Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico suicide prevention plans and initiatives
Click here to download the Puerto Rico fact sheet in English.
Puerto Rico’s Comisión para la Prevención del Suicidio (Commission on Suicide Prevention) was created under article 3 of Law 227 in 1999 and is currently housed within the Departmento de Salud (Department of Health). The Commission is responsible for the development and implementation of suicide prevention public policy, designing strategies for suicide prevention from a public health approach and promoting public awareness, developing and publishing the Puerto Rico Annual and Monthly Suicide Reports, and overseeing and offering technical assistance for the proper implementation of the Protocolo Uniforme para la Prevención del Suicidio (Suicide Prevention Protocol). The Protocol is a requirement that all government agencies, public corporations, municipalities, and entities receiving funds from the Government of Puerto Rico must comply with, pursuant to Law No. 76 of 2010.
The Department maintains the Suicide Data Dashboard and Disaster-Related Suicide Prevention Project Dashboard. See the Commission’s most recent Plan Estratégico (Strategic Plan) for the Commission’s suicide prevention initiatives. In 2025, the Commission released the 2024 Informe Anual de Suicidios en Puerto Rico (Annual Report on Suicides in Puerto Rico) demonstrating that suicides have been steadily decreasing in Puerto Rico for the past 10 years.
Puerto Rico laws
Key:
- Required by law
- Encouraged by law
- No law in place
Crisis lines and 988 implementation
- Addresses 988 infrastructure and provides for telecom user fee
- Addresses 988 infrastructure but does not include telecom user fee
- 988 law limited to creating an exploratory commission, advisory committee, or task force
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K – 12 school suicide prevention
- Inclusion of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and/or other crisis line(s) on student ID cards
- Student allowances for excused mental health absences
- School personnel must report student suicide risk to a parent and/or guardian
- Suicide prevention and/or mental health training for certain school personnel, annual
- Suicide prevention and/or mental health training for certain school personnel, not annual
- Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policies/programming
- Student education on suicide prevention
University and college campus suicide prevention
- Inclusion of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and/or other crisis line(s) on student ID cards
- Students receive information on available mental health and/or suicide prevention services and/or resources
- Adoption of suicide prevention/awareness policy or program
Firearms
- Process for extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs)
- State voluntary do not sell list
Health professional training in suicide assessment, treatment and management
- Mental health professionals receive regular training
- Mental health professionals receive one time training
- Medical/surgical professionals receive regular training
- Medical/surgical professionals receive one time training
Conversion therapy bans
- Prohibits licensed/board certified mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with minors under 18 years of age
- Prohibits licensed/board certified mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with vulnerable adults
- Prohibits use of state funds for any purpose related to conversion therapy (e.g., conducting, making a referral for, or extending health benefits coverage for)