Help normalize conversations about suicide among your clients
Death by suicide happens every 11 minutes1 in the United States. Yet talking about suicide continues to be difficult and knowing what to say to someone in crisis can be fraught with fear of making things worse.
Clancy Martin disagrees.
Martin is a University of Missouri–Kansas City philosophy professor and author of the book “How Not To Kill Yourself: A Portrait Of The Suicidal Mind.” His book is part memoir of his own struggles with suicidal ideation and part practical advice for others.
Martin believes there can be a positive impact on healing, hope, and recovery when people use their mass media platforms2 to talk about suicide. That positive impact even has a name – the Papageno effect.
“The Papageno effect…shows that if in the media we have conversations…like an informed, rich, robust conversation about suicide – the suicide rate goes down; rates of suicidal ideation go down. The whole population has benefited just by us talking about it,” said Martin.
Let’s get people talking about suicide
Talking about suicide is critical – to save lives, to raise awareness, to remove discomfort. One way you can help fuel conversation among your clients is with these suicide awareness and prevention resources.
3 important actions if you’re in crisis
The positive impact of calling a suicide a suicide
Suicide prevention and intervention: Know who to call in a crisis
We Need To Talk About Suicide flyer
We hope you’ll share these resources with your clients during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September.
1National Alliance on Mental Illness
2Mass media may include news reports, social media, movies, TV, books, blogs, and theatre.
3Depresh Mode Podcast, Intentionally Blunt and Very Useful Talk About Suicide with Clancy Martin, 2026
