SUICIDE PREVENTION: YOUR PART TO PLAY
There's a common thread among NGOs or foundations that support people with rare diseases. Many prominent health foundations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were founded by survivors, patients, or family members driven by personal loss or lived experience. They have experienced firsthand how difficult it was, and the array of misinformation, misunderstanding, or simple lack of information there was about the condition. They set up the foundation so others don't go through the same pain, or at least are well supported and/or well informed about the condition. There are so many of them, from sickle cell disease, breast cancer, childhood cancers, leukemia, addiction, alcoholism, Alzheimer's, and, as we'll be talking about this month, suicide.
No one knows more about the darkness that surrounds suicide than those who have walked in its shadow, so it's great that survivors are leading the show on suicide prevention. But being a suicide survivor or losing a loved one to suicide is not a place anyone would want to be in. We don't have to go through a thing to empathize. Everyone can prevent suicide through little actions. For most conditions, prevention is better than cure, but for suicide, prevention is the only way.
One of the main goals of public health is disease prevention. There are five levels of prevention in public health: primordial, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
Primordial prevention stops the risk factors from developing. This is where government ensures that there are parks so citizens can exercise, heads of organizations ensure that work schedules are not too brutal, heads of units see a struggling subordinate and offer some time off, and heads of households ensure that the home is a safe place and members of the household feel safe.
Primary prevention stops a problem before it starts: diet and exercise to prevent cardiovascular diseases, adequate rest, relaxation, and self-care to prevent autoimmune diseases, and interaction with community to prevent isolation that could lead to negative self-thoughts.
Secondary prevention catches it early, once warning signs appear, such as screening for high blood pressure or seeking therapy for depression.
Tertiary prevention manages it after it has already happened, focusing on recovery and reducing further harm, such as managing a patient after a heart attack to prevent a repeat, physiotherapy for stroke, rehabilitation for a suicide survivor, or grief counseling for the family.
With suicide, we have historically focused heavily on secondary and tertiary prevention, the crisis lines, hospital intervention after an attempt, therapy after a diagnosis. This September to change the narrative we are giving primary prevention its rightful place: building the emotional, social, and community foundations that keep suicidal thoughts from taking root in the first place.
What We Can Do for Ourselves
Primary prevention starts before crisis begins, at a time when it doesn't even seem like there'll ever be a crisis.
Name our feelings honestly instead of burying them
Build a small circle of people we can be fully open with
Treat rest, connection, and boundaries as necessities, not luxuries
Notice our own patterns, the thoughts that surface when we're overwhelmed
Learn healthy ways to sit with pain instead of numbing or denying it
Normalize therapy and check-ins as maintenance, not just emergency measures
A mind that is tended to regularly is less likely to reach a breaking point unnoticed.
What We Can Do for Others
For the people around us, primary prevention means being present.
Check in on people who seem fine, not just those who seem to be struggling. Some of the most painful losses happen to people who never gave visible warning.
Create spaces at home, work, or among friends where vulnerability isn't met with judgment or awkward silence.
Listen without rushing to fix, and take feelings seriously even when they seem disproportionate to you.
Learn the language of support: an open question, a steady presence, a genuine “I'm here” can matter more than advice.
Where you can, help build structures in your workplaces, schools, and communities that make it normal to ask for help early, before things become dire.
Changing the narrative on suicide isn't only about what happens in a crisis. It's about the ordinary, everyday choices we make to protect the people we love, and ourselves, before crisis ever arrives.
Suicide can happen anywhere, from homes, schools, and workplaces, to community centers, so prevention should happen everywhere.
To paraphrase the writer Chimamanda Adichie, “never care quietly.” If you care about them, reach out, strike a conversation, celebrate them openly, tell the people you love that you love them. Small acts of kindness go a long way; paying attention is one of the most beautiful acts of kindness. People do not forget acts of kindness or acts of unkindness. What do you want them to remember?
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