Suicide Safer Care: Suicide Prevention in Primary Care
Suicide is a growing public health crisis in the United States, and primary care clinicians are confronting increasing concerns for patients that may be at heightened risk for suicide. Despite concerted suicide prevention efforts, the suicide rate in the U.S. increased 35% from 1999-2018, briefly decreasing before reaching its highest recorded levels in the United States in 2022. That year alone, more than 49,000 individuals in the U.S. died by suicide—accounting for one death every 11 minutes.
Contrary to popular belief, less than half of deaths by suicide stem from mental illness or depression. Rather, deaths by suicide stem from a variety of factors such as relationship issues, life crises, substance use disorder, or illnesses. The link between suicide and these social drivers of health—and the fact that 45% of individuals who die by suicide visited their provider in the month before ending their lives—suggests that primary care providers are in a vital position to identify patients at risk of suicide and intervene during primary care visits.
Using the Zero Suicide framework as a foundation and with the generous support of the Centene Corporation, ACU created the Suicide Safer Care (SSC) curriculum to train primary care teams on skills for suicide risk assessment, evidence-based interventions, referral and transition, and changing the culture of addressing suicide risk across clinical practice. From 2020-2024, ACU’s SSC initiative has trained thousands of healthcare workers across the U.S. to help address the crisis of suicide.
Browse our publications, resources, and videos below, browse our new resource repository organized by topic, or contact us for more information or to request technical assistance or training.
Publications
Suicide Prevention in Primary Care: A Toolkit for Primary Care Clinicians and Leaders
NEW! Updated Feb. 25, 2026
This publication provides guidance on the four core components of how health care professionals can help identify and prevent suicide in patients, create cultures of practice that find suicide unacceptable and set ambitious goals to prevent suicide, and employ evidence-based clinical practices that standardize risk stratification, evidence-based interventions, and patient engagement approaches. Read the guide to learn best practices for screening and identifying and assessing patients at risk for suicide, restricting access to lethal means and safety planning, and caring for patients at risk of suicide.
Additional Toolkits
Briefs & Fact Sheets
Articles and Podcasts
NEW! Further Resources by Topic
Webinars
Preventing Suicide in Primary Care for Clinicians & Health Centers
Suicide rates have reached their highest recorded levels in recent years. As vital providers of primary care, community health centers (CHCs) can play a key role in addressing this public health crisis. Half of individuals who end their lives by suicide visit a primary care provider in the month before their passing, making these visits key opportunities to intervene. Reviewed archived sessions in a 2024 webinar series from ACU and our primary care association partners to learn evidence-based strategies to identify and intervene with patients at risk, to support clinicians and staff who may themselves be at risk, and to create a culture of Suicide Safer Care for all at CHCs.
Archived Sessions in this Series Include:
Additional Webinars
Caring for the Healers
This ongoing series explores unique considerations and strategies in preventing suicide among healthcare workers, with an emphasis on how organizations and managers can support employee wellbeing:
- I: Preventing Suicide Among Providers (2020)
- II: Preventing Suicide Among Providers and Staff (2021)
- III: Preventing Suicide in Healthcare Professionals and Staff and Navigating Postvention (2022)
- IV: Overcoming Barriers and Reducing Stigma to Care for the Healers (2023)
- V: Preventing Suicide in Clinicians and Staff: Holistic Approaches to Caring for the Healers (2024)
Suicide Prevention at All Stages of Life
These presentations explore unique considerations in suicide in pediatric and geriatric patients alike, as well as evidence-based practices to identify, assess, and care for individuals at risk.
- Pediatric Suicide Prevention for Primary Care Providers and School-Based Health Centers: A Suicide Safer Care Approach (2021)
- Geriatric Suicide Prevention: Suicide Safer Care Principles for Primary Care Providers and Their Teams (2021)
- How Primary Care Providers Can Help Prevent Elder Suicide: A New Guide to Geriatric Suicide Safer Care (2022)
Informational Videos
Preventing Clinician Suicide: The Scope of the Problem
Watch as Dr. Virna Little, nationally known suicide prevention expert, discusses the crisis of suicide in healthcare professionals and what we can do to help address it and better care for the healers.
Purpose in Practice: Dr. Laura Sidari Shares Her Story of a Mentor’s Death by Suicide
Listen to Dr. Laura Sidari of Cayuga Health as she relates her experience of a physician’s passing and learn why we must ask and take action to help prevent clinician suicide in a short from our Purpose in Practice podcast.
The “Why You Matter” Conversation and Youth Suicide Prevention
Listen to Dr. J. Wyatt, PhD, LICSW, explain why it’s important for providers to have the “why you matter” conversation with youth potentially at risk for suicide.
Request a Training or More Information About Suicide Safer Care
To request a training or technical assistance, or for general inquiries about the SSC program, please contact Rick Brown, Director of Communications, Membership, & Special Initiatives.
