SPRC Home> SAMHSA Grantees> Campus Suicide Prevention Grantees Technical Assistance Meeting January 6-9, 2009, Agenda

Campus Suicide Prevention Grantees Technical Assistance Meeting
January 6–9, 2009
Phoenix, Arizona

AGENDA
Wednesday, January 9, 2009

Gatekeeper Training Expert Panel Discussion
This panel will explore relevant issues surrounding gatekeeper training (GKT), such as defining GKT, roles of gatekeepers, appropriate level of training for gatekeepers, readiness for GKT, and outcomes of GKT in the college and university setting.

Step 1—Using Data to Define the Problem

(C) 1A: Using Data to Plan and Target Gatekeeper Training
This session will address how to plan and implement gatekeeper training. Presenters will discuss how to tailor your program to fit your campus’s specific needs based on available data and other information about risk and protective factors. Presenters will also discuss different approaches to identifying audiences for gatekeeper training, describe the core components that should be included in gatekeeper training, and suggest how to use data and other campus-specific information to develop, implement, and evaluate gatekeeper training.

(C) 1B: Beyond the Survey: Getting to Know Your Target Population Using Qualitative Data
In this workshop, participants will discuss how qualitative data collection can inform program development, implementation, and evaluation. Specifically, this workshop will explore how the use of key informant interviews and focus groups can explore concepts, new ideas, and hard-to-reach populations. Workshop objectives include understanding how to use qualitative data and understanding methods for identifying trends in qualitative data. *Note: Workshop is appropriate for all attendees (project staff and evaluators).

(C) 1C: Campus and Community Partnerships: Data Sharing and Program Planning
Gathering data about target populations is a crucial part of a public health approach to suicide prevention. In this session, participants will identify campus and community partners with whom to collaborate on your suicide prevention program; understand how to establish systems to promote data sharing between partners; and how to use the data to identify areas of intervention, reach high-risk students, and establish continuity of care.

(C) 1D: Men and Suicide: From Research to Practice
Mental health, risk and protective factors, and barriers to help-seeking can be uniquely expressed in different populations. This session will address how depression and suicide manifest in men. Discussion topics will include men and patterns of help-seeking, risk factors increasing suicidal vulnerability for men, and barriers to and facilitators of relaying health messages to men. Speakers and participants will also discuss promising practices for mental health promotion campaigns targeting men.

(C) 1E: Targeting High-Risk Groups on Campus
To effectively prevent suicide on college campuses, it is important to target specific groups or subpopulations. In this session, participants will learn about different strategies to engage and target high-risk groups on campus. Topics to be discussed include identifying data sources to identify high-risk and/or diverse groups on campus, strategies for tailoring programs to specific target groups, and the benefits of programs tailored to specific target groups.

(C) 1F: Working with Student Veterans
As veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts are returning to their homes and colleges and universities, counseling centers, and administrators are increasingly looking for ways to assist veterans with their academic and mental health needs. In this session, speakers will address the unique risk and protective factors that pertain to veterans; the existing suicide prevention and support services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs; and practical implementation of different models of veteran-friendly support programs on campus.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Panel: Research Updates and Applications for Campuses
This panel will review and update major sources of campus mental health data (e.g., ACHA-NCHA, The Nature of the College Student Suicidal Crisis, Healthy Minds, etc.) It will also discuss the major developments in suicide prevention research over the past 5 years and discuss practical applications of that research for campus suicide prevention.

Step 2—Examining Risk and Protective Factors

(C) 2A: Is Stigma Preventing College Students from Seeking Help?
Stigma is frequently cited as the reason students or other members of the campus-community do not seek out mental health services. However, research indicates that stigma may be a factor for some, but not all, populations on a college campus. In this session, speakers will summarize research findings regarding barriers to mental health service utilization by students, (with a specific focus on stigma). Student populations that are at high risk for perceiving stigma regarding mental health services will be identified using national data. Implications for suicide prevention practice on campuses will be discussed.

(C) 2B: Assessment and Planning for Lethal Means Restriction on Campus
In this session, participants will learn how to apply a public health approach to reducing access to lethal means and methods of self-harm. Presenters will discuss working with campus and community stakeholders (hospitals, campus and local police departments) and how to conduct an environmental assessment examining access to lethal means (alcohol and other drugs, rooftops, windows, toxic substances, firearms, construction of new buildings).

(C) 2C: Enhancing Social Networks
This session will include an examination of social connectedness as a protective factor for suicide and successful strategies for increasing connectedness on campus. Presenters will discuss efforts to identify and engage existing social networks in discussions about mental health, to enhance connectedness and reduce stigma associated with help-seeking. Research about social connectednessand the Jed Foundation/SPRC Comprehensive Approach to Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Promotion will be highlighted.

(C) 2D: Examining the Family Environment for Risk/Protective Factors
In this session, the role of the family environment as a risk or protective factor will be addressed. Speakers will present original research examining how exposure to suicide within home environment or family can put one at higher risk for suicide. Implications of this research for prevention practice will be discussed. In addition, this session will identify how grant activities can be tailored to the unique relationship between students and their families on campus.

(C) 2E: Promoting Life Skills Development
Developing life skills is a protective factor in suicide prevention. Helping students to develop life skills while in a supportive learning environment will provide them with tools they can use throughout their lives. This session will examine the data supporting the promotion of life skills development as a protective factor for depression and suicide. A campus example of how life skills can be infused within a curriculum and the entire institution (e.g., residence life, first year experience programs) will be provided.

(C) 2F: Discussion of Local Evaluation
This session will provide an opportunity to discuss the challenges of suicide prevention evaluation at the local level and available resources (e.g., Best Practices Registry, technical assistance from SPRC and Macro International). This session is appropriate for evaluators on both Cohort 2 and Cohort 3 grants.

Step 3—Setting Goals

Guided Team Planning
This session provides an opportunity for grantees to reconvene with their teams to process information and materials presented at the meeting thus far. Grantees will discuss methods of strategic planning, program implementation, and evaluation. SPRC staff and grantee facilitators will be on hand to provide information and technical assistance.
*Note: Session is appropriate for both Cohort 2 and Cohort 3 grantees.

Step 4—Selecting and Developing Interventions

(C) 3A: The AFSP Online Screening Tool: Implementation and Utility for Campuses
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s College Screening Program (CSP) provides an anonymous, Web-based method of screening students for depression and other problems that put them at risk for suicide. CSP connects students to an actual counselor so that concerns about treatment can be discussed online. This session will highlight the University of Maine’s implementation of CSP and research in support of CSP.

(C) 3B: The Best Practices Registry
The purpose of the Best Practices Registry (BPR) is to identify, review, and disseminate information about best practices that address specific objectives of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.The presenter will provide an overview of SPRC/AFSP’s Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention and SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, and describe how to submit applications to these registries. The session will include interactive discussion among participants about the concept of “evidence-based prevention” and its implications for prevention work, considerations for choosing or adapting best practices, how to ensure individual practices fit into a comprehensive program, use of best practices criteria for program improvement, and leveraging best practices for sustainability.

(C) 3C: Crisis Policy Development
This session will describe the importance of the development of crisis management policies within a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention on campus. Grantee speakers will share challenges and insights from their experiences developing or revising crisis policies on their campuses. In addition, available resources, including the Jed Foundation’s Framework for Developing Institutional Policies for the Distressed or Suicidal College Student, will be discussed.

(C) 3D: Integrating Cultural Competency into Your Organizations, Programs, and Services: Challenges and Strategies
What is cultural competency? What does it mean to be culturally competent? This session will address definitions of cultural and linguistic competency as well as integrating cultural competency into the organizational structure, services, and activities of an institution. The discussion will include an emphasis on the practical application of cultural competency to these arenas. Speakers will discuss how they have incorporated diverse perspectives and input in their organizations, programs, and services, and the challenges of adapting suicide prevention programs to diverse populations.

(C) 3E: The Use of New Media in Suicide Prevention
This session will describe how the Internet and other new technologies (e.g., social networking sites, blogs) can be incorporated into campus suicide prevention. Speakers will also describe strategies for engaging essential partners (e.g., Campus Information Technology departments) in program planning using new media. Safe messaging guidelines and other relevant topics will also be discussed.

(C) 3F: Telling Your Story: Developing Partnerships to Sustain Your Program
This session will explore how to strategically engage key stakeholders using a social marketing approach. Topics of discussion will include identifying key audiences, goal setting, and engaging key audiences as stakeholders in suicide prevention. Participants will understand how to use this process to develop partnerships and to sustain suicide prevention programs on campus. Grantee presenters will discuss how they have used strategic planning steps to attain buy-in, implement programs, and sustain effective programs.

Cross-Site Evaluation Plenary
During this session, staff from Macro International will describe findings from the cross-site evaluation to date. The preliminary focus of this session will be examining the outreach and awareness and training activities that have been implemented and with whom. Additionally, SPEAKS data, complemented by findings from key informant interviews, will be described to examine the exposure, awareness, and knowledge of targeted populations related to suicide prevention, mental health seeking, and stigma on grantee campuses.

Step 5—Implementing and Evaluating Interventions

(C) 4A: Statewide Initiatives
Statewide initiatives (SWI) or multi-campus suicide prevention initiatives are one approach whereby campuses may bolster suicide prevention efforts in a state or region. One campus will be on hand to share experiences as part of the Oregon Campus Consortium. The benefits and challenges of collaborating with other campuses will be discussed, including how statewide efforts can support the sustainability of suicide prevention efforts.

(C) 4B: De-Silo Your Campus: Implementing a Student at Risk Response Team (SARRT)
This session will provide a clear definition of a SARRT and differentiate it from other groups on campus (e.g., task force, threat assessment team) A panel of grantees will discuss key issues surrounding the implementation of a SARRT (membership, communication, legal implications, overcoming challenges). Recommendations for successful development and implementation of a SARRT will be shared.

(C) 4C: Postvention
This session will emphasize the importance of developing postvention protocols for responding to deaths by suicide that incorporate comprehensive strategies and collaboration among organizations and services. Different approaches, essential partnerships (e.g., religious services, academics, study abroad, veterans’ services) and resources for postvention will be discussed.

(C) 4D: Publishing Your Results
This session will provide a discussion of the benefits of preparing to publish your program results: collecting lessons learned, highlighting key achievements, advancing the field of campus suicide prevention. In addition, strategies for developing successful submissions and identifying appropriate journals will be discussed.

(C) 4E: The Evaluation of Gatekeeper Training Programs: Challenges and Resources
The term "gatekeeper training" (GKT) has been used to describe a range of interventions of varying lengths, audiences, and goals, and evaluation plans should reflect these differences. This session will examine some of the common program theories or logic models underlying GKT and corresponding evaluation strategies. Grantee experiences with evaluating GKT will be discussed. The session will conclude with an opportunity for other grantees to share and discuss other approaches to evaluating GKT.

(C) 4F: Using and Accessing Cross-site Data in the Suicide Prevention Data Center (SPDC)
During this session, Macro will provide grantees with a refresher on how to access the SPDC, where different types of data are located, how to interpret Grantee Summary Reports, how to download data, and potential uses for cross-site data at the local level.

Legal Panel: Discussion of the Jed Foundation Publication Student Mental Health and the Law
Experts will discuss the elements of the Jed Foundation’s new publication Student Mental Health and the Law. Relevant sections of the publication to be presented include communication and treatment, liability, and students with disabilities.