In the vital work of suicide prevention, you’ll often encounter acronyms – easy-to-remember tools that guide intervention and help us recognize warning signs. These abbreviations condense crucial steps and principles into a few powerful letters. Think of this guide as your key to unlocking the meaning behind these life-saving tools, empowering you to understand and utilize them effectively. Whether you’re an educator, caregiver, or simply a concerned community member, this clear and concise reference will help you navigate the language of hope and be ready to make a difference.
ACE: Ask, Care, Escort
Imagine a simple, three-step plan to help someone who might be struggling with suicidal thoughts. That’s ACE. Originally developed for the U.S. Army, ACE encourages proactive intervention:
- Ask: Directly inquire about suicidal intent. Don’t be afraid to ask, “Are you thinking about suicide?”
- Care: Listen with empathy and show you care. Let them know they’re not alone.
- Escort: Guide the person to professional help.
ACE is widely used in military and veteran communities, often reinforced through wallet cards and training. The Wingman Project, a suicide prevention program for the Air National Guard, even adopted ACE as their core intervention strategy, highlighting its effectiveness as a practical, memorable checklist for anyone to confidently step in and guide someone toward safety.
ACT: Acknowledge, Care, Tell
Specifically designed for youth suicide prevention programs like SOS Signs of Suicide, ACT provides a straightforward way for young people to respond when a friend is expressing suicidal thoughts, as outlined by MindWise Innovations:
- Acknowledge: Recognize and validate their feelings. Dismissing their emotions can be harmful. It takes courage to open up, so listen seriously.
- Care: Show you care by listening attentively and without judgment. Let them know they matter and ask how you can support them. Even a simple offer of support can make a difference.
- Tell: Inform a trusted adult or mental health professional, especially if the person is a minor. Encourage your friend to seek professional help. Suicidal talk should never be kept a secret.
ACT empowers young people to take all talk of suicide seriously, respond with empathy, and involve responsible adults who can ensure the person receives qualified help.
RACE: Recognize, Ask, Care, Escort
Expanding on the principles of ACE, RACE is a four-step acronym utilized in the U.S. Marine Corps and other military settings. It provides a more comprehensive framework for non-professionals involved in suicide prevention and intervention:
- Recognize: Be alert to the warning signs of distress or suicide risk, such as changes in behavior or hopeless statements.
- Ask: Inquire about those signs, including directly asking about suicidal thoughts if warning signs are present.
- Care: Listen to the person, offer your support, and ensure they are not left alone.
- Escort: Actively connect the individual with safety or professional help, such as a counselor, chaplain, or emergency room.
Often taught through wallet cards and brief trainings within the Marines, RACE emphasizes both vigilance in identifying potential crises and the importance of actively guiding individuals toward appropriate support.
QPR: Question, Persuade, Refer
Often described as the “CPR of mental health,” QPR is a widely recognized gatekeeper training that equips everyday individuals with the skills to intervene in a suicide crisis. The QPR Institute emphasizes that anyone can learn these three steps to potentially save a life:
- Question: Openly and directly ask the person about their suicidal intent. For example, “Are you thinking about suicide?”
- Persuade: Encourage the person to seek help and offer hope. Persuade them that alternatives exist and that you care about their well-being.
- Refer: Guide or accompany the person to appropriate professional help.
Developed in the 1990s by Dr. Paul Quinnett, QPR training is offered by numerous organizations, including schools, workplaces, and military units. Research indicates that QPR training increases knowledge and willingness to intervene, much like CPR training prepares individuals for medical emergencies. Importantly, QPR underscores that asking about suicide will not plant the idea but can be the crucial first step in saving a life.
ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
ASIST is a comprehensive two-day workshop designed by LivingWorks to provide participants with in-depth skills for intervening when someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts. Often referred to as “suicide first aid,” ASIST training focuses on:
- Recognizing when someone may be at risk.
- Learning how to talk to them directly about suicide.
- Developing a safety plan with them until further professional help can be accessed.
With over a million people trained worldwide since its inception over 35 years ago, ASIST is a highly interactive workshop involving role-playing and simulations. It’s open to anyone 16 or older and is recognized as a best practice in suicide prevention training by organizations like the World Health Organization. ASIST equips individuals with the confidence and practical skills needed for direct intervention in life-threatening situations.
safeTALK: Suicide Alertness For Everyone
Also developed by LivingWorks, safeTALK is a shorter, half-day (4-hour) training focused on building “Suicide Alertness For Everyone.” It emphasizes the importance of being able to talk openly about suicide. Through safeTALK, participants learn to:
- Recognize invitations or clues that someone might be considering suicide.
- Ask directly about suicidal thoughts.
- Connect the person to intervention resources.
Often seen as a complementary training to ASIST, safeTALK aims to create a wider network of community members who can identify individuals at risk and link them with those trained in intervention. Despite its brevity, safeTALK is highly interactive and has been shown to increase participants’ willingness to intervene. With over 120,000 attendees annually, it’s a rapidly growing program that helps build community safety nets.
S.A.V.E.: Signs, Ask, Validate, Encourage/Expedite
Developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with support from organizations like PsychArmor and the Wounded Warrior Project, S.A.V.E. is a gatekeeper training program designed to equip individuals with the skills to act with care and compassion when encountering a Veteran (or anyone) who may be suicidal. The acronym outlines four key steps:
- Signs: Recognize the signs of suicidal thinking.
- Ask: Directly ask the person about suicide.
- Validate: Acknowledge and validate the person’s feelings (e.g., “Your feelings make sense, and you’re not alone”).
- Encourage/Expedite: Encourage them to seek treatment and actively assist them in getting help right away (e.g., calling a crisis line, contacting a counselor).
Often delivered through brief formats like 25-minute videos or online courses, S.A.V.E. emphasizes that directly asking about suicide is the most crucial step and provides guidance on how to respond and connect the person with professional care. While particularly geared toward those supporting Veterans, its principles are broadly applicable.
IS PATH WARM?: Identifying Warning Signs
Created by the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), IS PATH WARM? is a mnemonic acronym designed to help remember the major warning signs of suicide. It serves as a checklist for recognizing when someone may be at high risk:
- Ideation: Suicidal thoughts or threats (expressing a desire to die or not exist).
- Substance Abuse: Increased or excessive use of alcohol or drugs.
- Purposelessness: Feeling no purpose in life or no reason for living.
- Anxiety: Experiencing intense anxiety, agitation, or inability to sleep.
- Trapped: Feeling trapped, like there’s no way out of a situation.
- Hopelessness/Helplessness: Feeling hopeless about the future or powerless to change things.
- Withdrawal: Withdrawing from friends, family, or society (isolating oneself).
- Anger: Displaying uncontrolled anger or seeking revenge.
- Recklessness: Acting recklessly or engaging in risky activities without thinking.
- Mood Change: Exhibiting dramatic mood changes (extreme highs or lows).
Observing multiple “IS PATH WARM?” signs together should raise concern. While warning signs can vary, this acronym covers many common red flags identified by mental health experts. Recognizing these signs is a crucial first step in reaching out, asking directly about suicide, and connecting the person with help.
Wingman Project: Peer Support in the Military
The Wingman Project is a peer-driven suicide intervention program developed for the Air National Guard (ANG) in 2007. Built on the Air Force’s “Wingman” concept of looking out for each other, this program trains U.S. military members and their loved ones in life-saving intervention techniques.
By fostering a “Wingman Ethos” of mutual accountability for well-being, the program strengthens community bonds and encourages open conversations about mental health. It was a pioneering nationwide suicide prevention initiative within the National Guard and has been recognized as a top Air Force program. A key component of the Wingman Project is training service members in proven intervention methods, notably adopting the ACE (Ask, Care, Escort) method as its primary strategy. The program also utilizes various media and unit activities to raise awareness. The term “Wingman” embodies the idea that no one should face struggles alone – a fellow Wingman steps in to offer support, whether through conversation, helping to remove lethal means, or guiding them to professional help. Ultimately, the Wingman Project empowers every Airman with the confidence and tools to intervene when a colleague is in crisis, aiming to reduce suicides through direct peer involvement.
Choose RAC: Recognize, Ask, Care
By choosing RAC, we choose to be prepared to save a life.
At the heart of many intervention models—including RACE and QPR—lies the core of RAC: Recognize, Ask, Care. These three urgent actions are fundamental and accessible to everyone, regardless of background or training.
Focusing on RAC emphasizes the immediate steps anyone can take when they suspect someone might be suicidal:
- Recognize the warning signs.
- Ask directly about suicidal thoughts.
- Care by offering support and connecting them to help.
Highlighting RAC helps potential helpers remember what’s most critical in a crisis. Directly and compassionately asking about suicide opens the door to help, dispelling the myth that talking about it might “plant” the idea. Once these initial steps are taken, connecting the person to professional help (the “Escort” or “Refer” step in other models) can follow naturally.
RAC is a concise and actionable set of steps that prioritizes early intervention: notice the signs, start the difficult conversation, and show genuine care.
Just as CPR provides critical actions until expert help arrives, RAC focuses on essential human actions that can keep someone emotionally safe until professional support is available.