"In the past, suicide was addressed by providing mental health services to people who were already experiencing or showing signs of suicidal thoughts or behavior. While services such as therapy and hospitalization are critical for those who may be thinking about or who have made a suicide attempt, they do not prevent suicidal thoughts or behaviors from happening in the first place. There are also other factors besides mental health, which place people at risk for suicide. A public health approach to suicide prevention can address these factors in many ways. First, public health uses a population approach to improve health on a large scale. A population approach means focusing on prevention approaches that impact groups or populations of people, versus treatment of individuals. Second, public health focuses on preventing suicidal behavior before it ever occurs (primary prevention), and addresses a broad range of risk and protective factors. Third, public health holds a strong commitment to increasing our understanding of suicide prevention through science, so that we can develop new and better solutions. Finally, public health values multi-disciplinary collaboration, which brings together many different perspectives and experience to enrich and strengthen the solutions for the many diverse communities." - p. 1

2/21/2012: date from document properties.

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection

United States