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The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is one of the nations leading organizations whose main goal is to raise suicide awareness. They support research of the topic so people can become educated and learn how to stop it. The AFSP community "advocates to ensure that federal, state and local governments do all they can to prevent suicide, and to support and care for those at risk" (2).On their website they have information on understanding, preventing and coping with suicide. The foundation has their own team of researchers who devote their studies solely to suicide. AFSP has many ways that outside people can get involved and help the voice of suicide be heard. There are many ways to volunteer your time and some offered by them are their "Out of the Darkness" walk and other campus walks, donating time/money and becoming an advocate for their organization. Alike AFSP, Suicide Awareness Voices of Education also devote time into putting an end to suicide, and agree that its most important. SAVE's website has general information about suicide and depression, resources they use, programs and news and events to get involved. Their work is solely based on the "foundation and belief that suicide should no longer be considered a hidden or taboo topic" and by educating those around us and putting forth the effort to stop it, it can be accomplished. SAVE has established its own programs to further teach about this topic. These programs include Community Education, Professional Education, the Public Awareness Campaign and Grief Support and Resources (6). Over the last ten years they have formed and maintained these groups. Each association adds to the idea that suicide needs to be terminated from the minds of teens and adults. Suicide alone is one big problem and there is a lot that can be done to stop it, and thanks to these organizations we're one step closer. Aside from what anyone goes through, everyone deserves to be alive and well.
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One school in particular dedicated their studies on the "how" of suicide and not the "why" or "what". This is the Injury Control Research center that can be found in Boston on the third floor of the Harvard School of Public Health building. Their team is led by David Hemenway, and "consists of an internationally renowned team of public-health officials, social scientists and statisticians" and during the last ten years they have been committed to looking at suicide from a different perspective. By coming at suicide from this angle they've found that people who plan out their suicide missions are actually safer than those who hurt themselves (pills or cutting) spontaneously. Researchers say suicide planners are 40 times safer than those who arbitrarily act upon their emotions (3). Anderson and the creators of the Jed Foundation agree that it is most important for people to get the help they need. Jed's site has a section for parents and for students who are affected. They make it known that it is okay to feel alone, and helpless (10).. They are not the only ones out there who have these feelings. They focus mainly on college and university students because this can be a very stressful time in their life. They have set up programs to educate those who are unaware of the dangers of suicide and how it affects those around you. To "promote emotional health and prevent suicide" is their main objective.