Guidelines

Guidelines

In addition to creating suicide prevention messages that are strategic, safe, and contribute to a Positive Narrative about suicide prevention, it is important to follow specific guidelines or recommendations that apply to your particular messages. After planning your Strategy, use the selection menu below to see Guidelines related to various goals, populations, channels, topics and other areas that may relate to your communications plan.

The Guidelines listed here address specific areas—in other words, they’ll be useful in developing some kinds of messages but not others. For example, if  your plan includes using a video, you can consult the “AAS Criteria for Educational Videos on Youth Suicide.” If you are a suicide loss or attempt survivor planning to tell your story to the public, you can refer to “Special considerations for telling your own story: Best practices for presentations by suicide loss and suicide attempt survivors.” For resources related to Strategy, Safety, and Positive Narrative, see those pages.

The Guidelines listed here are not meant to be a comprehensive list of messaging resources but offer a few best resources for key areas. If you can’t find the category you are looking for, we have not yet listed a guideline for that area.

Please visit the SPRC online library for an extensive collection of suicide prevention resources.

 

Graphic with a circle divided into three equal parts, labeled Positive Narrative, Safety, and Guidelines, encompassed by a circle labeled Strategy

How “Guidelines” Fits Into the Framework

The Guidelines component of the Framework comes into play after first thinking through your Strategy, including goals, audience, channels, and other key decisions. After you have your Strategy, visit this page to check whether there are any guidelines or best practices that apply. All messages should also adhere to Safety recommendations and in some way promote a Positive Narrative about suicide prevention by including actions, solutions, successes, or resources.

All Guidelines

Topics Category

The health communicator’s social media toolkit

This toolkit, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will help you get started using social media.  Learn how to develop governance, develop a social media strategy, and determine which social media channels best meet your communications objectives. The toolkit also provides overviews of popular social media channels, outlining the cost, resources required, and key audience for each.

 Channels, Social Media

The health communicator’s social media toolkit

This toolkit was designed to provide guidance and to the share lessons learned in more than three years of integrating social media into CDC health communication campaigns, activities and emergency response efforts. The guide includes information on getting started using social media—from developing governance to determining which channels best meet specific communication objectives to creating a social media strategy. There is also information about popular channels that can be incorporated into communications plans, such as blogs, video-sharing sites, mobile applications and RSS feeds. Although intended for a beginner audience, although some viewers with an intermediate level may find parts of the toolkit useful.

Veterans Crisis Line – What is 988?

This webpage explores how the nationwide transition to 988 impacts the Veterans Crisis Line, operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 

 Topics, 988

Vibrant and 988

Vibrant Emotional Health, as operational home for 988, developed this webpage of resources and information. 

 Topics, 988

Youth advocate to advocate for youth: The next transition

This guide, which is intended for young people, helps youth focus on advocating for change by telling their stories and working on the transition to adulthood.

 Populations, Youth, Topics, Youth, Telling Personal Stories, Telling Your Own Story
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