Suicide Awareness and Prevention for Therapy Professionals

Course overview

Each year, according to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (ASFP), 49,000 people die from self-directed injurious behavior that results in suicide (ASFP, 2025). This translates roughly into an average of 117 deaths by suicide per day. The foundation estimates the numbers to be higher due to the stigma surrounding suicide that leads to underreporting, and the fact that data-collection methods critical to suicide prevention lack uniformity. The rates of both suicides and suicide attempts are increasing among all age groups and are especially alarming for certain segments of the population. Even more importantly, in recent years it has been identified that suicide rates and emergency department visits for suicidal behavior among adults, adolescents and youth are rising across the US (Kuehn, 2020).