Research & News - Suicide Prevention

NASHVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – The Department of Veterans Affairs has created a smartphone function to provide immediate access to the Veterans Crisis Line. Support will be available 24/7 on both Android and Apple devices. The user will simply have to say “call the Veterans Crisis Line” and the phone will automatically dial the National Suicide Prevention Hotline which also serves as the Veterans Crisis Line. The function is being incorporated into current smart technology as part of the Help Prevent Suicide campaign. The crisis chat is a free, anonymous, confidential resource that’s available to any Service member, including members of the National Guard and Reserve, and any Veteran, even if you’re not registered with VA or enrolled in VA health care. A self check questionnaire is available at the following link along with more information.

Los Angeles Daily News A new study has been completed on suicide risk among transgender and gender-non-conforming people, based on the results of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey released three years ago. The risk of suicide attempts among this population overall is high: approximately 41% of survey respondents reported having made an attempt. The new study, conducted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, found that respondents who said their sexual identity had been responded to with violence, discrimination, or rejection by family and friends were at much greater risk for suicidal behavior than others in the same population. Jodi Herman, co-author of the study and manager of transgender research at the Williams Institute, commented: “What it says to me is that those are the areas we should start looking at. There seem to be some links between negative experiences and suicide attempts that need further investigation. Experiencing discrimination, violence, family rejection — those things are definitely related in this study to elevated prevalence of suicide attempts.”