What Families Should Know About Suicide

Know About Suicide - Ellen Braaten, PhD, Steve Schlozman, MD, and Gene Beresin, MD sitting together

By Steven Schlozman, MD, Ellen Braaten, PhD and Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Topics: Depression, Mental Illness + Psychiatric Disorders

Many families are growing more concerned about suicide, especially among young people. Yet, suicide is often preventable when family members, friends, and communities learn how to recognize warning signs and connect those who are struggling with help.

What should families know about suicide? Watch the video above for more on:

And keep reading here for a more in depth article.

In support of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the MassGeneral Hospital for Children‘s mission to provide outstanding, developmentally appropriate care for infants, children, and adolescents within the context of their family and community, our Clay Center mental health clinicians produced this video to help parents and other caregivers understand what they should know about suicide, and suicide prevention.

Please read, watch, and listen to additional resources about suicide and suicide prevention on our website.

If you think your child is thinking about suicide, take them seriously, stay with them, help them remove lethal means, and:

Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or 988 | National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Text “TALK” to 741741 | Crisis Text Line

Was this helpful?

Yes

Thanks for your feedback!

Steven Schlozman, MD

Steven Schlozman, MD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), course director of the psychopathology class for the MIT-HMS Program in Health, Sciences and Technology, and former co-director of the Clay Center for Youn...

To read full bio click here.

Ellen Braaten, PhD

Ellen Braaten, PhD, is executive director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, and former co-director for the MGH Clay Cente...

To read full bio click here.

Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Gene Beresin, MD, MA is executive director of The MGH Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, and a staff child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also...

To learn more about Gene, or to contact him directly, please see Our Team.