Media contact: Brianna Hoge
The Suicide Prevention and Recovery in Healthcare initiative is a pioneering program that empowers individuals to navigate through their darkest moments toward a path of healing and resilience.In the United States, the suicide rate rose 30 percent between 2000 and 2020, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. In an ongoing effort to prevent rising statistics related to suicide attempts and deaths, a beacon of hope shines bright in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology — the Suicide Prevention and Recovery in Healthcare initiative.
This pioneering program offers a lifeline and empowers individuals to navigate through their darkest moments toward a path of healing and resilience.
The inspiration
At the national level, the Zero Suicide initiative, which started in 2010, provides a framework for identifying crucial suicide prevention best practices within health care systems. The adoption and implementation of the ZS framework is encouraged in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, with certain components mandated by the Joint Commission responsible for accrediting hospital systems.
Jennifer Lockman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology and director of the Suicide Prevention and Recovery in Healthcare initiative at UAB, has been involved in the Zero Suicide in health care initiative since its inception.
“While each element of the Zero Suicide framework is backed by evidence, health care systems frequently encounter hurdles in simultaneously executing all components,” Lockman said. “An immediate challenge arises from the singular emphasis on achieving ‘zero’ suicides, complicating the initial stages of implementation.”
Striving for “zero” represents an intentionally ambitious goal. However, it overlooks a critical component that may be essential to facilitating ZS frameworks: fostering a recovery culture. While preventing death and ensuring safety are crucial components of suicide prevention, focusing solely on these aspects falls short.
Embracing a recovery-focused approach
According to Lockman, approximately 70 percent of persons referred for suicide care do not complete the referral.
“In order for health care systems to close the gaps along crisis transitions in health care, we must have a culture, systems processes, and treatments that emphasize living differently and meaningfully with less pain and suffering,” Lockman said.
Learn more about the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology’s suicide prevention and recovery here.
At UAB, adopting a recovery-focused philosophy for suicide prevention is a core leadership priority, embodied by the Suicide Prevention and Recovery in Healthcare initiative. The aim is to facilitate recovery, transformation and growth following suicidal experiences, decreasing suicide deaths by enabling individuals to lead more fulfilling lives aligned with their goals and values.
“The new Suicide Recovery Pathways program will provide personalized, evidence-based care, integrated into electronic medical records, to ensure consistent delivery of evidence-based care,” Lockman said. “This approach draws on successful models from other Zero Suicide initiatives globally; however, UAB will uniquely emphasize recovery for individuals with lived experiences of suicide and support staff delivering care.”
By nurturing various facets of suicide recovery and employing innovative outcome measurement strategies, UAB is emerging as a leader in the national Zero Suicide in health care initiative and broader suicide prevention arena.
A united effort
This effort is connected to UAB’s broader Suicide Prevention Leadership and Implementation Team, or SPLIT, led by Angela Stowe, Ph.D., director of Student Counseling Services and chair of SPLIT, as well as UAB President Ray Watts’ acknowledgment that suicide prevention is of utmost importance for the campus.
With this steadfast leadership commitment, the evolution and sustainability of suicide prevention initiatives at UAB are expected to progress rapidly. Additionally, the perspectives of individuals with firsthand experiences of suicide are being integrated into this initiative.
“Our health care model for suicide recovery emphasizes integrated leadership that incorporates both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ perspectives simultaneously,” Lockman said. “Moreover, we are including persons with lived experiences of suicide in all plans for implementing our Suicide Recovery in Healthcare initiative. Thus, this clinical pathway for suicide recovery is more likely to be feasible, acceptable, implementable, adopted and sustainable, which we will measure.”
Adrienne Lahti, M.D., chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, has issued a declaration of support for the Suicide Prevention and Recovery in Healthcare initiative, which aims to transform the processes used to deliver top-tier suicide care across every service line in which the Department of Psychiatry is involved.
“As we set forth on this transformative path in suicide care, we pledge to extend compassion to each individual, leading them toward healing and resilience,” Lahti said.
Looking toward the future of suicide prevention
Similar to other medical fields, it takes time for the best treatments in suicide-specific care to transition from research to widespread practice, sometimes up to 15 years. According to Lockman, UAB is committed to eliminating this 15-year science-to-service gap altogether to shift the focus from mere survival to empowering patients to gain confidence in their recovery and personal growth.
“We aim for our patients with lived experiences of suicide to encounter compassion, respect and impartiality in our care system,” Lockman said. “Additionally, they will have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of evidence-based treatments tailored to their diverse cultural backgrounds and life circumstances.”
Lockman’s research, clinical and community efforts aim to create environments where those considering suicide can openly share their experiences in spaces of care characterized by support and understanding, both within the community and in clinical settings.
“Within health care, the sole goal must be recovery and growth from suicidal experiences,” Lockman said. “By doing this, we will not only save lives but preserve the gifts suicidal persons have to give to themselves, others and the world around them — the unique talents, strengths and changes that only they can give — which has lasting generational effects not only for them but for their families and communities.”