APNA Position Statement: Youth Suicide Prevention.

This article focuses on youth suicide prevention in the United States, emphasizing the role of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nurses in reducing suicide mortality through youth-specific screening, risk assessment, and treatment planning. It highlights rising suicide rates among children and adolescents, identifies key risk factors such as access to lethal means, bullying, houselessness, minoritized identities, rurality, social media, substance use, trauma, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) advocates for comprehensive, evidence-based, and trauma-informed approaches within nursing practice, including community-based prevention, family education, and enhanced training focused on youth suicide. The article also underscores systemic challenges like limited pediatric mental health resources and calls for expanded PMH nursing roles across care settings to improve early identification and intervention.