Suicide Risk Factors and Signs

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Use mental health professionals to explain the data and increase public understanding of suicide.

Reach out to people whose loved ones jumped; their voices tend to be the most powerful and convincing.

Be prepared to refute the three main arguments against a suicide barrier—cost, aesthetics, and effectiveness.

For years, I have been on the board of Bridge Rail Foundation, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that has been the primary advocate for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. Now that a barrier is in place—a rigid, stainless-steel net—and proving its effectiveness, other communities with popular jump sites are seeking advice and support to make their local bridge, tall building, overpass, cliff, train crossing, or other site safe from suicide. What follows are 10 elements in a successful strategy.

Have concrete data. Until you know the extent of the problem, it’s hard to rally people to do something........

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