The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Abstract

Abstract In 1987, leading experts on suicide joined with families who had lost a loved one to suicide to form the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Following the approach that had proven to be effective in advancing the treatment and prevention of heart disease, cancer and diabetes, AFSP began with the goals of furthering the research necessary to understand and prevent suicide, and educating mental health professionals and the public about effective treatment and suicide-prevention strategies. From its inception, the work of the Foundation aimed to lower suicide rates, increase the public and private resources available for suicide prevention, and develop and support programmes to assist survivors of suicide loss. Over time, AFSP’s focus broadened to include representatives from the civic and business communities, as well as people suffering from depression and other mood disorders that convey suicide risk. More than 20 years later, AFSP remains the leading national non-profit organization in the US, exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research and education, and to reaching out to people with mood disorders and those impacted by suicide. From a single national office in New York City, the Foundation has expanded to include twenty-eight Chapters throughout the United States that bring AFSP programmes to states and communities and play an important role in focusing public attention on suicide.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 277 citations exist upstream.