Julie Cerel
Professor
Highlighted Publications
- Cerel, J., Brown, M., Maple, M., Singleton, M., van de Venne, J, Moore, M. & Flaherty, C (2018). How many people are exposed to suicide? Not six. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior
- 40. Xiao, Y., Cerel, J., & Mann, J. J. (6/2021). Temporal Trends in Suicidal Ideation and Attempts Among US Adolescents by Sex and Race/Ethnicity, 1991-2019. JAMA Network Open. 2021
- 4(6):e2113513. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.1351
- Athey, A., Kilmer, B. & Cerel, J. (2024). An Overlooked Emergency: More than 4 in 10 U.S. Adults Are Negatively Affected by Drug Overdose Deaths. American Journal of Public Health 114, 276_279,
Current Projects
- Code Red: Universal Safety planning for suicide prevention
Student & Research Availability
- Accepting Students in Programs: Bachelors | Doctoral | Masters
- Available Student Positions: Honors Thesis | Independent Study | Other Opportunities | Paid Hourly Work | Practicum
- Research or Interest Area Key Words: suicide; suicide exposure; universal safety planning; bereavement; lived experience;
Alma Mater
Kenyon College The Ohio State University
Get to Know Julie
Dr. Cerel is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. She is the director of the Suicide Prevention & Exposure Lab at the University of Kentucky and the Wilson Profession of Mental Health. Her research has focused on suicide exposure and bereavement, suicide attempt survivors and suicide prevention. She developed CODE RED, a universal safety planning intervention which has been used by over 15,000 people to plan for their worst day. She is a Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology. She completed her PhD from The Ohio State University, an internship and post-doctoral fellowship from West Virginia University in child clinical psychology and a post-doctoral fellowship specifically in suicide prevention from University of Rochester. She received an honorary PhD from Kenyon College. In 2023 she was elected a fellow of the American Psychology Association. She received the 2025 International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) Norman Farberow Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Bereavement and Lived Experience. She is the author of over 130 academic publications and co-author of Seeking Hope: Stories of the Suicide Bereaved. Her work has been funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Patient Centered Research Initiative (PCORI), NIHM, the CDC, SAMHSA, SPAN-USA and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She is regularly quoted by the media and has appeared in NBC news, NPR, O Magazine and Teen Vogue.