The advisor's role in mental health and suicide prevention

September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness month, with September 10th recognized as World Suicide Prevention Day. It’s estimated that 50 percent of people will be affected by suicide at some point in their life. Our employer clients play an outsized role in the health outcomes of their employees, which means we have an opportunity and in fact, imperative to drive suicide awareness and prevention efforts in the workplace.

Let’s first discuss some key statistics around suicide to set the stage for why our clients and we as advisors must tackle this issue. We’ll then explore what can be done in the workplace to prevent suicide.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 700,000 people die due to suicide every year, with 47,500 Americas dying by suicide in 2019. Eighty percent of those who die by suicide are in their working age years and middle-aged men have the highest rate of suicide. It is the 2nd and 4th leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 34 and 35 to 44, respectively.