About Alternatives to Suicide
The Alternatives to Suicide approach was created by the Wildflower Alliance (formerly the Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community). As a grassroots, peer-run organization, Wildflower Alliance recognized that the traditional mental health system often silenced those in the most pain.
They developed Alt2Su to bridge the gap between "treatment" and "humanity," creating the first peer support spaces where people can speak the "unspeakable" without fear of being forced into a hospital. Today, the Alt2Su model is a global movement and our team of facilitators at Yarrow Collective follow the lineage of their work at Wildflower Alliance.
Unlike traditional clinical approaches that often focus on risk assessment and hospitalization, Alternatives to Suicide (Alt2Su) creates a space where people can talk openly about their deepest challenges without the threat of being "reported" or "locked up."
Alt2Su is a peer-to-peer support group based on core values of:
Self-Determination: You are the expert on your own life and your own safety.
Responsibility to, not for: We stand beside each other in pain,
but we do not seek to control one another.
Honesty & Transparency: We talk openly about the things society often keeps hidden.
Community over Clinic: Healing happens through authentic relationships, not just treatment plans. We don’t see people as broken or in need of fixing.
Is It Okay to Talk About Suicide?
At Yarrow Collective, our answer is a resounding yes.
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We believe it is vital to remember that talking about suicide is fundamentally different from dying by suicide. While taking one’s life is an act often driven in isolation, talking is an act of connection. When we voice our thoughts, we move out of the shadows and into a relational space.
In traditional clinical settings, many people have learned to stop being honest. In this Alt2Su in this article by Caroline Mazel-Carlton, Caroline shares how they often hear participants in their groups say things like:
“I haven’t talked about these feelings since the cops came to my door…”
“I haven’t been honest about this since I was forcibly committed…”
“I stopped talking the moment I was forced to sign a ‘safety contract.’”
While these individuals stopped talking about suicide to avoid institutional consequences or forced interventions, they didn't stop thinking about it. Traditional "risk assessment" often shuts down the very conversation that needs to happen.
We view suicidal thoughts not as a symptom of a "broken brain," but as an attempt to solve deep, often systemic issues—such as trauma, isolation, or injustice. Together, we try to create a space where it is safe to explore these thoughts without fear of coercion or carceral responses.
Alternatives To Suicide Facilitator Training
If you are someone with lived or living experience with suicidality and are interested in taking a peer support group facilitator training in the Alternatives to Suicide model, reach out to us at Yarrow Collective to learn about upcoming training. In the meantime, check out our in-person or online peer support groups all held within the Alt2Su values.