Effective implementation of lethal means safety is the most effective approach to rapidly reducing suicide. Lethal means safety involves making a suicide method less available and less likely to cause death during moments of emotional distress that precipitate a suicide attempt. The goal is to make suicide methods - or means - more difficult to access when someone is vulnerable to experiencing emotional distress. Research tells us that putting time and distance between an individual vulnerable to emotional distress and highly lethal means of suicide is an effective way to prevent suicide death. 

Lethal means safety helps save lives. Research reveals that effective and widespread implementation of lethal means safety practices could reduce suicide by 30-60%. Lethal means includes objects, instruments, and/or methods that someone could use to hurt themselves. For more information visit DSPO Lethal Means Safety Suite of Tools or download the DSPO Lethal Means Safety Guide for Military Service Members and Their Families.

Firearm safety and storage are essential components of lethal means safety, helping to ensure safety measures for you and your community. When it comes to firearm storage, you have options. The Defense Suicide Prevention Office Safe Storage options include using a locking device, separating the ammunition from the firearm, and storing it away in a secure, locked box when not in use. If other people are living with you or are aware of your firearm, they must also be mindful of these safety measures.

You can also store firearms outside of your home. Depending on where you would like to store your firearm, a more in-depth plan may be necessary.

• Store your firearm with a trusted friend or family member with a solid plan

• Police department

• Gun shop

• Shooting range

• Armory

• Commercial storage facility

• Pawnshop

To learn more about firearm safety and storage, and to create your own plan or assist others, use this helpful fact sheet provided by DSPO.

In suicide prevention, risk factors are characteristics or conditions that increase a person's likelihood of attempting to take their own life. While these risk factors do not directly cause or predict suicide attempts, understanding them is essential for helping to prevent such tragedies in ourselves and our communities.

Risk factors can encompass a range of health, environmental, and historical aspects, and they may present differently for everyone. For a comprehensive list of risk factors, you can explore online resources such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) or the 988 Lifeline website.

Protective factors are elements that can help reduce the risk of suicide. To address the issue of suicide within the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense (DoD) is implementing protective measures recommended by the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC). The committee outlines five key strategies to combat suicide:

• Foster a Supportive Environment

• Improve the Delivery of Mental Health Care

• Address Stigma and Other Barriers to Care

• Revise Suicide Prevention Training

• Promote a Culture of Lethal Means Safety

This suicide prevention campaign represents a commitment to the entire force, aimed at promoting wellness, health, and morale to eliminate suicide.

A change of behavior in someone can be a warning sign they may be at risk of suicide. Some of the behavior can include new or changed behavior, and, in some cases, they may be related to a painful event, loss, or change. Here are the top things to look out for in warning signs:

• How someone talks, like feelings of hopelessness, feeling trapped, or saying things like they have no reason to live

• A change of behavior including but not limited to increased use of drugs and alcohol, withdrawing and isolating, giving away their possessions, and aggression

• Their mood may change, and they may appear to be more irritable, anxious, shameful, and even, in some cases, a sense of relief or sudden improvement.

To learn more about the warning signs and how to recognize them, you can find a list of details on the AFSP Risk Factors, Protective Factors, and Warning Signs webpage.

The Department of the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program is an integrated network of policy and education that focuses on reducing suicide through the early identification and treatment of those at risk. It uses leaders as role models and agents of change, establishes expectations for service member behavior regarding awareness of suicide risk develops population skills and knowledge, and investigates every suicide. Each installation includes an Integrated Primary Prevention Workforce that manages the Suicide Prevention Program.
 

1.  Leadership Involvement: DAF leaders actively support the entire spectrum of suicide prevention initiatives in the community.

2. Addressing Suicide Prevention through Professional Military Education: PME provides periodic and targeted Suicide Prevention training for Airmen and Guardians, specifically oriented to the individual's rank and level of responsibility.

3. Guidelines for Commanders: Use of Mental Health Services: Commanders receive training on how and when to use mental health services and guidance on their role in encouraging early help seeking behavior.

4. Unit-based Preventive Services: Helping agency professionals partner with unit leaders to provide services at the work site to increase access, encourage help-seeking, and promote familiarity, rapport, and trust with the force and families.

5. Wingman Culture: Wingmen practice healthy behaviors and make responsible choices and encourage others to do the same. Wingmen foster a culture of early help-seeking. Wingmen recognize the risk factors and warning signs of distress in themselves and others and take protective action.

6. Investigative Interview Policy: Following any investigative interview, the investigator is required to 'hand-off' the individual directly to the commander, first sergeant, or supervisor. The unit representative is then responsible for assessing the individual's emotional state and contacting a mental health provider if any question about the possibility of suicide exists. 

7. Post Suicide Response (Postvention): Suicide impacts coworkers, families, and friends. Offering support early is associated with increased help-seeking behavior.  

8. Community Action Board (CAB) and Community Action Team (CAT): At the Air and Space Forces, MAJCOM, and base levels, the CAB and CAT provide a forum for the cross organizational review and resolution of individual, family, installation, and community issues that impact the force readiness and the quality of life.

9. Limited Privilege Suicide Prevention Program: Patients undergoing legal action who are at risk for suicide are afforded increased confidentiality when seen by mental health providers. 

10. Commanders Consultation Assessment Tool: Commanders use a variety of assessments (e.g., Unit Climate Assessment, Air force Community Assessment Survey, Airman Comprehensive Assessment) recommended by appropriate agencies, to gain insight into unit strengths and areas of vulnerability. 

11. Suicide Event Tracking and Analysis: Information on all DAF suicides and suicide attempts are entered into a central database, the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report (DoDSER), to identify suicide risk factors and trends.

12. Time-Based Prevention/Lethal Means Safety: Time Based Prevention (TBP) is an intentional approach to suicide prevention focusing on the "means“(rather than the "why") most often involved in suicides by DAF personnel and personal firearms. Lethal means are objects (e.g., firearms, medications, and bridges) used to carry out a self-destructive act. LMS makes a suicide method more difficult and slower to access when someone is at risk for suicide. Covered by three components: Communication and Marketing, Education and Training and Physical Barriers.

13. Family Member Engagement: Family members are key allies in resilience and prevention. CABs and CATs should examine opportunities to increase family member engagement in resilience and prevention activities during biennial Community Action Plan (CAP) development.

14. Self-Assessment, Inspection and Evaluation: DAF self-assess program management and compliance on a bi-annual reporting basis (field surveys, etc.)

15. Suicide Analysis and Action Boards (SABs): SABs bring together Air and Space Force leaders and subject matter experts to review suicide prevention and death data and analyses to improve prevention and postvention policies and procedures. SABs provide an opportunity to identify potential gaps, raise lessons learned, and drive suicide prevention activities. SABs provide a continuous improvement function for all prevention activities included in MAJCOM/Field Command and installation CAPs.

Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 6490.16 establishes comprehensive enterprise-wide policy on suicide prevention. It assigns responsibilities and establishes procedures for the oversight and reporting of the Defense Suicide Prevention Program.

Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 6400.09 – DoD Policy on Integrated Primary Prevention of Self-Directed Harm and Prohibited Abuse or Harm establishes a DoD-wide prevention system that facilitates data-informed actions to integrate primary prevention activities, create programs and trainings that foster healthy environments and promote resiliency, and apply the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s framework for sexual violence prevention. 
 

New DoD Actions to Prevent Suicide in the Military memorandum outlines the Department's campaign to reduce the number of suicides throughout the Armed Forces across five lines of effort — Foster a Supportive Environment, Improve the Delivery of Mental Health Care, Address Stigma and Other Barriers to Care, Revise Suicide Prevention Training, and Promote a Culture of Lethal Means Safety.
 

DSPO Annual Report on Suicide in The Military provides suicide counts and rates for DoD as well as highlights key ongoing department-wide efforts to reduce suicide risks.
 

View the Resilience Operations Library - CAC required.