September is National Suicide Prevention Month
Every September, we recognize National Suicide Prevention Month and renew our commitment to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and supporting those affected by suicide. This year’s theme, Cultivating Connection Nationwide: Strengthen Suicide Prevention Together, reminds us that everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention.
By working together, we can normalize conversations around mental health, encourage help-seeking, and build stronger community connections that save lives. According to the International Association for Suicide Prevention, changing the narrative on suicide means transforming how we understand and respond to this complex issue. It means moving from silence and misunderstanding toward openness, empathy, and support. ECHO-Chicago is committed to changing that narrative through ECHO series focused on behavioral health.
Our Behavioral Health Adult Populations series equips primary care and behavioral health providers with the knowledge and skills to identify, assess, and respond to suicide risk in adults, and our Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health series supports providers in implementing evidence-based, patient-centered best practices to address behavioral health concerns such as depression, anxiety, and suicide prevention among school-age children and adolescents.
Our Addiction, Substance use disorder, and Harm reduction series strengthens the capacity of community-based primary care and other healthcare providers to identify, treat, and manage substance use disorders in primary care settings. These programs build provider knowledge, confidence, and use of evidence-based practices, including addiction pharmacotherapy and recovery-oriented care.
Let’s work together through ECHO series to help prevent suicide—starting with conversation, connection, and compassion.
A past participant in the Behavioral Health – Adult Populations series recently shared their experience: “I think as a clinician and administrator, it’s important to learn from others, refresh the skills. So much has changed since I obtained my license and so the field is always evolving. It’s important to stay on top of that. I feel like [completing the ECHO-Chicago series] provided me a lot of insights and practical information that I can start using right away and at the same time go back and review things that resonate later.” – Behavioral Health Provider, ECHO-Chicago Series Participant
