Following the Netflix release of 13 Reasons Why in 2017, many mental health, suicide prevention, and education experts from around the world expressed a common concern about the series’ graphic content and portrayal of difficult issues facing youth. Resources and tools to address these concerns were quickly and widely disseminated in an effort to help parents, educators, clinical professionals and other adults engage in conversations with youth about the themes found in the show.

In advance of the release of season 2, SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) brought together a group of 75 leading experts in mental health, suicide prevention and education as well as healthcare professionals (see full list below) to develop tools to help encourage positive responses to the series. In just a few short months, this group has developed a toolkit providing practical guidance and reliable resources for parents, educators, clinicians, youth and media related to the content of the series (suicide, school violence, sexual assault, bullying, substance abuse, etc.).

Using the toolkit and resources developed will help to encourage conversations, identify those at risk and prevent unexpected tragedies. Hopefully, it will also help those in need get the appropriate level of support and professional care to ensure that youth are protected, nurtured and our communities are stronger.

Dan Reidenberg

Executive Director – SAVE

SAVE especially thanks the following sub-group leaders in this effort:

Katherine C. Cowan

Christopher Drapeau

Frances Gonzalez

Sansea Jacobson

Matthew Wintersteen

ABOUT

The organizations listed below represent thousands of mental health and suicide prevention, education experts and healthcare professionals from around the world with decades of experience working with youth, parents, schools and communities.

SAVE thanks the following organizations for their participation in this effort:

  • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • American Association for Emergency Psychiatry
  • American Association of Suicidology
  • American Psychiatric Association
  • Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
  • Befrienders Worldwide
  • British Psychological Society
  • Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention
  • International Association for Suicide Prevention
  • International Academy for Suicide Research
  • Medical University of Vienna, Center for Public Health, Dept of Social and Preventive Medicine
  • Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand
  • National Association of School Psychologists
  • National Council for Behavioral Health
  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA)
  • National Suicide Research Foundation (Ireland)
  • Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Australia
  • Prevention Communities
  • Samaritans UK
  • Stanford Psychiatry’s Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
  • School of Public Health, University College Cork, Ireland
  • Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide
  • Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory, University of Glasgow, Scotland
  • Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
  • The Jason Foundation
  • The Jed Foundation (JED)
  • The Lancet Psychiatry
  • The Trevor Project
  • University of Michigan Psychiatric Emergency Services

https://www.13reasonswhytoolkit.org/