Welcome to the International Association for Suicide Prevention
IASP is dedicated to preventing suicidal behaviour, to alleviate its effects, and to provide a forum for academians, mental health professionals, crisis workers, volunteers and suicide survivors.
Strategy Overview 2009 – 2013
Organizational Aims:
- To raise awareness of the problem of suicide and suicidal behaviour at a global level.
- To provide a common platform for all representatives engaged in the field of suicide prevention and crisis intervention to share and exchange knowledge, skills and experiences and develop collaboration.
- To encourage the interchange of acquired experience, knowledge and skills in various countries and regions for effective action.
- To facilitate the wider dissemination of the basics of effective suicide prevention to key stakeholders.
- To promote the establishment of national organizations for suicide prevention.
- To facilitate the wider dissemination of the fundamentals of effective suicide prevention to professional groups and to the general public.
- To promote programmes of research, especially those that can be pursued through international joint cooperation.
- To develop a forum in which suicide prevention strategies are developed, implemented and evaluated and the results disseminated.
Strategic Priorities
Four strategic priorities have been identified for IASP in the next five years, all of which are in keeping with the organisational aims.
1. Visibility:
To make more visible at a global level the problem of suicide and the need for suicide prevention.
Essential to this activity will be a need to ensure that IASP is more visible to its external audience – the worldwide community in which it serves. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to:
1.1 Communicate with the membership on issues related to suicide prevention.
1.2 Communicate with the external audience on issues related to suicidal behaviour and its prevention.
1.3 Maintain a collaborative relationship with WHO.
1.4 Enhance the profile of World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD).
1.5 1.2Host international congresses and regional congresses in order to promote the work of IASP.
2. Systematic knowledge transfer providing knowledge and experience at a global level.
In line with the Organisational Aim: “To bring together the available knowledge and expertise for effective action”, the raison d’etre of IASP is to bring together the collective knowledge of the membership and related organisations in order to make available the best practices and knowledge in the field of suicide prevention. To this end it is agreed to:
2.1 Promote the exchange of learning between different platforms working in the field of suicide prevention.
2.2 Develop the skills of those working in the field of suicide prevention through appropriate learning opportunities.
2.3 Disseminate accurate baseline data on suicide and its prevention.
3. Promote Suicide Prevention Activities:
IASP is devoted to taking an innovative stance to encourage a more proactive role in identifying issues and exploring potential activities to address these issues. It will be essential to:
3.1 Strengthen access to appropriate suicide prevention resources.
3.2 Identify gaps in research and promote research in these areas.
3.3 Counter aspects of current information technology which appear to encourage suicidal behaviour.
3.4 Engage the voluntary sector in collaborative programmes.
3.5 Enhance the role of survivors in suicide prevention.
3.6 Establish a team of experts, advisors and experienced practitioners that can be
activated to mentor, advise and share skills and knowledge.
4. Strengthening the Association
It is essential to strengthen IASP by providing the environment in which interactions between members may be activated.
4.1 Strengthen the organisational infrastructure.
4.2 Formulate a communications strategy.
4.3 Develop resources on best practices in suicide prevention.
4.4 Establish national and regional networks.
Key strategic outcomes of IASP’s work
- Increased awareness of suicide, suicidal behaviour and suicide prevention at a global level.
- Improved mutual understanding and a sense of community among organisations and individuals working with and interested in suicide and its prevention.
- Identification and promotion of new approaches to suicide prevention through their appropriate exposure and debate.
- Provision of a dynamic forum for the sharing of knowledge from research and programme evaluations among researchers, practitioners and programme planners.
- Improved availability of good epidemiological data as a base for suicide prevention.
- Translation of science into practice.
News
In this section IASP provides information about the latest developments inside the IASP as well as coverage of recent updates on this site.
Executive Committee
The structure of IASP is elected each two years and the current Executive board is listed in this section. Further you may find in the future links to member databases as well.
Members Directory
Want to know who is a member? Check it out in our members directory, accessable with password for members of IASP.
Contacts
The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) is dedicated to preventing suicidal behaviour, to alleviate its effects, and to provide a forum for academians, mental health professionals, crisis workers, volunteers and suicide survivors. In this section you may find the relevant contact point or person for your inquiry.
