Suicide Prevention in India:Role of Social Workers

Suicide is a major global public health problem. Suicide death rates in India are among the highest in the world. Social, psychological, and cultural factors can cause for suicide. As major providers of social services, social workers operate in a wide range of settings, work with vulnerable and marginalised groups, and have crucial position to intervene with suicidal persons and families. Little is known about social work's empirical knowledge base and skill in suicide risk assessment and interventions in Indian context. The current paper has briefed social workers' roles in suicide prevention. Social worker can perform the roles of gatekeeper, case worker, clinician, counselor, psychotherapist, community worker, researcher, trainer etc. Incorporating suicide prevention in the syllabus of social work education is recommended.