Project 2025

Project 2025:
A bold goal to save lives

In 2016, AFSP launched Project 2025, a first-of-its-kind initiative turning research into action to save the most lives in the shortest amount of time. The project was inspired by a simple, ambitious goal: to reduce the annual suicide rate in the U.S. 20% by 2025.

Together with leading experts, we determined who we are losing to suicide and how we are losing them, as well as four critical areas through which we could make the most impact: firearms-owning community, healthcare systems, emergency departments, and corrections systems. We then used dynamic systems modeling to identify evidence-based strategies that, with cooperation from key strategic partners across the four areas, could save thousands of lives.

In the years since Project 2025 was established, there has been significant growth in engagement, support and partnerships. Many organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention have adopted our bold goal, aligning around the vision we created of a world without suicide. Together, we will continue to make a difference.

Firearms

Nearly 23,000 people are lost each year to suicide by firearm. 51% of all suicides in the U.S. are by firearm, and 54% of all firearms deaths are suicides.

AFSP has partnered with the National Shooting Sports Foundation to distribute suicide prevention materials to its national network of retailers and ranges, and educate the firearms-owning community on how to spot signs of suicide risk, implement secure storage practices and promote help seeking at times of distress.

This year we refreshed our community presentation, Talk Saves Lives™: Firearms and Suicide Prevention. Since its inception, the program has reached nearly 8,000 people nationwide. We have also worked with organizations such as the Oregon State Shooting Association and the Department of Veterans Affairs to champion suicide prevention education and firearms safety.

Healthcare Systems and Emergency Departments

Up to 45% of people who die by suicide visit their primary care physician in the month prior to their death

39% make an emergency department visit in the year prior to their death

Identifying at-risk individuals in healthcare settings and emergency departments offers a tremendous opportunity to connect people with help.

Our partnership with SafeSide Prevention enables us to provide training for primary care professionals, giving them an evidence-informed, patient-centered framework of best practices for responding to suicide concerns in their practice. This past year alone, our chapters engaged 56 clinics to train nearly 500 staff in SafeSide Primary CARE, reaching 27 times more people compared to last year.

We worked with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) to develop and deliver “I Care Too” (iCAR²E), a rapid suicide risk assessment and intervention tool which has been made available to over 40,000 ACEP members and been used thousands of times. We also worked with ACEP to establish and sponsor the Innovation in Acute Care Suicide Prevention Award to catalyze innovation in emergency suicide prevention.

This past year AFSP established two brand new partnerships with:

• The Institute for Healthcare Improvement – to enact change in large health care systems spanning primary, behavioral health care and emergency departments by innovating, testing, and implementing improvement strategies to reduce suicide across the country
• The American Academy of Pediatrics – to launch a series of ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) programs that will build capacity among primary care providers and community partners to integrate use of the Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention in clinical and community settings

Corrections

Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails and has increased 30% in prisons in recent years.

Incarcerated people are particularly vulnerable to suicide, for a variety of complex reasons. To help save lives within this unique setting, AFSP has partnered with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to create a comprehensive guide for preventing suicide among incarcerated people.

Our new educational presentation Talk Saves Lives: Corrections Module for Staff provides corrections staff with guidance for safety within the correctional environment, helping them to identify warning signs and understand risk factors. The program helps them care for people in custody, while also attending to their own wellbeing. AFSP’s Indiana chapter co-led a system-wide implementation of the presentation with the Indiana Department of Corrections, which is now training 6,000 corrections staff per year across the state.

In addition, we have partnered with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to gather data on impact, implementation, and efficacy of our Talk Saves Lives Corrections presentation. This research study will help to provide future guidance on how facilities within the corrections system might best implement suicide prevention education.

See how we measure our impact