Ensure access to suicide prevention resources

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center provides communities, clinicians, policymakers and others in the field with information and tools to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings to improve prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for mental and substance use disorders.[2]  Since the release of the Zero Suicide Toolkit[3]  in January 2020, the Resource Center has published or shared only three reports specific to suicide prevention evidence-based practices.[4]

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), funded by SAMHSA, advances suicide prevention infrastructure and capacity building and serves as a resource to organizations, communities, and systems that serve populations at risk for suicide.[5] SPRC’s Best Practices Registry[6] aims to increase health equity by sharing programs and interventions that use different types of community and culturally defined evidence to show effectiveness. Only thirteen (13) resources are currently listed on the Best Practices Registry. While thirty-four (34) evidence-based programs are listed in the Best Practice Registry’s Archive from years 2007-2016, the archive will no longer be accessible after January 15, 2024.[7] The widespread implementation of evidence-based practices in suicide prevention depends on access to a broad range of proven and current programs and initiatives.