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The IACP has identified 11 elements of a suicide prevention framework for public safety personnel.
The Education Development Center (EDC) has partnered with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to lead the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide to raise awareness of, and address law enforcement suicide. Their program, the Comprehensive Public Safety Suicide Prevention Framework, can be extended beyond just law enforcement, to public safety personnel in general.
The IACP suicide prevention framework
Create a leadership culture that supports mental health.
Prioritize mental health and wellbeing and build it in to policies and procedures. Set the example by taking your own action steps, and not just speaking the words.
Normalize and increase help-seeking behaviors.
Asking for help is one of the bravest things an individual can do. Make it easy for an employee to get help during work time. Normalize through encouraging shared experiences.
Prepare for and provide support during transitions.
Look at preparedness plans for the retirement transition before retirement happens and then provide support during and through retirement. Consider other transitions such as promotions and changes in duties, as well as personal life transitions.
Develop and/or strengthen peer supports through a peer support team.
Train peer support on suicide prevention skills. Provide support for the supporters.
Improve access and decrease barriers to mental health care.
Provide mental health care through EAP, in-house, or a combination, as well as offer group support after critical and stressful events. Not just procedural or tactical debriefings.
Strengthen supports and connectedness.
Help strengthen family supports by being inclusive and offering family programming. Highlight team connections and bring in anyone that appears isolated/disconnected.
Provide support after a suicide death or attempt.
Providing some sort of postvention is prevention. Use peer support when appropriate, have a family support team, and follow-up.
Promote a positive resilient narrative.
Develop a message to your department about their own wellness and it’s importance. Use safe messaging. Focus on resilience, hope, recovery and healing. Communicate about mental wellness to the whole department on a regular basis.
Build resilience and healthy coping skills.
Make mental wellness essential, just like physical fitness/wellness. Train and educate and increase protective factors against suicide.
Identify and respond to warning signs of suicide risk.
Educate and train everyone on the signs of suicide risk, including precipitating factors, risk factors, warning signs, and protective factors. Have a plan of what to do and where to go when signs are noticed. Consider how response is viewed; if it is seen as discipline, employees are less likely to use services.
Mitigate impact of trauma and cumulative stress.
The effects of events and cumulative stress can be immediate or delayed, and duration of impact can be short- or long-term. Build a trauma-informed culture or safety, trustworthiness, empowerment, collaboration, peer support and respect. Debrief any event perceived as psychologically distressing. Look for signs of vicarious trauma and burnout. Use mental health treatment as needed.