Family-led firearm strategy goes ‘beyond the screen’ to curb suicide risk

A family-centered approach to firearm safety can change how guns are kept in homes and may offer a new path to reducing suicide risk.

A new University of Michigan study, published in Injury Prevention, tested a method called the Family Safety Net in Alaska, which shifts suicide prevention away from individual screening and toward household action. This change, researchers say, could help reach people who are often missed by standard tools.

“Currently, suicide is a leading cause of death, particularly for young people, and is not getting better with the same old approaches. said Lisa Wexler, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research and professor of social work. “Our typical suicide screening tools rely on individual self-report and miss people who are suicidal for a number of reasons, such as suicide behavior can be impulsive, not sure they want help, fear of losing personal agency in service of safety, etc.”

The approach suggests that caregivers take three actions. First, they answer brief screening questions about whether someone in the home may be at risk of suicide. Second, they participate in a brief motivational interviewing session, and receive free firearm safety and mental health awareness resources. Lastly, participants receive positive text messages for a month afterward that emphasize the person’s good intentions in fun, culturally based ways.

Wexler and colleagues developed this program with Alaska Native partners. They enrolled 62 adults who had firearms in the home and a young person under 29 in the household.
The average number of guns per household was 3.12.

The results showed high levels of feasibility and community support:

• 93% of participants completed the follow-up study
• 33% of participants identified concern for a household member and received the full Family Safety Net intervention
• Safe storage scores increased across all participant groups
• 15.5% of participants moved firearms to a different household to increase safety

“The vast majority of people who participated in the Family Safety Net gave us a 10 out of 10 in their experience,” Wexler said. “The intervention really builds on family members’ love for each other and helps to keep them safe. In this way, the intervention is universal and reduces suicide risk by helping people do what they want to do.”

The study found that both delivery methods, such as a 30‑minute motivational interview or a 15‑minute scripted session, were practical in rural clinics. The scripted version requires less training and may be easier to scale.

Participants said the program also helped them talk with family members about safety and reduced their concerns. One participant said learning the “10‑minute rule,” delaying access to a gun by even a few minutes, was a key lesson.

“We know that if you can interrupt a suicidal impulse, make it 10 minutes harder to act on that impulse, you can save a life,” Wexler said. “Half of the suicide deaths in the U.S. are by firearms, which cause more suicide deaths than any other kind of death.”

Findings point to a new direction for suicide prevention in high gun‑ownership regions and firearm injury prevention is essential to prevent suicide. The program also builds on family concern, household action and avoids stigma by focusing on safety rather than diagnosis.

“Most people who die by suicide see a primary care provider in the year before their death, making this approach a potential fit for clinical settings,” Wexler said. “Offering resources and support, without control, to help other people and teens in their lives is a promising, less professionalized and novel way to prevent suicide.”

Study: Are you worried someone in your household is at risk of suicide? Piloting ways to acceptably and feasibly increase safe firearm storage in rural Alaska (DOI: 10.1136/ip-2025-045917)