Suicide Prevention and Mental Health in the Workplace

“Everyone has the ability to be an advocate for suicide prevention,” says Ashley Bryant, licensed professional counselor and extension associate at the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability in the ILR School.

Bryant recently co-presented the webinar “From Awareness to Action: Suicide Prevention in the Workplace” for the Employer Assistance Resource Network on Disability (EARN). EARN is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy and housed at the Yang-Tan Institute.

“If we’re struggling at home, when we get to work those struggles do not go away,” Bryant points out.

“It’s just a matter of starting with a conversation and being okay with what you know and what you don’t know. You’re not going to be able to solve everything, but you can refer someone to a suicide prevention hotline and be willing to sit with them as they go through the process. That follow-through, the sitting with them, is important,” Bryant says.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 263 U.S. workplace deaths in 2024  were due to suicide. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that suicide is the 10th most likely cause of death in the U.S., accounting for over 48,000 deaths per year.

“At EARN we provide resources on disability in the workplace, and about how people can request accommodations,” Bryant says. “A lot of the time, people don’t view mental health conditions as a disability, but at EARN we do, and accommodations can and should be met if they are asked for. When someone with a mental health condition is not supported, that lack of support can exacerbate the condition.”

John Gaal, worker wellness director at the Missouri Works Initiative and author of a 2026 paper about suicide “postvention” in the U.S. construction industry, attended the webinar. 

“It opened my eyes about how to talk beyond diversity about inclusion from a disability standpoint,” Gaal shared. “I thought I was already being inclusive, but it raised awareness for me that my lens wasn’t wide enough.”

Research Leads to Real-World Recommendations

The webinar’s content was based on research led by Sarah von Schrader, director of research and program evaluation at the Yang-Tan Institute. Her team reviewed current research on workplace mental health initiatives and interviewed employers about how they implement and evaluate these initiatives in their workplaces. In addition to the webinar, von Schrader’s research has led to several resources on the EARN website, including enhancements to the Workplace Mental Health Toolkit.

“That’s how an EARN project works,” explains Amanda Ward, EARN project manager. “We start with a broad topic, like mental health. We have a great research team that gets into some of these more technical questions. Then we develop tools, which could be webpages, checklists, case studies, and we take this to a broader audience through webinars that serve as a training opportunity for the public. It all flows from research-informed practices and strategies.”

Anyone Can Help with Suicide Prevention

In addition to advising that anyone can refer a co-worker to a suicide prevention hotline and sit with them as they call, Bryant suggests that if you are concerned about a colleague, you should try to focus on behavior, and not your interpretation of the behavior. “If someone has previously always been at meetings on time, and you notice a change, you could say, ‘I've noticed that lately you’ve been coming in about 10 minutes after a meeting starts. What’s going on?’,” Bryant advises.

“Or, you could go to a boss and say, ‘I’m worried about this person. Here are some things I’ve noticed that seem off,’” Bryant suggests.

Guidance for Supervisors

Bryant notes that nearly all supervisors and managers, at one time or another, will deal with suicide. “The probability is pretty high,” she says. “If you haven’t already dealt with suicide in your workplace as a supervisor or as an employer, you’re going to.”

Bryant offered these tips for supervisors:

• Normalize getting help: If your organization has an Employee Assistance Program, include information about it in your email signature. 
• Encourage transparency from leadership where possible: If a leader in your organization has had mental health struggles and can share that information, this can give other employees the green light to reach out for help. 
• Be proactive: Assemble contact information for referrals in advance so you can provide it quickly.
• Take care of yourself: As a supervisor, you may be spread thin helping others, so be sure to check in with yourself and ask, “What do I need in this moment?”

Partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness

Bryant’s co-presenter was Megan Delp, director of workplace mental health at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a trusted resource within the community and “a great partner,” according to Bryant.

“NAMI brought to this webinar broad, basic mental health awareness and basic strategies for how to approach the conversation for suicide prevention, and we added how that happens in the workplace,” Ward explains.

A recording of the webinar is available. 

About the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability

Providing practical information to policymakers, employers, educators and others who assist people with disabilities is a core focus for the Yang-Tan Institute, which is part of Cornell’s ILR School. The institute’s mission is to advance knowledge, policies and practices that enhance equal opportunities for all people with disabilities. Its research, training and technical resources expand knowledge about disability inclusion, leading to positive change.

The institute leads many grant-funded projects, including Making Work Work: Quality Work and Quality Care and the Northeast ADA Center. The institute also receives funding via a New York state legislative appropriation to assist with disability-related initiatives, and it offers a variety of professional education opportunities.