Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Toolkit

The Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) tool is a set of four yes/no questions a clinician asks to find out whether someone may be at risk for suicide. It takes about 20 seconds. Any "yes," or a refusal to answer, counts as a positive screen and triggers a fifth question about current thoughts to gauge how urgent the situation is.

The wider ASQ Toolkit is what makes screening workable in a busy setting: clinical pathways for emergency, inpatient, and outpatient care, nursing scripts, parent flyers, a patient resource list, and a Brief Suicide Safety Assessment for following up a positive screen. Youth and adult versions differ where development matters. Screening identifies who needs a fuller assessment; it does not diagnose or predict.

• Toolkit materials by setting

Licensing Notes: The ASQ and the full toolkit are developed and published by the National Institute of Mental Health

Learn More: Before using the ASQ, a setting needs a plan already in place for what happens when someone screens positive