Mapping Character, Setting, and Script: Clinical Applications of Narrative Identity in Suicide Prevention

In nursing practice, suicide risk is often encountered not only as a crisis of safety, but as a crisis of identity. Individuals facing suicidal despair frequently present with a fractured sense of self, belonging, and future direction – dimensions that are easily overlooked by symptom-based assessments. This article introduces the Character–Setting–Script (CSS) framework, a narrative identity model tailored for nursing and mental health care. Drawing from existential theory and narrative psychology, the CSS model maps suicide risk across three clinical domains: Character (who the person believes they are), Setting (where they come from and what cultural worlds shape them), and Script (what future they can still imagine). Designed to enhance therapeutic engagement and cultural responsiveness, this approach supports nurses in identifying early signs of narrative collapse and facilitating story-based interventions. By helping individuals re-author meaning, coherence, and possibility, the CSS model reframes suicide prevention as a relational, narrative, and deeply human act of care.