AFSP is increasing awareness about prevention, warning signs and the psychiatric illnesses most often responsible for suicide. This vital information has been disseminated to community groups, educators, parents, students and concerned individuals. The Foundation has also expanded its efforts to disseminate the latest advances in suicide prevention research and to reduce the stigma associated with suicide. The Foundation's projects educate physicians, mental health professionals, gatekeepers and the media to help them better understand, identify and bring to treatment depressed and suicidal individuals.

Survivor Outreach Training- AFSP Michigan has trained suicide survivors who are two or more years past their own loss to suicide prevention to meet with the newly bereaved in order to provide comfort and support. Most survivors who have met others who have also experienced suicide loss can attest to the power of this shared connection. It is often a fellow survivor who can recommend a book, connect someone to a support group or another resource, or simply provide reassurance.

Teen Suicide Prevention Program/Video- AFSP is currently pilot-testing their new Teen Suicide Prevention Program in select high schools and junior highs across the country.  Once this testing is complete, the program will be released to AFSP chapters, the Metro Detroit/Ann Arbor chapter being one of them.  This program will enable trained volunteers and staff to go into junior highs and high schools to talk with parents, staff, administration and students about the importance of mental health, depression awareness, and suicide prevention.  The expected release will be early 2009.

AFSP is currently working on two new projects aimed at physician depression and suicide:

Film on Physician Depression and Suicide

Wyeth and the American College of Psychiatrists have joined the Foundation in funding a one-hour documentary film for the public to heighten awareness about physician depression and suicide. The film premiered in the spring of 2008 on PBS stations nationwide. The project has also yielded two 15-minute outreach videos, one targeted to medical school students and one created for use by medical and community groups.

Outreach to Medical Students, Residents and Physicians at Risk for Suicide

A pilot project is underway to extend the outreach methods developed through the College Screening Project to medical students, residents and hospital physicians. The goals of this project are to identify individuals with serious depression and other problems that put them at risk for suicidal behavior, and encourage them to get treatment. It is hoped that the anonymous online "dialogues" with a clinician that the screening method allows will prove effective in helping medical students and physicians resolve concerns about treatment that are currently preventing many from seeking help.  With so many top-notch hospitals and medical facilities in the state of Michigan, this program can be of great use here.  Once pilot-testing is complete, the program will be available in our area, as well as across the nation.