG)
WA State Suicide Statistics – (PNG) | (JPG)
William P. French, MD, DFAACAP – (PNG) | (JPG)
Risk Factors
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Warning Signs
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Mental Health Check-In – (PNG) | (JPG)
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Resources – (PDF)
For physicians, social workers, medical professionals, law enforcement & others:
Firearm Injury & Suicide Prevention Strategies
English – (PDF)
Estrategias de prevención de suicidios y lesiones por arma de fuego
Spanish / Español – (PDF)
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