Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., killing close to 49,000 people every year.
But a Philadelphia health system is showing that prevention is possible and effective. The David Farber ASPIRE Center, which offers comprehensive suicide prevention care at Jefferson Health, just released its most recent Clinical Impact Report. The center found a 79% reduction in risk for suicide attempts among patients who completed care, and an 84% reduction in psychiatric hospitalizations, compared with the year before they entered treatment.
The center treated over 240 patients and families at elevated risk for suicide over the past year, and roughly 700 patients and families since opening their outpatient clinic in May 2023.
Dr. Matthew Wintersteen, ASPIRE’s director, said those strides are an affirmation of the center’s ambitious approach, which he spent roughly 10 years planning before getting ASPIRE off the ground.
“When I first started thinking about this, the likelihood that a comprehensive program like this was possible seemed slim to none,” Wintersteen said. “There may have been one or two programs internationally that were similar in scope, but at least domestically, I wasn’t aware of programs that really addressed all of the work that we feel like we need to do.”
It’s that comprehensiveness, Wintersteen said, that makes ASPIRE unique — namely, the way it combines patient treatment, research and educational outreach, which includes training to local clinicians in the latest evidence-based approaches to suicide prevention.
“Some places do this piece of it, some places do that piece of it,” Wintersteen said. “But nobody puts it all together. And I do think it’s one of those things where the sum is greater than the parts.”
“It doesn’t exist anywhere else as it exists here,” agreed clinical director Dr. Lucas Zullo. “The way that we approach the clinical work is also unique, but it is part of a larger picture that is all novel.”
