One thing that's hard about suicide prevention is that many people, if not most people, think about suicide prevention as crisis intervention. But, what if we reframe suicide prevention as "hope promotion?"
Hopelessness is a critical factor for people who consider suicide. To put it simply, people who attempt suicide have lost hope. People who have hope, on the other hand, can see that there may be an end to their pain, a light at the end of the tunnel.
A hope promotion perspective can be used in a moment of crisis intervention - individually with someone who might need some help finding one little speck of light - but can also be used as a way of building all of us up at various points along the way.
Not everyone is at risk for suicide. But, all of us struggle with maintaining hope. So, in my mind, promoting hope, a key activity in suicide prevention, is something that can help all of us.
Hope promotion involves helping people develop a positive future orientation, a way of seeing beyond the immediate present to a time that could be better than right now.
