Caring Contacts

Welcome to the Caring Contacts Toolkit. The goal of this toolkit is to help you think through how you want to send Caring Contacts in your organization/clinic/program. We will provide you with background information to help you understand Caring Contacts, why and how it works, and suggestions for how best to implement the intervention with your organization's clients. In addition, we address topics that you and your organization will want to consider while implementing Caring Contacts. These are your choices and there is no right answer, but we’ve included some key points to consider as well as pros and cons of different decisions to think through and discuss as you plan your Caring Contacts program.

Our goal for this toolkit is to provide the most up to date information on the implementation and effectiveness of this intervention. Periodic updates may be made to the content within this toolkit.

Last Updated: March 2025

What Are Caring Contacts?

Caring Contacts are brief, periodic messages sent over 1-2 years that express unconditional care and concern. This intervention has been shown to reduce suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide ideation, is cost-effective, and is recommended by multiple clinical practice guidelines.

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At a glance: Benefits and Investment

With just one or two staff members, this intervention can reach anywhere from ten to hundreds of individuals. Up front costs and ongoing requirements include staff hours to send and respond to messages and paying for the operating cost of the platform your organization chooses. For a more in-depth breakdown of these potential costs, click below.

Provider Experience

A Practical Guide to Sending Caring Contacts

The Caring Contacts intervention can be easily implemented by organizations of all sizes and skill levels with some instruction up front. This guide offers advice and recommendations for all phases of design, planning, and implementation, along with guidance on how to manage day-to-day challenges of sending messages to people living with a lot of stress or distress.

Getting Started

More Resources

References used in this webpage and other useful resources for crisis prevention

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About Us

The Center for Suicide Prevention and Recovery (CSPAR) teamed up with the Clinical Informatics Research Group (CIRG) and experts in Human Centered Design and clinical decision support tools to develop this Caring Contact toolkit and the ISACC web-app.

About Us