Each September, Suicide Prevention Month provides us with an opportunity to increase awareness, reduce stigma, share resources, and encourage conversations about mental health. We hope that education and communication can help people find support.
These efforts are part of a broader suicide prevention movement that has grown over decades. In 2003, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, in partnership with the World Health Organization, established World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 to focus global attention on suicide prevention and reinforce an important message: suicide can be prevented.
More than two decades later, that work continues. Suicide prevention is not only about responding when someone is in crisis. It is also about creating communities where people can talk openly about emotional pain.
The triennial theme for 2024–2026, “Changing the Narrative on Suicide,” includes a simple but important call to action: “Start the Conversation.” https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-suicide-prevention-day/2026
When we think about suicide prevention, it can be easy to focus on moments of crisis. But prevention often begins much earlier: by noticing when someone is struggling, creating space for honest conversations, and helping people feel less alone in difficult moments.
Changing the narrative means being brave enough to talk openly about suicide and emotional distress—without judgment, shame, or fear. It also means recognizing that suicide prevention doesn’t begin only when someone is in crisis. It can begin much earlier, with connection.
Notice, Ask, and Listen
Someone experiencing thoughts of suicide may not always appear to be in crisis. They may continue going to work, caring for their family, attending school, spending time with friends, or meeting the expectations of everyday life while carrying significant pain privately.
Changes in mood or behavior, increasing isolation, expressions of hopelessness, feeling like a burden, increased substance use, giving away meaningful belongings, or comments suggesting that others would be better off without them are all reasons to pay attention.
If you are worried about someone, you do not need to find the perfect words. You can simply say:
“I’ve noticed you haven’t seemed like yourself lately, and I’m worried about you.”
And when you are concerned about suicide, it is okay to ask directly:
“Are you thinking about suicide?”
Asking directly about suicide does not cause someone to become suicidal or put the idea in their mind. Instead, it can communicate that you are willing to hear the answer—even if the answer is difficult.
If someone tells you they are struggling, you don’t have to solve everything in that moment. Listen. Take them seriously. Let them know you are glad they told you. Help them connect with additional support.
Support Can Begin Before a Crisis
Changing the narrative around suicide begins with the challenging the idea that someone needs to be in crisis before they are “struggling enough” to ask for help.
Therapy and other forms of support can begin much earlier—when life feels increasingly overwhelming, when someone feels lonely and disconnected from the people around them, when their usual ways of coping aren’t working, or when hope is becoming harder to feel and find.
Suicide prevention belongs to all of us. Sometimes it looks like professional treatment or crisis intervention. Often, it begins with something much smaller: noticing a change, asking a difficult question, staying present for the answer, and reminding someone that they do not have to navigate what they are experiencing alone.
Closer to Home
Here in Alaska, the importance of suicide prevention is especially clear. In 2024, 222 Alaskans died by suicide, making suicide the sixth leading cause of death in our state. Alaska continues to experience a suicide rate substantially higher than the national average.
Behind these statistics are people—family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and members of our communities. Suicide Prevention Month offers an opportunity not only to recognize the scope of the problem, but also to consider statewide resources and the role each of us can play in creating connection, reducing stigma, and making it easier to talk openly when someone is struggling.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress, the following resources are available:
- Alaska 2-1-1 is a resource line that can connect Alaskans with needed supports. https://alaska211.org/about-2-1-1/
- Careline Alaska provides immediate, confidential, and free support 24/7, 365 days a year for Alaskans, by Alaskans. https://carelinealaska.com/
- You can also call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- You can learn more about suicide prevention through the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development https://education.alaska.gov/tls/suicide