The UC San Francisco Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in partnership with the Greater San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), will host a morning of reflection, discussion, and support on Saturday, November 22, 2025, for International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. The event begins at 9:30 a.m. and will be held in the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, located at 675 18th St. in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. Registration is now available at psychiatry.ucsf.edu/survivorday.
In 1999, Senator Harry Reid, who lost his father to suicide, introduced a resolution to the United States Senate, leading to the creation of International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day. Also known as Survivor Day, the day was designated by the United States Congress as a day on which those affected by suicide can join together for healing and support. This year, there are expected to be nearly 300 locally organized events held throughout the U.S. and around the world.
For many loss survivors, attending a Survivor Day event is an opportunity to discover that they are not alone in their experience of losing someone they know and love to suicide. Like all Survivor Day events, this year's San Francisco area event is free and open to the public. Following the screening of a short documentary film produced by AFSP, faculty and staff members from UCSF and the San Francisco VA Health System will moderate small group discussions giving attendees the opportunity to share their experiences and ask questions.
Advance registration is highly encouraged for planning purposes, but last-minute registration will also be available on the day of the event.
Virtual gatherings also scheduled
In addition to sponsoring in-person events across the globe for International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, AFSP hosts two virtual events for survivors of suicide loss: Survivor Day Live and Día De Esperanza.
Survivor Day Live takes place on International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day (Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025). The event features a special screening of an AFSP-produced documentary and a panel discussion featuring loss survivors' experiences and healing journeys.
Día de Esperanza/Day of Hope takes place on the day before International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day (Friday, Nov. 21, 2025). This event includes a Spanish-language panel discussion about the perspectives on mental health and suicide loss in Hispanic and Latinx culture.
Survivor Day Live and Día De Esperanza (Day of Hope) will stream on facebook.com/afspnational and youtube.com/afspnational.
About AFSP
Established in 1987, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death. AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide, including those who have experienced a loss.
Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, and with a public policy office in Washington, D.C., AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following them on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube.
About UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a focus on providing unparalleled patient care, conducting impactful research, training the next generation of behavioral health leaders, and advancing diversity, health equity, and community across the field.
UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building; UCSF Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Health medical centers and community hospitals across San Francisco; UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; the San Francisco VA Health Care System; UCSF Fresno; and numerous community-based sites around the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
