A Trauma-Informed Approach to Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention

ABSTRACT

Suicide, suicidal behaviors, and self-harm are major public health problems among youth and can often co-occur with traumatic stress experiences and related symptoms. Given this interrelation, it is important that suicide prevention and intervention practices take a trauma-informed approach to reflect the complex, intertwined relation of traumatic stress symptoms and suicidal thoughts/behaviors. To that end, we summarize key steps in a proposed trauma-informed approach to suicide prevention and illustrate this approach with examples of how to clinically apply suggested components for youth who are suicidal and have been exposed to traumatic events.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work in this paper was supported by the UCLA-Duke Center for Trauma-Informed Adolescent Suicide, Self-Harm, and Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention (ASAP Center),which is a partner of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The NCTSN’s ASAP Center is funded by the Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (SM #080041). Points of view in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.