# Suicide Prevention Assistance Act

This bill creates a new federal grant program to help primary care doctors catch and respond to suicide and self-harm risks before they become crises. Right now, many people visit their regular doctor for routine checkups without ever being screened for suicidal thoughts or self-harm behaviors. This bill aims to change that by funding primary care offices to hire mental health professionals who can identify at-risk patients and provide immediate support.

Here's how it would work in practice: When you visit your primary care doctor, they would screen you for signs of suicide risk or self-harm using standardized questions developed by the federal government. If the screening raises concerns, your doctor would connect you with a clinical social worker employed at that same office. This social worker would then provide short-term counseling and support right there in your doctor's office. If you need more intensive, long-term mental health treatment, the social worker would help refer you to a mental health facility that can provide that care. The key idea is catching problems early in a familiar, accessible setting rather than waiting for a crisis to happen.

The program is intentionally small and limited in scope. The federal government would award no more than 10 grants total, with only one grant per state and a maximum of $500,000 per grant. Each grant would last two years and could potentially be renewed. This means only a handful of primary care offices across the country would receive funding initially, making this a pilot program to test whether this approach works before potentially expanding it. The offices that receive grants would have to report quarterly on how many patients they screened, how many received services, and how many were referred elsewhere for additional help, allowing the government to evaluate whether the program is effective.

Suicide Prevention Assistance Act

Rep. DeSaulnier, Mark [D-CA-10]

Suicide Prevention Assistance Act This bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to award grants to primary care offices for self-harm and suicide prevention services, including screenings. SAMHSA must also develop standards of practice for conducting such screenings. Grantees must submit quarterly reports to SAMHSA that include the number of patients screened at the office, among other information.