Join The Physicians Foundation’s Suicide Awareness Crusade

On today’s National Physician Suicide Awareness (NPSA) Day, The Physicians Foundation, along with the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation and First Responders First, is offering resources to equip physicians, their colleagues, health organizations, and others to bolster prevention of physician suicides.  

The organizations are doing so through their ongoing initiative Vital Signs: The Campaign to Prevent Physician Suicide, which seeks to make today a “call to action that it is time to talk – and to act – so physicians’ struggles do not become mental health emergencies,” The Physicians Foundation and the other organizations said in a joint statement.  

The campaign includes an NPSA Day toolkit with guides and shareable materials for how to participate in physician suicide awareness and spread the word. You also can become a supporting organization of NPSA Day and commit to galvanizing physicians, their loved ones, and their colleagues to create a culture that promotes well-being, reduces burnout, and encourages the seeking of mental health services.  

The Vital Signs campaign highlights six actions anyone can take to help physicians in distress seek the mental health care they need:  

  • Learn the “vital signs” (warning signs) to look for in someone who may be suicidal; 
  • Share suicide prevention resources; 
  • Prepare before a moment of crisis; 
  • Check in with a physician; 
  • Understand structural barriers; and 
  • Create a culture of well-being. 

More information is available on the NPSA Day website

Last Updated On

September 16, 2021

Originally Published On

September 16, 2021