Suicide Screening & Assessment Fact Sheet

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center recently released a new fact sheet, Suicide Screening and Assessment, which outlines two core approaches to identifying suicide risk and clarifies how they function within a comprehensive prevention framework. Rather than defining these practices at a basic level, the resource focuses on how screening tools and clinical assessments operate together—screening serving as an initial risk flag and assessment providing the deeper clinical evaluation needed to determine acuity, safety needs, and care pathways.

The fact sheet underscores that neither approach is sufficient in isolation. Their effectiveness depends on strong implementation infrastructure, including trained staff, clear clinical protocols, collaborative safety planning, and warm handoffs to treatment and crisis supports. While predictive limitations of risk tools remain, the field consensus continues to support standardized screening paired with comprehensive follow-up as a core component of suicide prevention systems across behavioral health, healthcare, and community settings.