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The thin line marks today, 29 September 2026.

Violence

National Suicide Prevention Month

National Suicide Prevention Month runs through September in the United States. SAMHSA and the national crisis line use it to remember the people lost to suicide, to make asking for help ordinary rather than exceptional, and to point people towards crisis and treatment services. It carries two fixed dates, a crisis line day of action on 8 September and World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, and most local campaigns build on SAMHSA's free toolkit.

2026

1–30 September 2026

Confirmed

Dates confirmed from the organiser’s announcement on 15 September 2026.

Organiser: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Read the organiser’s pageAdd to your calendarJSON

When it falls

The whole of September, every year.

Also known as: Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, SPM.

Where it came from

Every September SAMHSA and the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline observe Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and SAMHSA publishes a toolkit that state behavioral health authorities and local organisations reuse for their own campaigns. The month gathers the dates that already sat in September: the crisis line's day of action on 8 September and World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. It is a month for remembering the people lost to suicide, for making help-seeking ordinary, and for connecting people to care. SAMHSA's own pages do not state a founding year for the observance.

The organiser’s account of the day

How organisations mark it

  • Download SAMHSA's Suicide Prevention Awareness Month toolkit and work through its weekly themes across your channels.
  • Brief managers and supervisors on the warning signs of suicide and on how to start a direct conversation.
  • Make sure staff, students and families know that a national crisis line exists and how to reach it at any hour.
  • Help people at risk build a personal safety plan with the colleagues, clinicians and supports they would actually call.
  • Place the month's two fixed dates, 8 and 10 September, at the centre of the local programme rather than spreading effort thinly.

Why this exists

Violence & self-harm

1.25 milliondeaths a year from violence-related injuries

Deaths from violence-related injuries worldwide — worldwide, 2024. Source: World Health Organization, Injuries and violence (fact sheet) (2024).

“Of the 4.4 million injury-related deaths, unintentional injuries take the lives of 3.16 million people every year and violence-related injuries kill 1.25 million people every year.”

More figures for this hazard

ObservanceNextKindWhereHazards
World Suicide Prevention Day10 September 2027 ExpectedDayWorldwideViolence

Sources

  1. Suicide Prevention Awareness Month toolkit — SAMHSA — www.samhsa.gov, read 15 September 2026.
  2. Promote National Suicide Prevention Month — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988lifeline.org, read 15 September 2026.

Page last confirmed against the organiser on 15 September 2026.