Positive Signs Are Fueling Hope in Youth Suicide Prevention

By John MacPhee

New national data offers hopeful signs of positive change in youth mental health and suicide prevention.

The 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows declines in depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among both teens and young adults from 2021 to 2024. According to the NSDUH:

• Major depressive episodes over the past year among 12- to 17-year-olds fell from 20.8% in 2021 to 15.4% in 2024. Among young adults ages 18 to 25, major depressive episodes dropped from 19.3% to 15.9%.
• Suicide attempts by teens ages 12 to 17 dropped during the same period from 3.6% to 2.7%. Among young adults 18 to 25, suicide attempts fell from 2.8% to 2%.

These are not just statistics. They represent young people who are now safer, more supported, and more connected to hope and purpose.

These signs of hope are the result of multiple factors, including the end of COVID-19 restrictions and long-term, coordinated efforts. Those efforts include schools and communities embedding mental health and suicide prevention strategies into everyday practice; storytellers and media partners shifting harmful norms; funders investing in upstream, sustained solutions; and youth and families speaking up and leading change.

JED is proud to be helping to make this happen.

Over the past few years, we’ve expanded our comprehensive support for high schools, colleges, and school districts across the country. We’re helping embed suicide prevention into systems that touch millions of youth: state systems, athletic and Greek-letter organizations, community-based organizations, and beyond. We’ve also deepened the ways in which we partner by providing postvention support, as well as tailored consulting, training, and workshops to equip organizations and individuals to respond with care, competence, and consistency when it matters most.

We’ve launched high-impact narrative campaigns and creative partnerships such as Mind Matters and Invisible Game, and we are expanding our partnerships with media companies, creators, technology platforms, and policymakers to promote healthier narratives, safer design, and enhanced accountability across the digital and cultural spaces where young people spend their time. Through tools such as the Digital Storytelling Guide and our growing focus on the safety of artificial intelligence, we’re helping to shape the media and digital systems that influence how young people see themselves, seek help, and navigate life’s challenges. 

And we’ve continued to equip youth, parents and caregivers, and educators with practical, emotionally attuned tools to help them show up for themselves and the young people in their lives.

We know what works, and we’re committed to working alongside our partners — in schools, community organizations, the media, and elsewhere — to bring our evidence-based approach to suicide prevention to every young person who needs it.

But just as momentum is building, that progress is under threat.

Federal budget cuts are undermining mental health services and adjacent supports, from Medicaid and school-based programs to 988 crisis line services and youth-specific resources. Policy rollbacks are leading to the dismantling of programs that help young people feel safe and seen. Schools — one of the most critical access points for mental health support — are stretched thinner than ever.

We don’t yet know the full impact of these decisions, but we know what happens when we disinvest in prevention. Progress can be quickly lost.

That’s why this moment matters.

Now is not the time to step back. Now is the time to protect what’s working, and build on it.

The Jed Foundation is built for impact, but we are not immune to the challenges so many organizations are navigating today. Even as demand for our work grows, the resources to meet it are under pressure. We have the programs, partnerships, and infrastructure to meet this moment and scale solutions that work. But we cannot do it alone. Now is the time for bold, sustained investment to protect the progress we’ve made, and to ensure that every young person has the support, connection, and opportunity to thrive.

Support JED in our lifesaving work. 

John MacPhee is JED’s CEO.