Teaching teens to recognize warning signs and screen themselves measurably cut suicide attempts — rare, hard evidence that prevention works.
The situation, the move, the outcome.
Signs of Suicide (SOS) does two things in a single short program: it teaches students to ACT — Acknowledge, Care, Tell — on warning signs in themselves or friends, and it adds a brief, confidential depression self-screen. In randomized trials, SOS cut self-reported suicide attempts by roughly 40-64%. It was the first school-based suicide prevention program to demonstrate a reduction in attempts in a randomized design.
Why it matters beyond one family.
Hard evidence that any prevention program reduces actual attempts is rare, which makes SOS notable. It pairs awareness with a screening step that catches kids who might otherwise stay invisible.
How to apply it.
- Ask whether your school runs an evidence-based program like SOS.
- Teach the ACT steps at home so your teen knows what to do for a friend.
- Normalize self-screening and help-seeking as routine, not shameful.
Concrete next steps.
- Point your school to SOS and its randomized-trial evidence.
- Keep 988 and 741741 visible and known at home.
- Pair school screening with open family conversation about mental health.
Read it for yourself.
- PMC — evaluating the SOS suicide prevention program ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- PubMed — SOS: further evidence of efficacy and effectiveness pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- SOS Signs of Suicide — program for students sossignsofsuicide.org ↗
If your teen is in crisis: call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7) or text HOME to 741741. For immediate danger, call 911.