Suicide Prevention in Follow-Up Care: Strengthening Safety Planning and Risk Monitoring

EDC is excited to partner with Crisis Systems Response Training and Technical Assistance Center (CSR-TTAC) to deliver this webinar for crisis response teams and behavioral health professionals. 

Webinar Description

This webinar will examine the vital role of follow-up care in suicide prevention, with a focused lens on strengthening safety planning and risk monitoring. The period immediately following discharge from crisis services is among the highest risk times for suicide, underscoring the need for coordinated, compassionate, and continuous care. 

Participants will gain a foundational understanding of how follow-up care supports suicide prevention efforts by reinforcing safety plans, maintaining engagement, and monitoring ongoing risk. The session will highlight practical approaches for integrating safety planning, risk monitoring, and postvention into follow-up protocols. Designed for crisis response teams and behavioral health professionals, this webinar offers actionable strategies to enhance continuity of care and reduce suicide risk following an initial crisis encounter. 

Learning Objectives 

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: 

• Describe the role of follow-up care in the suicide prevention continuum
• Identify key elements of effective safety planning for individuals at risk of suicide
• Apply principles of postvention to support individuals and systems after a suicide event
• Recognize common obstacles to effective follow-up care and explore strategies to address them

Why is follow-up care important?

Research indicates there is a 300% increased risk for suicide in the week after discharge from a psychiatric inpatient stay, and a 200% increased risk for suicide in the 30 days after discharge.¹ Building effective follow-up care into the crisis response continuum is key to saving lives. Brief interventions such as collaborative safety planning, caring contacts, and care coordination have been shown to reduce subsequent suicide attempts for individuals who presented with suicidal thoughts or behaviors in an ED or other medical environment.² Follow-up care isn’t just important in prevention. It matters in postvention response, too. For each death by suicide, there is an estimated 135 individuals directly exposed to the loss—they are family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues.³ The same strategies can support safety following a suicide death.  Postvention is prevention. 

Visit the resources below to learn more about how systems can implement effective care transitions strategies.

Citations

1.  Doupnik, S. K., Rudd, B., Schmutte, T., Worsley, D., Bowden, C. F., McCarthy, E., ... & Marcus, S. C. (2020). Association of suicide prevention interventions with subsequent suicide attempts, linkage to follow-up care, and depression symptoms for acute care settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA psychiatry, 77(10), 1021-1030
2. Chung, D., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., Wang, M., Swaraj, S., Olfson, M., & Large, M. (2019). Meta-analysis of suicide rates in the first week and the first month after psychiatric hospitalisation. BMJ Open, 9(3), e023883. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023883
3. Cerel, J., Brown, M.M., Maple, M., Singleton, M., Van de Venne, J., Moore, M., & Flaherty, C. (2018).  How many people are exposed to suicide?   Not six.  Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.  DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12450

Resources

Zero Suicide presents an aspirational challenge and practical framework for system-wide transformation toward safer suicide care. Crisis response and behavioral health care providers can utilize the Zero Suicide toolkit to implement evidence-based suicide care interventions (i.e. safety planning and lethal means safety), as well as follow-up care strategies that promote safety and treatment engagement, such as caring contacts.

EDC's Zero Suicide Toolkit