Suicide Prevention in K-12 Schools: Introduction to the Special Issue

Suicide remains a leading cause of death among youth in the United States, with disproportionately elevated risk in rural communities. Schools represent a critical and underutilized setting for suicide prevention, offering a practical avenue to overcome barriers related to access, workforce shortages, and service fragmentation. This special issue is informed by decades of school-based clinical and research experience and highlights the need for a comprehensive, multi-tiered approach to suicide prevention in schools and underscores the urgent need to expand research and practice at the tertiary level. Strengthening partnerships among schools, researchers, and community mental health systems will be essential to advancing effective, equitable, and scalable interventions. Collectively, the contributions in this issue aim to catalyze continued progress in addressing youth suicide within K–12 settings.