Doing youth suicide prevention critically : Research to practice

A Different Starting Place It probably goes without saying that those of us practicing and studying in the suicide prevention field want to engage in and support practices that promote the well-being of youth, families and communities. [...] While we may all agree with this ultimate goal, the values and ideologies guiding our work, the way we conceptualize and position ourselves as researchers and interveners, and the underlying assumptions regarding the role of empirical knowledge in helping us to achieve desired ends take on widely divergent and unsettled meanings depending on our particular worldview, culture, and intellectual trad [...] One of the aims of this paper is to show some of this complexity and unsettledness while never losing sight of the practical need to support practitioners to work constructively and ethically to prevent youth suicide and suicidal behaviours; an orientation that has something in common with Patti Lather’s notion of a “double(d) practice”. [...] Clarification of Aims The youth suicide prevention literature is voluminous and reflects the contributions of researchers and scholars working across a number of different disciplines and traditions, including: psychiatry, philosophy, public health, psychology, sociology, medicine, nursing, social work, counselling, education and child and youth care. [...] The burgeoning literature and the existence of varied theories and multidisciplinary approaches attest to the complexity of the problem of youth suicide and underscore the need for comprehensive, multi-pronged strategies.