American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: We Can #EndSuicide

Headquartered in New York, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is the leading national non-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide and reaching out to people affected by mental disorders and suicide. Working toward a suicide-free world, AFSP funds scientific research that is vital to saving lives, raises awareness about mood disorders and suicide prevention, offers educational programs for professionals, promotes policies and legislation related to suicide and prevention, and offers a caring community to individuals who are struggling with self-destructive thoughts or have lost a loved one to suicide.

AFSP is a multifaceted organization that is at once a support network, a grassroots movement, a professional research group, an educator, and a grant-making foundation. While it does not provide direct services such as a crisis hotline or counseling, AFSP works closely with the organizations that do. The Foundation also manages hundreds of events in communities nationwide, raising millions of dollars annually to support its work. Each year, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reaches hundreds of thousands of people.

Since its inception in 1987, AFSP has established over 50 local chapters in 35 states and counting; mobilized and connected tens of thousands of individuals who have lost someone they love to suicide; educated hundreds of local communities about suicide and prevention; created a public policy and lobbying arm; educated the media about how to best cover suicide; and more.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was founded by a small group of families who had each lost a loved one to suicide. Their vision was to establish a private source of support for suicide education and research and sustain important suicide prevention efforts into the future. Today, AFSP consists of survivors of suicide loss, reputable scientists, people with mental illness and their families, and business and community leaders.

AFSP: Preventing Suicide in America Since 1987

In the United States, someone dies by suicide every 13.7 minutes, and almost a million people make a suicide attempt every year. Concerned with the rise in youth suicide over the past decades, a group of experts on the issue came together with survivors and business and community leaders to form the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) in 1987. Because research and education programs have been successful in preventing heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, the founders hoped that such an approach would also work in dealing with suicide and depression.

Today, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is the leading national non-profit organization solely dedicated to preventing and understanding suicide, as well as to reaching out to individuals whose lives are affected by suicide. To carry out its mission, AFSP funds scientific research on suicide, provides educational programs for professionals, and educates the public about suicide prevention. Additionally, the organization offers resources and programs for survivors and people at risk, and supports pertinent policies and legislation.