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Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program Descriptions

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Kansas State University

Program Description:
CollegeLifeCafe.com is an innovative, interactive online program designed to engage college students in promoting mental wellness, particularly with regard to prevention of suicide, depression, and substance abuse, and encourage help-seeking behaviors so as to enhance positive experiences and success while in college. This online program complements a comprehensive campus-wide action plan including programming and training for students, faculty, and staff. CollegeLifeCafe.com goes beyond the typical, static, text-based web site of informational pages to engage college students at a deeper level with a complete online program of content and features that are relevant to their needs, interests, and comfort with using the Internet. The mental wellness approach to CollegeLifeCafe.com focuses more on how to be mentally healthy and less on the pathology of mental illness. This friendlier approach lays the groundwork for reducing the stigma of mental illness, and promoting help-seeking behaviors. The content of the program will be developed with a significant amount of student input through campus focus groups. Content will be delivered in a variety of formats, including text, audio, video, and podcasts. Where appropriate, students will be able to download content to their own computer for private use, for printing, or to download onto their MP3 players or iPods. Through the use of discussion boards, blogs, and the like, students will have the opportunity to connect with other students, discuss matters that are important to them, and otherwise learn that they are not alone in struggles they may experience while in college. The campus-wide programming and training efforts involve major student-oriented offices and organizations in reaching out to students and faculty/staff, while respecting the race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, and belief system of every member of our campus community. If CollegeLifeCafe.com is found to be useful for students at Kansas State University, it could certainly be made available to other students across the nation.

Contact Information:
Barbara Pearson, Ph.D.
Psychologist (Counseling Services)
Project Director Campus Suicide Prevention Grant
Kansas State University
232 English
Manhattan, KS 66506
Tel: 785-532-6804
Email: bpearson@ksu.edu

Arizona State University

Program Description:
Arizona State University (ASU) is one of the largest and fastest growing institutes of higher learning in the nation. ASU enrolls more than 57,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on three campuses in metropolitan Phoenix, which is located in Maricopa County. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, students aged 20-24 in Maricopa County is significantly higher than the national average for this age group. The target population for this project is freshman residing in dorms at ASU.

The goals of the ASU Comprehensive Suicide Prevention program are to: (1) identify and refer high risk students with behavioral health concerns; (2) increase awareness of suicide risk factors, imminent warning signs, prevention strategies and resources; (3) expand suicide prevention education provided for Resident Life/First Year students; (4) educate parents about suicide prevention and referral of at risk students; and (5) increase intervention options for residential students who have been referred for mandatory assessment due to risk of suicide. To meet these objectives, we propose to conduct gatekeeper training; develop and implement an education campaign; provide wellness training to undergraduate peer advocates, disseminate information to parents, and develop multidisciplinary interventions for students at risk.

Contact Information:
Martha Christiansen, Ph.D.
Arizona State University
PO Box 871012
Tempe, AZ 85287-1012
Tel: 480-965-6147
Email: martha.christiansen@asu.edu

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Blue Mountain Community College/Network-Based Campus Suicide Prevention Program

Program Description:
Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC), the only comprehensive community college in rural northeastern Oregon, plans to develop and establish a network-based infrastructure that supports suicide prevention awareness education and training for faculty, staff, students, and student families throughout the college’s 18,000-square-mile service area. BMCC currently provides no health or mental health services for students except a part- time student counselor intern at the Pendleton campus. The urgency of addressing this critical institutional gap was made evident by BMCC’s lack of preparedness when two students committed suicide during the 2003-04 academic year. The goal of this project is to infuse suicide prevention awareness and training throughout the college’s eight locations. The grant will support six primary activities: 1. Develop training programs for students and college personnel using external local resources available through partnerships such as the Umatilla-Morrow Counties’ Emergency Response Crisis Management Coalition. 2. Solidify networks with local health care providers and integrate the network processes and services into an updated crisis response plan for the college. 3. Develop and implement educational seminars for students and staff. 4. Promote linkages to local hotlines and/or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. 5. Prepare and disseminate informational materials that address warning signs and provide guidelines for referral and other responses. 6. Prepare educational materials for families of BMCC students.

Contact Information:
Susan E. Plass
Blue Mountain Community College
P.O. Box 100
Pendleton, OR 97801
Tel: 541-278-5171
Email: splass@bluecc.edu

Columbia College Chicago Suicide Prevention: Clinical and Creative Solutions

Program Description:
The purpose of the proposed project is to create and deliver training and support to students, faculty, staff, and parents to mitigate dangerous behaviors and prevent student suicide attempts. Columbia College Chicago ('Columbia') has not yet experienced a completed suicide on campus. However, Columbia has not been, until recently, a residential college. This means that students were most likely to express or manifest dangerous behaviors off campus. This, however, radically changed at the beginning of this academic year. 1489 students now live in dorm like facilities near to campus. In the three-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2004 we detected 7 suicide threats. Five of these resulted in hospital visits; Columbia, as a specialized college in the arts, media, and communication, recruits a particular kind of student; these are eventual media makers, artists, filmmakers, thespians, product, game, and graphic designers, and all manner of creative careers. In the main, we can characterize Columbia's stud entry as being primarily creative. We also believe that creative people learn in different ways. Columbia, whose mission directly relates to culture and creativity, realizes the importance of human creativity. Our proposed project supports not only our need for comprehensive services, but also our institution's unique orientation.

Illinois State Page

Contact Information:
Ashley Knight, M.Ed.
Assistant Dean of Students
Columbia College Chicago
600 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
Tel: 312-344-8593
Email: aknight@colum.edu

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Daytona Beach Community College

Program Description:
Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC), in collaboration with Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC) and the University of Central Florida (UCF), will provide suicide prevention education and information to college students, faculty, and staff in Volusia and Flagler Counties. The Campus LIFE (Life Is For Everyone) Project will create a mental and behavioral health services network and provide suicide prevention training and education. In 2004, there were 110 suicides among the 500,000 residents of the two-county area on the central east coast of Florida. The Campus LIFE project will change suicide prevention efforts from reactive to proactive in the following ways. The Campus LIFE Project will develop a resource network of mental and behavioral health services available to college students at free or reduced rates. The Campus LIFE project will conduct educational training and seminars to inform students, faculty, and staff, and reduce stigmas associated with seeking help for mental and behavioral needs. The project will train the trainer, train a student peer group, provide educational seminars for staff, and provide educational seminars for students. A counselor will attend each educational seminar to conduct crisis intervention and refer participants to the resource network if the need arises. The Campus LIFE project will provide suicide prevention educational seminars for 25% of each partner's faculty and staff; approximately 348, and 200 students each year of the grant.

Contact Information:
Mitch Pietras, Ph.D.
Daytona Beach Community College
Flagler/Palm Coast Campus
300 Palm Coast Parkway, S.E.
Palm Coast, FL 32137
Tel: 385-506-4803
Email: pietram@dbcc.edu

George Washington University

Program Description:
To meet the major challenge of reaching students at risk for suicide but unknown to campus mental health agencies, the George Washington (GW) Counseling Center proposes to empower students through a multidimensional awareness/educational campaign; to build a web of supportive and skilled faculty, staff and student leaders through comprehensive training/consultative programs; and to sustain a caring community through enhanced identification, referral, and emergency services. GW will engage existing resources across campus to create a multifaceted approach to reaching at-risk students. Multiple media will be used to permeate the campus community with constructive messages each semester. Repetition within poster, flyer, newspaper, radio and electronic billboard publicity will be designed to create a strong positive connection with University Counseling Center (UCC) services. Key faculty, academic advisors, university police, residential life staff, student service staff, and student leaders will be trained to recognize symptoms of students in distress, to respond skillfully and to refer appropriately those students to campus resources. The intention and hope of this proposal is to reach GW students by providing education about mental health issues, empowering a web of community members to identify and respond to students in need, encouraging and supporting these students in taking responsibility for their mental health care by accessing appropriate services, and strengthening campus services to address perceived needs. Evaluation of this suicide prevention project will focus on the impact of the proposed interventions, both in terms of number of individuals meaningfully served as well as new learning and behavior resulting from project interventions.

District of Columbia State Page

Contact Information:
Diane DePalma, Ph.D.
George Washington University
2033 K Street, NW
#330
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202-994-6255
Email: ddepalma@gwu.edu

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Howard University/Training Gatekeepers & Improving Dissemination for Suicide Prevention

Program Description:
Howard University’s Department of Psychiatry and the University Counseling Service have collaborated and established a comprehensive suicide prevention program entitled Suicide Prevention Action Group (SPAG). Goals and Objectives: The overall goals for SPAG is to increase help seeking behavior, to decrease suicidal behavior, and decrease stigma associated with students seeking mental health treatment. Objectives include the following: (1) Training for recognition of at risk behavior and delivery of effective treatment. Each training module is intended to meet specific needs throughout the campus community by developing programs for students, campus personnel and mental health personnel including those in the emergency division of the Howard University Hospital; (2) Improve our existing strategies of education and outreach to new and existing students and parents by developing supplementary informative literature to be disseminated. Further outreach will be executed by organizing a one day symposium for students once a year; developing a video by and for students on help seeking behavior and stigma of mental disorders; and African Americanizing the QPR trigger video to be shown before each training session by the gatekeeper instructors. We anticipate a more educated faculty and staff on how to recognize a student in suicidal crisis and how to obtain help for that student in a careful and sensitive way that will not traumatize the student and the faculty or staff involved. We expect an outcome of more students being open about their mental health and uncover the dilemma of seeking help without feeling stigmatized.

District of Columbia

Contact Information:
Donna Barnes, Ph.D.
Department of Psychiatry
College of Medicine
Howard University
530 College Street, NW
Washington, DC 20059
Tel: 202-806-7706
Email: donnabarnes31@hotmail.com
Email: dbarnes@nopcas.org

Keene State College Suicide Intervention Project

Program Description:
The KSC suicide prevention project is a comprehensive, multi-level program designed to educate the college community about suicide and how to respond to someone who is suicidal, to reduce the stigma of counseling, to coordinate prevention and response efforts with the town and state organizations, and to intervene with at-risk students to promote their safety and well-being.

The educational component is multifaceted and includes targeted gatekeeper training, educational seminars, and development of a variety of materials including information about suicide and resources, postvention materials, information for parents, and stigma reduction materials such as stress balls, posters, bookmarks, etc. Educational seminars may be coordinated with outside agencies such as NAMI and include seminars by past and present students about their mental health challenges and triumphs and large group talks on overcoming depression/suicidal thinking and/or happiness.

Response to at-risk students is also multifaceted. It includes working with the local mental health agency to coordinate the assessment of high risk individuals and coordinate treatment upon release and developing policies and procedures for mandated safety sessions. At risk students are defined as those who are actively suicidal, i.e., have either made a suicide attempt or are overtly threatening suicide and students who have been hospitalized or held in protective custody because of alcohol poisoning.

New Hampshire

Contact Information:
Candice Wiggum, Ph.D.
Keene State College
229 Main Street
Keene, NH 03435
Tel: 603-358-2437
Email: cwiggum@keene.edu

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Northeastern Illinois University/NEIU Campus Suicide awareness and Prevention Program

Program Description:
Northeastern Illinois University requests funds to support a suicide prevention project designed to enhance campus awareness of factors related to campus suicide and related mental health issues, and to enhance institutional responsiveness to students at risk, strengthening the university's capacity to respond effectively to students in need. The project involves the development and delivery of workshops, seminars, and outreach presentations to faculty, staff, and students on suicidal risk factors, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and other behavioral factors related to suicide. These outreach and consultation presentations are designed to increase overall awareness within the university community, to enable faculty members and students to identify those at increased risk of suicide and other mental health problems that can interfere with their academic success, and to refer these at-risk students to the university's Counseling Office or other sources of assistance. The project also involves the strengthening of the university's capacity to respond to students in this project proposes to enhance collaboration between the Counseling Office and those individuals who are most influential in students' lives, such as faculty members, families and student colleagues. Mechanisms to strengthen collaboration between key service units are also proposed, including the development of a Crisis Response Team and a formal Crisis Response Plan, the development and provision of specialized training about suicidal risk factors and effective intervention techniques for first responders in selected service units, and the enhancement of referral systems between faculty departments and the Counseling Office.

Contact Information:
John Hoeppel, Ph.D.
Northeastern Illinois University
Counseling Office
5500 N. St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625-4699
Tel: 773-442-4657
Email: J-Hoeppel@neiu.edu

Northwest Missouri State University Suicide Prevention Program

Program Description:
Northwest Missouri State University is working to implement a primary prevention program to reduce the incidence of suicide and increase awareness of mental health issues. The goal is to develop a model prevention program based on the recommendations made by the National Mental Health Association, Safeguarding Your Students against Suicide: Expanding the safety Net (2002). Northwest Missouri State University is a state-assisted, four-year regional university located in Maryville, Missouri; a rural community of 10,000. The enrollment includes over 5,000 undergraduate students and 1000 graduate students. The need for a suicide prevention initiative was brought to the forefront during the 2003-2004 academic year. During that year, we had one student commit suicide in a residence hall and three students commit suicide off campus. During the past year, we realized we needed to develop a better suicide prevention program and response plan. The purpose of this project is to develop a comprehensive primary prevention program for the Northwest campus. Our goals are based on the recommendations made by the National Mental Health Association, Safeguarding Your Students against Suicide: Expanding the Safety Net (2002). These six goals include the development of:

  1. training programs for students and university personnel,
  2. a network of student services,
  3. targeted educational programs for faculty, staff coaches, and students,
  4. a University crisis line and informational website,
  5. broad-based campus-wide public education, and
  6. educational materials for parents and families.

Contact Information:
Beau Dooley, MPH, MACSAPP
Director of Wellness,
Asst. Director of Health Services
Northwest Missouri State University
Wellness Center
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468
Tel: 660-562-1348
Email: bdooley@nwmissouri.edu

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Pace University

Program Description:
Pace University Counseling Center serves its campus population by providing a wide range of counseling services to meet the mental health needs of its students. The goals of the proposed Project HOPE (Help and Options through Pace Empowerment) are to: (1) implement an innovative campus suicide prevention gatekeeper training to increase recognition of at-risk behavior and referral to appropriate sources of help; (2) develop and disseminate engaging informational materials about suicide, diversity, and mental health issues to increase knowledge and decrease stigma; and (3) improve communication plans and develop more comprehensive suicide intervention and postvention protocols in order to respond appropriately to suicide attempts and completions. This grant is to enhance and expand our current campus suicide prevention efforts. The target populations will be students in residence as well as the general campus population. This project is an effort to reduce the incidence of suicide, and the risks associated with suicide attempts and completion, and to strengthen the effectiveness of crisis response when an event such as a suicide occurs. The university consists of extremely ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse students. The Counseling Center will call upon the extensive multicultural knowledge, skills, and experience of its own diverse staff to provide a culturally sensitive environment and culturally competent approach to working with Project HOPE gatekeeper training participants and the target populations of students. Multiculturally specific brochures, posters, and other outreach materials will be the major focus of the media campaign.

New York State Page

Contact Information:
Richard Shadick, Ph.D.
Pace University Counseling Center
One Pace Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Tel: 212-346-1526
Email: rshadick@pace.edu

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Campus Suicide Prevention Grant

Program Description:
In response to the growing issues related to depression and substance abuse, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will enhance existing programs and add several novel approaches, which will benefit the target population. Rensselaer has designed a program to develop training programs for students and campus personnel, create an on-campus network, develop and implement educational seminars, promote linkage to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, prepare informational material and prepare educational material for families. It is expected that the evaluation will show that Rensselaer students will experience fewer mental and behavioral health problems each year that the comprehensive program exists.

Two key items are an institutional assessment and the need to develop a Crisis Response Plan. The Jed Foundation was contacted and they, along with consultant Dr. Mort Silverman, will perform the assessment. It is hoped that the assessment report, along with the evaluation efforts of this project, will allow Rensselaer to create an innovative new strategy for suicide prevention. Additionally Rensselaer will create, disseminate, and then practice a Crisis Response Plan.

Additionally, we plan to enhance existing services and improve access to care by contracting with a psychiatrist one day a week. Finally, this project will allow Rensselaer to fully take advantage of the data that is gathered, by expanding the analysis to focus specifically on depression and academic success.

New York State Page

Contact Information:
Marcus Hotaling, Ph.D.
Program Director
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Student Health Center
3200 Academy Hall
Troy, NY 12180
Tel: 518-276-6479
Email: hotalm@rpi.edu

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South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Program Description:
The goals of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (School of Mines) suicide prevention plan are to decrease the stigma and barriers to help-seeking behaviors for mental/behavioral health issues and increase overall mental health among students, thereby aiding the successful completion of their studies. The plan features three major components:

Prevention Education, Gatekeeper Intervention Training, and Assessment and Treatment. These components are aimed at reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors as they relate to suicidality. Prevention Education includes seminars targeted to the student. Seminars will address the risk factors and protective factors in smaller groupings of students to maximize interaction and reinforce a social support structure. Prevention Education will also include the development and dissemination of informational materials that address the warning signs, risk factors, and protective factors of suicidal behavior as well as appropriate action steps for students to act upon for themselves or on behalf of fellow students. Informational material will also publicize a suicide hotline and be disseminated to students, students’ families and staff. Gatekeeper Intervention Training will address mental/behavioral health problems, risk factors and protective factors and will instruct in the implementation of the crisis response protocol. The final component is the development of an Assessment and Treatment/referral system. Assessment of mental health and suicidal risk will be achieved through the suicide prevention office and will include pre- and post-treatment evaluations.

During the first year of the grant program, gatekeeper training materials were developed by the project coordinator based on the QPR model. Key staff received the training with pre and post tests to assess learning. Baseline data was collected for student behaviors with the CORE Survey. The first quarter of the second grant year was spent preparing the prevention workshops and delivering them to residence hall students. Also the gatekeeper training was expanded to faculty. Student referrals to counseling Services were screened for depression with Beck’s Depression Inventory and tracked for progress.

Contact Information:
Jolie McCoy, MSSW, CSW PIP
Director
Counseling and Student ADA Services
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
501 E. St. Joseph Street
Rapid City, SD 57701
Tel: 605-394-1924
Email: Jolie.mccoy@sdsmt.edu

Syracuse University/Campus Suicide Prevention: A Comprehensive, Connective Model

Program Description:
Syracuse University has been increasingly concerned with the serious and diverse mental and behavioral health problems among its students. The belief that student isolation and difficulty in tolerating emotional distress significantly contribute to these mental health difficulties have prompted our Center to develop two specific prevention programs with the support of the SAMHSA grant: 1) Campus Connect Gatekeeper Training workshop and 2) Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction educational seminars.

Our gatekeeper training workshop is a three-hour experientially based crisis intervention and suicide prevention training program. In Year 1 of our grant, we have trained and assessed all of our Residence Life staff (250), and our Health Services staff (50). Outcome studies to date are evidencing highly significant results. Satisfaction surveys are quite positive. As a result of our preliminary success, several other colleges and universities have requested training in the implementation of our model.

Our Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Seminar series has also met with success. Thus far, we have offered three eight-week seminars to over 80 students. Preliminary outcome results evidence significant results and students completing the course are overwhelmingly positive with regard to its affect on their ability to tolerate emotional distress.

In addition to our specific programs, we have also begun a campus wide social marketing campaign with posters and public service radio announcements aimed at de-stigmatizing the need for mental health services and increasing awareness and visibility of our Counseling Center.

New York State Page

Contact Information:
Rebecca Dayton, Ph.D.
Syracuse University
Student Affairs/Counseling Center
200 Walnut Place
Syracuse, NY 13244-1200
Tel: 315-443-4715
Email: rsdayton@syr.edu

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University at Albany Research Foundation of SUNY/The STEPS Program

Program Description:
The University at Albany, State University of New York (UAlbany) proposes to meet the unique and complex needs of its undergraduate students who are at high risk for suicide through the enhancement of its existing Comprehensive Campus Suicide Prevention Model, entitled The STEPS Program. Specifically, we will focus efforts on: 1) developing comprehensive, targeted, and coordinated training programs for campus personnel and trained paraprofessional student staff members 2) prepare informational materials addressing these risk factors for students, staff, faculty, and parents/families that the objectives of the UAlbany STEPS Program will 1) reduce rates of student suicide, suicide attempts, and related mental/behavioral health problems that can lead to school failure, and 2) increase the utilization of campus mental health and related primary care services by the students in most need of them. This project contributes to the development and enhancement of targeted educational, service and prevention best practice strategies and capacity by clarifying how well both universal and targeted individual-focused interventions derived from needs assessments and survey research with our target population work with our students who are identified as being at high risk for suicide. Outcome and process measures will be used to assess the effects of the STEPS Program intervention.

Contact Information:
Dr. Estela M. Rivero
University at Albany, SUNY
Counseling Center
400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
Tel: 518-442-5800
Email: erivero@uamail.albany.edu

University of California, Berkeley Cal Suicide, Training, Education, and Prevention Project

Program Description:
The University of California, Berkeley is proposing the Cal Suicide Training, Education, and Prevention Project (Cal-STEPS) program to support a comprehensive and coordinated campus approach to prevent suicide and attempted suicide. The lead department will be the campus University Health Services (UHS). The Cal-STEPS program will ensure that the University of California, Berkeley has a comprehensive and coordinated approach to prevent suicide and attempted suicide through: -Empowering faculty, staff, and students to identify, respond to, and assist students at risk for suicide; -Strengthening the campus safety network for students with mental health needs and at risk for suicide, and increasing the campus community’s knowledge of this network; -Increasing the level of awareness and knowledge of the campus community about mental health and suicide, including addressing the stigma associated with these issues. The contribution of the proposed program is in its focus on graduate students as an at-risk population, and on faculty and academic staff as key connectors to graduate students. Therefore, we will prioritize training faculty, academic staff, and graduate student instructors as campus advocates to increase their ability to identify and refer students at risk. Health and mental health providers will also be targeted in Year 1. In Year 2 and 3 we plan to expand to campus staff and student leaders and the campus at large.

Contact Information:
Peggy Yang
University of California, Berkeley
Counseling & Psychological Services
2222 Bancroft Way #4300
Berkeley, CA 94720-4300
Tel: 510-643-2900
Email: peggyang@uclink.berkeley.edu

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University of California, Irvine Project COURAGE

Program Description:
The University of California Irvine proposes the establishment of Project COURAGE (Campus Opportunities Uniting Resources Around Giving Encouragement). The overall goal of Project COURAGE is to prevent suicide by promoting a campus norm that honors achievement and competition while encouraging and allowing students to seek support when it is needed. The project will initially target first-year students with increased education, screening, and support services. Consistent with the framework suggested by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the activities of Project COURAGE will strengthen and fill gaps in existing services to "expand the safety net" for students vulnerable to suicidal ideations. Activities will include the formation of Project COURAGE teams consisting of faculty, staff, and students who will be trained by clinical providers to assist in identification and referral of students at risk for suicide. Project staff will work with Better World Advertising to formulate and produce a social marketing campaign to support project goals. Clinical staff will also work to increase screenings for depression, substance abuse, and other mental disorders that put students at higher risk for suicide. Project materials will be distributed to parents through a quarterly Parents' Newsletter and Parents' Weekend programs. Staff will also attend trainings on Stress Management Prevention at the Harvard Mind/Body Medical Institute, in order to integrate their research on stress into the Project COURAGE work. Evaluation strategies include an annual online student survey designed to measure two outcomes: 1) First year students will report decreases in measures of poor mental health/depression (PMHD) and 2) First year students will report increased awareness and regard for campus mental health services.

Contact Information:
Anthony Parham, Ph.D.
University of California, Irvine
AVC Counseling & Health Services
202 Student Service 1
Irvine, CA 92697
Tel: 949-824-4642
Email: taparham@uci.edu

University of Guam/Campus Suicide Prevention Project

Program Description:
ISA Psychological Services Center, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, University of Guam, will create a sustainable Campus Suicide Prevention Program addressing student suicide risk through the design and delivery of information and skill development training and seminars; establishment of a comprehensive, cooperative campus network; development of print and digital materials for the campus and for families; and establishment of campus hotline services. The approach sets three priority objectives:

  1. a training series for student leadership and University personnel on suicide prevention and effective response to students with mental health and behavioral problems
  2. the creation of a sustainable on-campus network of departments that currently provide, or that could provide culturally competent student services to outreach, identify, assess, treat, and/or refer mental and behavioral problems.
  3. the identification, adaptation, and development of informational materials that address suicide warning signs, risk and protective factors, help-seeking, appropriate actions for students in distress, symptoms of depression and substance abuse in a manner congruent with the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the target population.
An evaluation research component of the grant will document learner outcomes of the training and seminars, the work and outcomes of the network, the development of the informational and educational materials with systematic participant feedback on them, the outcomes of the hotline feasibility study, with recommendations and subsequent action plan.

Contact Information:
Dr. Mary Spencer, Dean
University of Guam
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
UOG Station
Mangilao, GU 96923
Tel: 671-735-2855
Email: class_uog@yahoo.com

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University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Campus Suicide Prevention Program

Program Description:
The Garret Lee Smith Memorial Campus Suicide Prevention Grant will fund five programmatic activities with the over-arching goal of identifying students who are at risk for suicide, and helping them obtain appropriate mental and behavioral health services. The diverse grant activities involve the entire campus community and incorporate a wide range of services and providers. The Gatekeeper Liaison Training Program will develop a formal infrastructure of faculty and staff to liaison with Counseling and Wellness Services (CWS) professionals in a community effort to decrease suicidal behavior. A “train-the-trainer” model will be utilized to extend the responsibility for students’ psychological and physical well being on campus to non-mental health professionals who work with students in their natural environments. The S.U.P.E.R Peer Education Program will develop a cadre of students to provide educational presentations to other students oriented towards “helping a friend”. The Web-based Information Program will expand existing web-based information on suicide prevention as part of a multimodal, multicultural approach to reach students, parents, faculty and staff with information on college student mental health issues, and resources for help. The E-Mail Mental and Behavioral Health Screening Program will target those students who may be reluctant to seek traditional psychological services, but may respond to offers of anonymous assessment and service on the internet. All undergraduate students will be contacted yearly, and offered the opportunity to complete an on-line screening instrument and have either in –person, or on-line follow up with a therapist. The Parent Alliance Program will enhance CWS’ relationship with parents of UNC-CH students – through presentations, newsletters, and web based information targeted to parent groups – to better utilize their extensive and unique knowledge of their children’s mental and behavioral health vulnerabilities, and involve them as a first line of contact for their distressed children.

North Carolina

Contact Information:
Glen A. Martin, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Counseling & Psychological Services
Taylor Student Health Services Bldg.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7471
Tel: 919-966-3658
Email: Glen_Martin@unc.edu

University of Oregon/Oregon University Suicide Prevention Project

Program Description:
The Oregon University Suicide Prevention Project (OUSPP) represents a committed effort by a consortium of all eight public universities in Oregon to enhance services for students with mental and behavioral health problems, thereby reducing the incidence of suicide among the 81,242 students in the consortium's student population. The universities comprising this consortium have great need for suicide prevention programming. The OUSPP will increase awareness of suicide as a public health problem that is often preventable; increase the ability of faculty and staff to recognize and respond effectively to students at-risk of suicide; increase students' awareness of crisis line services and treatment resources; and provide training on effective clinical and professional practices in the area of suicide prevention. Other key activities in the Project include dissemination of educational materials to students, students' family members, faculty, and staff; provision of suicide risk assessment and intervention skills training for identified campus gatekeepers; implementation of triage forms in campus health centers that allow students at-risk to be identified and referred for treatment; and expansion of suicide prevention task forces on consortium campuses. The OUSPP will succeed in reaching its goals because of its significant human and financial resources. Counseling center directors have committed service hours from a total of 22 staff to the Project. These are staff that are already intimately familiar with student needs and campus resources.

Contact Information:
Robin Holmes, Ph.D.
Executive Administrator
University of Oregon
Counseling & Testing Center
1280 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
Tel: 541-346-3227
Email: rhholmes@uoregon.edu

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University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh/Comprehensive Suicide and Mental Health Program

Program Description:
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Counseling Center has developed a Comprehensive Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Program, which has transformed the University’s approach to students experiencing mental and behavioral health problems which lead to depression, substance abuse, suicide attempts and academic failure. This collaborative effort is focused on better meeting the needs of at risk populations and for whom the nature of this campus creates barriers to accessing care.

The thrust of the grant initiatives is to increase the campus’ competency in working with distressed students. We have brought in clinical trainers for the Counseling Center and Student Affairs Division to address suicide assessment and multicultural competency. The Counseling Center has also developed and implemented an in-depth training to address white privilege issues and multi cultural competency. Gatekeeper and awareness trainings were developed and implemented in the Fall 2006 semester. Currently, 250 faculty and staff have attended the gatekeeper trainings, including all Academic Advisors and Residence Life staff.

UW Oshkosh has also focused on developing new policies and procedures for responding to students in distress. The Student At Risk Response Team (SARRT) was established to ensure an active coordinated response that maintains student and campus safety. SARRT (consisting of Student Affairs directors and Provosts office) meets weekly to staff high risk students and to develop clear communication structures and policies. We have consulted with various departments to develop policy and protocol procedures for the Counseling Center, Residence Life, Study Abroad Program, and College of Education. This grant has also provided us with more opportunities to build and strengthen our communication and collaboration with departments on campus that work with at risk and underserved populations.

A social marketing campaign is in place to inform students about the existence of the Counseling Center and to challenge social stigmas about counseling. Our campaign includes a mass mailing to all students, brochures, crisis cards with hotline information, posters, restructuring of our website and table tents.

Contact Information:
Shelly Rutz, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Dempsey Hall 201
800 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, WI 54901
Tel: 920-424-3215
Email: rutzm@uwosh.edu

Vanderbilt University

Program Description:
Vanderbilt University’s Mental Health Awareness and Prevention of Suicide (MAPS) Project proposes to improve identification of and response to suicidality and its antecedents within the Vanderbilt student population. The major goals of MAPS have been to refine the current on-campus network of student services and to develop educational materials and programs for students, their families and campus personnel. By uniting and marshaling the existing expertise and know-how on campus, the project has developed a “Gatekeeper” training program for students and campus personnel that will allow for a more effective response to students with mental or behavioral health problems. The MAPS program will enhance the university community’s knowledge on such issues as identifying risk factors for suicide, decreasing high-risk activities, promoting help seeking behaviors and providing easy access to such services. Additionally, MAPS provides web resources and linkage to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline as part of the crisis response plan on campus. Community resources in the greater Nashville area that address suicide and mental health directly, the Jason Foundation, Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC) and the Tennessee Network for Suicide Prevention (TNSP), are assisting with the development of trainings and the implementation of MAPS at large.

The evaluation employs an open systems evaluation design (Cohen & Kibel, 1993), which facilitates "understanding the environment in which programs are implemented and tracking progress toward the achievement of specific program outcomes" (Julian, Jones & Deyo, 1995,p.334).

Contact Information:
Dr. Rhonda Venable
Vanderbilt University
110 21st Avenue, S.
Suite 1120
Nashville, TN 37203
Tel: 615-322-2571
Email: rhonda.r.venable@vanderbilt.edu

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Bloomsburg University

Program Description:
The Comprehensive Campus Suicide Prevention (CCSP) project for Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania is designed to increase student, faculty, and staff awareness of suicide risk factors and signs of potential suicidal behavior in university students. The program will be directed at providing a wide range of educational programs for students, staff, faculty, and families of students as well as increased promotion of the available resources to help those students in need of help. Peer support programs will be developed with mechanisms such as telephone support and on-line support made available to help students’ suffering from emotional problems or from situational/maturational crises. The program will be used to enhance and augment the current services available on the university campus, such as the campus Counseling Center, Student Health Services, and NAMI-on-Campus programs. It has long been recognized that many students do not actively seek help for mental health issues due to stigma, lack of knowledge, etc.

Our hope is that by initially preparing a core group of faculty, staff, and students trained as trainers in suicide prevention, we will then be able to conduct multiple educational offerings on campus through a wide variety of venues such as general education values classes, university seminars, freshmen orientation programs, faculty development programs, trainings for residence hall advisors and leaders of student organizations, etc. The primary goal of the project will be to educate everyone on campus (students, faculty, and staff) regarding suicide risk factors, ways to help the suicidal student access help, and provide support to both the individual who is engaging in self-destructive behaviors as well as for those who are trying to help. In addition, a more detailed suicide response plan will be developed for the university outlining the steps that need to be taken when a student is displaying behaviors indicative of suicide as well as what to do in the case of a suicide attempt or completed suicide. The plan will also address plans for post-suicide intervention services that will be used to help students, faculty, staff, etc. in the event of a completed suicide.

The CCSP will strive to incorporate the involvement of services and support from community agencies in and around Bloomsburg University, including The Bloomsburg Hospital which has a 20-bed inpatient mental health unit, CMSU Columbia/Montour/ Snyder/Union County Mental Health-Mental Retardation) program, NAMI- on-Campus, the local Mental Health Association, local providers of psychological and counseling services, as well as, the university’s psychology and social work clubs and student nurses association. Outreach to areas in and surrounding the campus where students congregate such as local bars/restaurants, etc. will be part of the plan, as well.

Contact Information:
Linda Cook
Bloomsburg University
400 East Second Street
Bloomsburg, PA 17815
Email: lcook@bloomu.edu

California State University – Fullerton Auxiliary

Program Description:
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among college students. While attending college is a protective factor against suicide compared to non-school attending 18-24 year old category, transitioning to a college campus can be an overwhelming experience. California State University, Fullerton is the largest state university among the twenty three California State University campuses, with a rich and diverse student demographic. With 4% of CSUF students participating in the International Education Program, and most CSUF students working at least 10 hours per week, CSUF students are under tremendous amounts of stress. The Campus Suicide Prevention Project at CSUF will focus on establishing a Crisis Response Team and protocol to better assist the campus community to respond to a suicide or suicide attempt. Other goals of the project include enhanced faculty, staff and student training to better recognize signs of at risk students in order to refer for mental health treatment. The project will focus on reducing the stigma to receiving treatment for mental health conditions. This will be accomplished by conducting a social marketing campaign, targeting multicultural and ethnic populations, as these student groups are less likely to seek treatment for mental health conditions. This project will implement a tracking system to better quantify mental health issues of CSUF students so as to prioritize services and programming to address this public health concern.

Contact Information:
Mary Hermann
California State University, Fullerton
800 North State College Blvd
Fullerton, CA 92834
Email: mhermann@fullerton.edu

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City College Research Foundation

Program Description:
The CCNY Suicide Prevention Project increases campus awareness of mental health problems, provides well-publicized mechanisms of referral, and integrated emergency and non-emergency approaches to suicide prevention as the college transitions to being partly-residential.

Psychological evaluations, risk assessment, and crisis intervention, will be offered at the residence hall on a walk-in basis and students identified as at risk will be actively responded to by clinicians and residence life staff. As a public, non-residential, commuter college of 12,000 students with a series of rigorous academic programs that attract high-achieving students of meager financial resources and ethnically and socio-economically diverse backgrounds, CCNY students face more pervasive stressors than most undergraduate institutions. Demographically, they are also less like1y to be diagnosed and treated for mental hea1th problems. Statistic& at the two campus mental health clinics indicate increasing rates of severe mental illness, depression, suicidal ideation, and serious plan and intent to commit suicide. In the past five years one CCNY student committed suicide at her home. CCNY students demonstrate significant, increasing need for psychological support. The presence of full-time residential students who will rely on the college for support make it imperative that CCNY develop a comprehensive response to student mental health needs to prevent campus suicide. The CCNY suicide prevention project comprises five interventions: the Crisis Response System that provides a protocol for immediate response to students who pose significant risk to themselves or others; the First Response Team, which is an residence hail screening clinic that provides evaluations to students on a walk in basis where their psychosocial needs are assessed, a psychological evaluation is administered, and where clinicians collaborate with the student to find an appropriate plan for ongoing support from psychological and social support services on campus and in student communities; Outreach Alert Workshops train residents and staff to recognize symptoms of mental and behavioral problems and refer them to support systems; the Student Monitoring System, is composed of members of the campus community trained to recognize and respond to students at risk of mental health problems whose referrals elicit active response by clinical or Residence Life staff to engage the student for support. Campus-wide campaigns will publicize the First Response Team and de-stigmatize mental health services.

New York State Page

Contact Information:
Pereta Rodriguez
City College of New York
Student Affairs
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031
Email: prodriguez@ccny.cuny.edu

Connecticut College

Program Description:
Suicide is a major public health problem and has become an important topic on college campuses today. The purpose of the Connecticut College Campus Suicide Prevention grant proposal is to enhance services for students with mental and behavioral health problems by providing a comprehensive array of services within the campus community, using a public health approach, to enhance the ability to identify and assess students at risk and to raise the skill level of the various campus helpers to make appropriate referrals of students whose behavior indicates they are at risk for mental and behavioral health problems, including suicide. This will be achieved by developing training programs for students and campus personnel, by enhancing the existing campus networking infrastructure, by creating campus-wide policies and procedures to address campus crises including suicide, by providing psychosocial education in the form of seminars, by distributing materials to the college community and to families, and by creating links to community resources and suicide hotlines. Much of the focus will be on identification and referral of students with mental and behavioral health issues, including affective disorders, substance abuse disorders, and suicide. Thus, the proposed Connecticut College suicide prevention project will utilize handing to implement an education/public health approach to suicide prevention by promoting enhanced knowledge and awareness of suicide prevention throughout the campus and by enhancing and expanding existing networking infrastructure of campus support services for students.

Contact Information:
Janet D. Spoltore
Connecticut College
270 Mohegan Avenue
New London, CT 06320
Email: Janet.spoltore@conncoll.edu

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Florida Gulf Coast University

Program Description:
Florida Gulf Coast University proposes an information and education project around suicide and two of its main contributors, alcohol abuse and depression. Our rapidly-growing suburban state university with enrollment over 7,000 is working to be proactive in preventing mental health crises and assisting students who need psychological and psychiatric services. The project we propose begins by contracting with an expert trainer to educate the front line gatekeepers: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Housing and Residence Life. The second group will be second line gatekeepers, including Student Affairs, medical, interested faculty, police, student leaders, and other identified groups. During the course of the year, CAPS and Prevention & Wellness Services (PWS) will develop and present small education outreach style programs to living groups, classes, faculty meetings, or other groups on request. Third, we propose to develop promotional items and advertisements to increase awareness of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and campus resources for mental health services. Finally, we propose to develop two pamphlets, one for students and one for the parents of the student, educating them on warning signs, what to say, and how to refer. Although our proposal is limited in scope, we believe it will have a positive impact on our community.

Contact Information:
Judi Gibbons
Student Development Service
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Ft. Myers, FL 33965
Email: jgibbons@fgcu.edu

Linn State Technical College

Program Description:
Linn State Technical College (LSTC) embraces its state mandated mission “to prepare students for profitable employment”. In order to fulfill this mission, LSTC must insure the safety of its students, including both mental and physical well being of each student. Enhancing current resources, training and programs, the collaborative development with the Community Health Center of Central Missouri and providing easier access to information on the LSTC website will assist the college in supporting this mission. In order to increase awareness of suicide risk factors, Linn State Technical College would like to emulate the suggested school responsibilities in suicide prevention as recommended by the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (CSMHA). These-include (1)Ensuring that school staff are knowledgeable of warning signs for suicide and informed about guidelines for reporting concerns about students (2) Developing policies for notifying parents of suicidal youth including referrals and recommendations for how they should intervene (3) Offering consistent counseling and support by school staff for suicidal students.

Data provided by the Missouri Department of Health supports the fact that Linn State Technical College students are among the highest percentage of gender, race and classification to commit suicide. Missouri’s suicide rate is the highest in Region VII, which includes the states of Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in Missouri, primarily by the method of choice of firearms. Men account for 78% of completed suicides. White, non-Hispanics account for the highest percentage of completed suicides at 93%. There are more suicides in Missouri than homicides, averaging two people dieing by suicide everyday. Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death of adults, the third leading cause of death for kids, and the second leading cause of death for College students. In the past 60 years, the rate has quadrupled for males 15 -24 years old and has doubled for females of the same age. Linn State Technical College would like to provide the best resources and training to its employees, students and student’s families in order to reduce the probability of suicide as well as promote positive mental health on its campus.

Contact Information:
Earlene Henson
Linn State Technical College
One Technology Drive
Linn, MO 65051
Email: earlene.henson@linnstate.edu

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Marquette University

Program Description:
Link for Life is a multidisciplinary collaborative effort of Marquette University faculty, staff, and administration. The program will focus on the issues of suicide and those mental health issues that impact suicide by providing suicide prevention training and education to staff and the general student body, as well as parents. Further, Link for Life will teach these individuals, as well as first responders, how to respond to people in a suicidal crisis.

As concerned university and community members, we recognize that suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students (retrieved May 10, 2006 from www.jedfoundation.org) and that many of these students do not get the necessary suicide prevention information. Although we value the goals and objectives of crisis intervention work, we realize that this alone will not educate the larger campus community or prevent further suicides. Therefore, the following goals and activities are proposed.

The chief purpose of Link for Life is to reduce suicidal behavior and ultimately save the lives of our students. The specific goals of this project are: 1) To raise awareness, across campus and among parents, about suicide among young people and to increase knowledge about mental illness, as well as the etiology, risk factors, and warning signs of suicide. 2) To use a nationally recognized suicide prevention model (Question, Persuade, Refer [QPR]) to train Gatekeeper Trainers who will provide QPR training to members of the campus and local communities, including first responders, students, and mental health providers. An emphasis will be placed on creating links within the campus community so that an individual faced with someone in a suicidal crisis knows the campus and community mental health resources well enough to make appropriate referrals to trained professionals. 3) To enhance partnerships between the university and its students, as well as community mental health providers. Link for Life is designed to decrease the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide by inviting the entire campus community and local community health and mental health provides to take an active role in suicide prevention. 4) To review existing intervention efforts employed on other campuses. Marquette University will use the information to develop appropriate policy and procedures, suited to this campus, that reflect best practices and standards of care in the area of suicide prevention. 5) To extensively evaluate the project under the guidance of a Project Evaluator to ensure the activities are as effective as possible and to reduce the potential loss of lives.

Wisconsin State Page

Contact Information:
Bridgette Hensley
Marquette University
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
Email: bridgette.hensley@marquette.edu

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Program Description:
Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) requests funds to support a comprehensive suicide prevention program with the goals of educating the campus community on suicide risk behavior prevention, recognition, and intervention, developing and supporting healthy coping mechanisms among students to reduce suicide risk factors, and enhancing institutional resources for students at risk, strengthening the college’s capacity to respond effectively to students in need.

MMA educates men and women to serve in the maritime industry. It is one of six state maritime colleges in the United States. Resident life is regimented, and all cadets are required to undergo rigorous training and spend a portion of their academic program at sea. These demanding circumstances coupled with the expected demands of college life present unique challenges for MMA cadets. The academic year 2004-2005 was the first time MMA offered a licensed counselor on campus for eight hours a week. While we are experiencing a positive impact as a result, there remains a vast gap between what exists and what is needed.

The objectives to achieve the goals of the MMA Comprehensive Suicide Prevention program are the following: (1) Tram key personnel as Gatekeeper trainers who will then train staff, faculty and students to respond effectively to students with mental health and behavioral problems; (2) create a critical incident response plan and networking infrastructure including, but not limited to a suicide hotline and a comprehensive website; (3) create a full time position for a counselor on campus increasing intervention options for students at risk and to provide educational seminars and mental health awareness opportunities for all students; (4) implement a comprehensive “Freshman 101” course focusing on developing healthy coping skills during the first semester at college that will decrease the stress of transition and ensure personal and academic success; (5) prepare and disseminate suicide risk informational and educational materials for students and families of students.

Contact Information:
Anne J. Fredrickson
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
101 Academy Drive
Buzzards Bay, MA 02532
Email: afredrickson@maritime.edu

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Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus

Program Description:
The MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program proposes to implement substance abuse/depression/suicide campus screenings and suicide prevention workshops to faculty, staff, and students. Program aims to reduce mental health stigma, promote conducive help-seeking attitudes, early identify at-risk students, and facilitate referral to the campus’s EAP mental health provider prior to development of suicidal ideation, planning, and behaviors.

Currently, the Mississippi State University (MSU)-Meridian Campus (commuter campus with 70% non-traditional students) students have limited access to MSU-Starkville’s counseling center (100 miles between campuses) and community mental health services (limited health insurance and/or mental health coverage) to meet their mental health needs. A positive byproduct of this project is that the MSU-Meridian Campus has agreed to contract with a local EAP provider (Community Mental Health Services) so that MSU-Meridian students and their families have access to unlimited mental health services (free of charge for all part-time and full-time enrolled students). However, the faculty, staff, and students still lack the awareness of suicide and mental health issues that would facilitate early identification of at-risk students and appropriate referral for mental health services. Furthermore, mental health stigma and non-conducive help-seeking attitudes of faculty, staff, and students must be addressed to ensure the success of our campus suicide prevention program. Thus, the MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program aims to offer suicide prevention and conducive help seeking workshops to faculty, staff, and students so to early identify those students at-risk prior to the development of suicidal ideation, planning, and behaviors (attempts and completions). One of the primary barriers to implementation of the MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program is how to delivery many small group workshops to a 723 student campus and reach the vast majority of students. The MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention program plans to develop a text-based version of the suicide prevention and conducive helping seeking workshop and place it on the campus’s suicide prevention website page (which will be developed). Additionally, the MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program’s workshops for MSU-Meridian students will be delivered by MSU Meridian Counselor Education graduate students trained in suicide prevention/intervention, depression awareness, substance abuse awareness, promoting help-seeking behavior, and reduction of mental health stigma. All MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program workshops (for MSU-Meridian students) will be supervised (and co-facilitated) by a MSU Meridian Counselor Education graduate faculty member.

The MSU-Meridian Campus Suicide Prevention Program aims to improve faculty, staff, and students’ attitudes toward help-seeking (mental health) and translate that into an increase in mental health referrals of at-risk students by faculty, staff, and fellow students to the EAP mental health provider (mental health usage).

Contact Information:
Darren A. Wozny
Mississippi State University
1000 Highway 19 North
Meridian, MS 39307
Email: dwozny@meridian.msstate.edu

Ohio State University Research Foundation

Program Description:
The Ohio State University Campus Suicide Prevention Program seeks to develop a comprehensive, effective, culturally responsive, and sustainable system of suicide prevention at the Columbus and five Regional campuses. The project will engage more than 25 campus and community partners to create a systematic and coordinated suicide prevention effort. All project components will inform the ultimate creation of an OSU Suicide Prevention Plan.

The proposed project will serve to enhance and strengthen existing services for students while simultaneously creating new approaches to suicide prevention. There is high-level and broad-based commitment to this project from the University and the mental health associations of the surrounding community, with the President of the University and several Vice Presidents/Provosts already pledging their commitment. Major components of the program include: (1) development of a strong partnership network, both on-campus and in the surrounding community, to oversee, coordinate, and implement a comprehensive suicide prevention program at The Ohio State University, including screening, education, crisis management, policy development, and outreach activities; (2) collection and integration of new and existing data regarding suicide risk and response in order to inform practice; (3) development of an extensive gatekeeper training program, based on emerging best practices; (4) expansion of suicide education and programming to all students (universal), to identified at-risk groups (selective) and to targeted high risk students (indicated); (5) development and implementation of stigma-reduction and encouragement of help-seeking campaigns; (6) development of a comprehensive Suicide Prevention Plan for OSU; and (6) engagement in process, performance and outcome measurements that will be broadly disseminated and will move the field of suicide prevention on college campuses toward best practice models.

More than 25 campus and community partners already have pledged their commitment to the project, agreeing to quarterly meetings and to finding ways to integrate suicide prevention into their work with student constituents. A linkage between the academic and the service sides of the university will strengthen this partnership. Finally, there is a strong connection with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, which is housed within the same university department as the proposed project. Thus, this project makes the most of current synergy on campus within the area of suicide prevention.

Contact Information:
Darcy Haag Granello
Ohio State University
356 Arps Hall
1945 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43210
Email: granello.1@osu.edu

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Oklahoma State University - Okmulgee

Program Description:
The Suicide Prevention Program at Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee, Oklahoma, is a proactive program designed to identify students who are at-risk and in need of behavioral health education support. To promote over-all effectiveness in improving quality of life, education will be implemented through the creation of a comprehensive public health approach that engages key players in the college and community agencies. A safety-net will be established by infrastructure building through implementation of the six allowable activities.

The operational goals of the Student Assistance Program are to:

The management goals of the Student Assistance Program are to: The program services are provided in four venues: educational services, intervention services, counseling services, and group services.

Contact Information:
Ashley Roberts
Project Director
Suicide Prevention Grant
Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee
1801 East 4th Street
Okmulgee, OK 74447
Email: ashley.roberts11@okstate.edu

Purdue University

Program Description:
The purpose of ALIVE (Awareness Linking Individuals to Valuable Education) @ Purdue is to prevent adverse outcomes (i.e., suicide, suicide attempts, academic attrition) for students with depression and suicide risk by increasing the likelihood that they will be connected with appropriate services. ALIVE @ Purdue is designed to initiate a comprehensive environmental change around attitudes toward help seeking. The theory-based project involves the innovative use of graduate students in counseling as educators to train resident assistants and provide direct outreach to students in residence halls, enhanced by the implementation of a supporting media campaign. ALIVE @ Purdue has the potential to reach 11,000 students a year with its message.

ALIVE Purdue has two specific goals. Goal one is to increase the likelihood that RAs will identify and refer at-risk students. Goal two is to improve the help-seeking behavior of at-risk students. To accomplish these goals, ALIVE @ Purdue will design and deliver RA training and direct outreach programs and a media campaign (Web sites, public service announcements, bulletin board kits, ads on Facebook.com, etc.) that address (a) knowledge about mental health and behavioral problems and resources, (b) attitudes toward help seeking, and (c) skills in referring at-risk students. The program uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB, Ajzen, 1991) as a theoretical framework to guide program development and evaluation. Graduate students in College Student Personnel and Counseling Psychology will be trained as ALIVE @ Purdue Educators to deliver RA training and outreach programs.

The division of program activities into these two goals, while necessary for clarity of program delivery and evaluation, obscures the synergistic nature of the ALIVE @ Purdue program. The components of ALIVE @ Purdue work together to increase RAs’ effectiveness as mental health gatekeepers. The program provides RAs with enhanced training in the areas of suicide, suicide risk, and the art of referral; it also provides them with previously non-existing tools in the form of outreach programming and the media campaign. The media campaign creates greater receptivity on the part of students at risk to outreach efforts and to RA referrals.

ALIVE @ Purdue represents a collaborative effort between the academic programs in College Student Personnel and Counseling Psychology and Purdue’s Counseling and Psychological Services center with support and cooperation from University Residences, Purdue’s Assessment Research Center, and the Lafayette Crisis Center.

Indiana State Page

Contact Information:
Heather L. Servaty-Seib PhD
Purdue University
Beering Hall
100 North University St.
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098
Email: servaty@purdue.edu

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Regis University

Program Description:
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students (Haas, Hendin & Mann, 2003, Haas, 2004, Jamison, 1999), and a rapidly emerging public health concern on many campuses. Regis University, The BACCHUS Network TM, and the Carson J Spencer Foundation request a total of $73,744 (year one) to build a unified, effective and sustainable suicide prevention and mental health awareness infrastructure through the SPEAK UP (Suicide Prevention, Education, Action, Knowledge: University Partnerships) initiative. Building from the needs assessment conducted at Regis University in the spring of 2006, this initiative will address diverse target groups including young adult men, students with preexisting mental health concerns, GLBTiQ populations (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intrasex, and Questioning), healthcare professionals/students, and faith communities. The three partners intend to develop a coordinate multi-pronged effort intended to impact the following three goals: (1) To develop a coordinated and knowledgeable suicide prevention networking infrastructure at Regis University, in Colorado, and nationally, (2) to develop social marketing campaigns to de-stigmatize mental disorders and increase help-seeking behavior, and (3) to increase the number of trained gatekeepers. Training, educational seminars, and informational materials will be piloted at Regis University and then disseminated through several comprehensive regional and national networks facilitated by The BACCHUS Network TM and the Carson J Spencer Foundation.

Contact Information:
Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas
Director
Leadership Development and Behavioral Health Promotion
Regis University
3333 Regis Blvd. F-12
Denver, CO 80221-1099
Email: sspencer@regis.edu

Research Foundation of SUNY - Buffalo

Program Description:
The University at Buffalo seeks to address suicidal and other harmful behaviors through a comprehensive prevention approach. Project UB WELL ((University at Buffalo Wellness Enhanced Living and Learning) involves a wide range of campus and community resources and constituencies, such as faculty, staff, students, parents, and local mental health services to foster an environment where self-care, connectedness, and knowledge of resources are valued and readily accessed or implemented. Through funding from this grant a variety of stakeholders will be trained in QPR in order to identify persons at risk and in need of treatment. Training of nonclinician “gatekeepers” will convey the message that the entire community is charged with helping other individuals within it. The Inside-Out educational programs aim to normalize experiences of emotional distress, promote and support protective factors, and make students active participants in creating a public awareness campaign by encouraging them to use art, theatre, dance, writing, visual media, and class discussion to engage in dialogue and expression related to emotional wellness. The expertise of local psychiatric emergency personnel in treating acutely suicidal individuals will be shared with campus psychologists, social workers, health educators, and healthcare providers via developing curricula and in vivo training. The collaboration also involves using hospital data to identify the student groups who are at risk for suicidal behavior and other mental illnesses to inform public awareness campaigns and clinical interventions on campus and to develop protocols for a more coordinated response between campus and the local community. All of the new initiatives will be optimized by utilizing technology and media that is in keeping with how students typically access information.

New York State Page

Contact Information:
Sharon L. Mitchell
University at Buffalo
120 Richmond Quad
Buffalo, NY 14261
Email: smitch@buffalo.edu

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Saint Peter’s College

Program Description:
The proposed Suicide Prevention Project at Saint Peter’s College is a collaborative project among the following agencies: (1) Saint Peter’s College (2) Asian Resource Center for Families & Children, and (3) Best Practices for Children & Families (Servicio Mejores para Ninos y Familia). In addition, Saint Peter’s College has a formal affiliation agreement with Jersey City Medical Center for the latter to provide medical, mobile crisis intervention service and inpatient psychiatric treatment.

Saint Peter’s College, located in Jersey City, has the unique distinction of being the only private college in New Jersey that is a U.S. Department of Education-designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Saint Peter’s College serves a predominantly local student pool, with more than 40% living within 10 miles of the college’s main campus in Jersey City, New Jersey. The total college enrollment is 3,282 with the following racial/ethnic breakdown: 40.6% White Non-Hispanic, 28.6% Hispanic, 19,7% African American, 7.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.3% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Jersey City, the second largest city in New Jersey, has an ethnically diverse population of 240,055: 34.0% White, 28.3% Black, 16.2% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 21.1% Other Race (US Census, 2000). In 2000, 28.3% of the population was of Hispanic origin.

The primary goals of the proposed project are to prevent suicide among students attending Saint Peter’s College, and reduce problems associated with suicide including depression and alcohol abuse. These goals will be achieved through the implementation of the following activities: an enhanced and more culturally sensitive training program for peer educators, faculty and staff to respond to students with mental health and substance abuse problems; a cadre of trained peer educators to assist current counseling staff in the implementation of project activities including a suicide response plan patterned after the University of Idaho’s Suicide Behavior Response Plan; annual ethnic diversity & mental health wellness fair; and educational workshops on suicide prevention, identification, and reduction of risk factors. A unique feature of the proposed project is an active outreach to families of Hispanic students to educate them on the college experience (to enhance Hispanic student retention); and to teach them skills to reduce parent-child conflicts (a major cause of suicidal behaviors among adolescent Hispanic females). A two-part evaluation (process and outcome) will be conducted by Dr. Fred Andes, Associate

Contact Information:
Ronald Becker
Saint Peter's College
2641 Kennedy Blvd.
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Email: rbecker@spc.edu

Trinity Christian College

Program Description:
The purpose of the Trinity Christian College Campus Suicide Prevention Grant program is to significantly expand the suicide prevention and response: services of a faith-based college in the Chicago area. This purpose will be met by adding a key program leader as well as grant and matching resources so that this task of prevention and response can be assigned to and effectively implemented by our on-campus counseling services and be connected to community resources. By means of this grant, we will place a Suicide Prevention Specialist (the project director) in our Cooper Career & Counseling Center (CCCC), improve our Crisis Response Plan to include a clear focus on suicide, create a comprehensive Suicide Prevention Plan that will employ multiple strategies, establish the gateway for both on- and off-campus services in our Cooper Career and Counseling Center, and educate those providing clinical services to our students as to the suicide prevention plan.

Our program is ideally suited for our target population which shows evidence of eating disorders, depression and other affective disorders, relational issues (friends and dating, family—including divorce, adoption, and step-family issues), alcohol and drug abuse/addiction, pornography and/or gambling addictions, and identity/sexual orientation issues as well as other mental and behavioral health issues that may lead to suicide. Our student body is 8% African-American, 2% Asian, 5% Hispanic, and 1.5% non-resident aliens; the remainder are Caucasians. This program is characterized by cultural competence by all involved; the staff for this program includes an Hispanic project director and two other ethnic minority clinicians.

This program will effectively address our needs for more training across campus, better linkage to off-campus providers, better understanding of mental and behavioral health services without stigma, easier and more available access for help, better understanding of the warning signs of suicide, and the need to connect families to solutions. Finally, addressing these needs will, per the purpose of the CSPG program, enhance services for students with mental and behavioral health problems, such as depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts, which can lead to school failure.

Illinois State Page

Contact Information:
Scott A. Smith, MA, LPC
Trinity Christian College
6601 West College Drive
Palos Heights, IL 60463
Email: Scott.Smith@trnty.edu

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Universaidad del Turabo, SUAGM

Program Description:
The Campus Suicide Prevention Program at Universidad del Turabo (UT) will include three (3) main activities: (1) the development of a systematic training program for student’s organizational leaders, faculty, counselors, athletic coaches and security personnel; The development and implementation of an Institutional Crisis Response Plan, including networking infrastructure created to link the institution with health care providers from the external community; and, (3) Data collection of risk factors as identified by the administration of a validated screening test that will be used to develop statistics and informational material related to suicide and prevention strategies.

The purpose of the training program is to develop in institutional direct service personnel with the student population under 21 years of age the following:(1) increase the knowledge concerning mental health and behavioral conflicts; (2) strengthen the ability to recognize and identify high risk behaviors in freshmen students; and, (3) promote the ability to respond effectively and make the necessary referrals for direct services as appropriate. An additional training to administer a screening test will be given to a selected group of counselors, social workers and faculty of the Psychology Department and various units of the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at UT.

The Institutional Crisis Response Plan will improve the current UT services for students with suicide ideations and attempts creating a formal process to attend campus suicide attempts. By establishing the community links with mental health care agencies, UT will be able to provide broader alternatives for student referrals.

Suicide on the UT campus remains a poorly understood event since statistics are limited, risk factors are diverse and more effective intervention techniques and research is needed. This project will permit data collection on suicide risk factors and the identification of effective institutional resources in suicide prevention management. This will also augment the opportunities for data collection among an Hispanic population that can be fully integrated into statistics compiled by the Suicide Prevention Evaluation Contractor of SAMSHA.

Informational material on suicide prevention and risk factors based on the statistical data generated will be prepared and distributed among UT students. The material will include mental and behavioral problems that can lead to depression, substance abuse, and suicide ideation or attempts. Also, plans and alternatives for accessing emergency care within the institution and the broader community will be provided.

Puerto Rico State Page

Contact Information:
Maria Lopez
Universidad del Turabo, SUAGM
State Rd. 189, Km. 3.3
P.O. Box 3030
Gurabo, PR 00778-3030
Email: malopez@suagm.edu

University of Maryland

Program Description:
The University of Maryland College Park (UM) is highly concerned about addressing student’s mental health needs and is committed to providing them with easily accessible services. To this end, UM proposes the Suicide Awareness Health Education and Training (SAHET) project, a comprehensive suicide prevention program that will unite a variety of stakeholders, namely, administrators, clinicians, student representatives and researchers toward a common goal: to address and reduce suicidal behaviors among our students. Led by the University Health Center (UHC), and supported by a team of multidisciplinary experts, the project will: 1) create and implement a comprehensive strategic suicide prevention plan with guidance from a Campus Advisory Board; 2) create research-based written and web-based informational materials to increase awareness among the campus community of the magnitude of suicidal behavior, recognition, risk assessment, social, family and mental health correlates, and materials that promote the reduction of stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors; 3) hold structured training programs for a broad spectrum of campus professionals who come in contact with students; 4) hold educational seminars for students and their parents on suicide prevention, risk assessment and crisis response. Pre-post assessments will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the implementation strategy and user-friendliness of materials as well as measure the knowledge gained in a number of topic areas. The ultimate goal of the project will be to centralize mental health referrals to the UHC that will be tracked through administrative data monitoring. We will also promote the linkage to already existing state and local hotlines as well as make available the wealth of information already available at the national level on depression and suicide awareness and prevention.

Contact Information:
Marta Hopkinson
University of Maryland
2134 Health Center
College Park, MD 20742
Email: hopkinson@health.umd.edu

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University of Massachusetts

Program Description:
We will work with Syracuse University, recipients of CSPG funding, to adapt their gatekeeper training and build our capacity to deliver it to core campus constituencies: Residence Life, Campus Police, Dean of Students Office, athletics staff, student support services staff, mental health and primary care staff. Some Mental Health staff will participate in AAS Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Workshop for College and University Counseling Center Staff. Early recognition and intervention are crucial to our campus suicide prevention efforts. By early recognition, we can reduce self-destructive behavior, reduce risk for completed suicide and, by identifying students at risk, maximize their mental health and their ability to benefit from the educational opportunities available in our university community. Given the large community that we serve and our geographically large and rural campus, it is critical that we have gatekeepers in multiple arenas of the campus who are trained around early identification and referral. Training programs and educational seminars will be provided for key constituents:

Residence Life

  • Residence Directors and Assistant Resident Directors, with a focused training for Residential Assistants as potential frontline gatekeepers.
  • UMass Police Department, who are on the scene as events occur. Training of officers is critical to recognition, intervention, and referral.
  • University Health Services Staff - Primary and Urgent Care Providers, Nursing staff, Health Educators, and BASICS Alcohol Screening Project staff.
  • Athletic coaches and assistant coaches, faculty, Success Centers (minority student support programs), Disability Services, Stonewall Center staff, Fraternity and Sorority Office.
Training will begin with a kick-off Event that will bring various constituencies on campus together in the fall of 2006 to build awareness of suicide prevention on campus. Activities include providing a 1-2 hour focused training for Residential Assistants as potential frontline gatekeepers and a 2.5 hour suicide prevention training curriculum to other identified campus constituents. Specific activities include training of select Mental Health staff who already have significant experience with suicidal behavior in the Gatekeeper Training curriculum developed by staff at Syracuse University and training of all mental health staff to build capacity for the assessment and management of mental health. The one-day training curriculum for mental health professionals focuses on competencies that encompass clusters of knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes or perceptions required for people to be successful in their work.

Massachusetts State Page

Contact Information:
Harry Rockland-Miller
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
University Health Services
Amherst, MA 01003
Email: rockmill@uhs.umass.edu

University of Memphis

Program Description:
The University of Memphis is an urban university in the mid-south with an enrollment of 21,000 students. Approximately 50% of the students are considered “high risk” for behavior and mental health problems, including those associated with suicide and suicidal behavior. The University is keenly interested in promoting students’ mental health and in preventing campus suicides. To this end, the university proposes to implement Memphis STEPS (Suicide Training, Education, and Prevention Services), a comprehensive and coordinated campus suicide prevention initiative.

The program centers around (1) conducting an institutional assessment of campus needs, policies and resources regarding suicide, suicide prevention and other mental/behavioral health concerns impacting students’ progress and success; (2) Educating students, faculty, staff and the broader university community (i.e., parents, families) about suicide, mental and behavioral health problems (e.g., depression and substance abuse) associated with suicide as well as prevention and intervention resources and services available within the university community to address these problems; (3) Developing and implementing training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals suffering with behavioral/mental health problems (e.g., suicidal ideation, depression) for various segments of the university community, including students enrolled in helping professions, such as clinical and counseling psychology; and (3) Evaluating the efficacy of the various educational and training activities, programs and services that will be offered as part of this initiative, in promoting mental health and preventing suicide on the U of M campus.

Tennessee State Page

Contact Information:
Theresa M. Okwumabua
The University of Memphis
Psychology Building
Memphis, TN 38152
Email: Tokwumab@memphis.edu

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University of Nebraska

Program Description:
The University of Nebraska Kearney, founded in 1905, is Nebraska’s public, residential university that is distinguished by its commitment to be the state’s premier institution of undergraduate education. UNK is home to 6,382 undergraduate students from 37 states and 50 countries. UNK’s Counseling & Health Care Department supports the academic mission of the University of Nebraska Kearney by providing professional mental and physical health prevention and intervention services, thereby enhancing students’ intellectual proficiency. This however is a difficult task when students view “free services” as “less service” and opt not to utilize Counseling & Health Care. Since the Fall of 2004, UNK’s Counseling Care has seen a total of 220 students due to a “depressed mood,” making up thirty-six percent of all students seen by counselors during that time frame. Of these students, fifty-three percent are clients with suicide ideation and twelve percent have been hospitalized for attempting suicide, with one student committing suicide in the Spring of 2005. Several notable assessments; including the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment, provides data showing that a high percentage of UNK students have or do experience some form of mental health illness. However, many of these students do not seek help due to the stigma associated with mental health illness. Surveys also show that many students arrive on campus already suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental health illnesses. Therefore the target population for this project is first and second year students along with the international student population living on campus. The goals of the UNK Comprehensive Suicide Prevention program are to: (1) increase the number of students seen for mental health issues by 10 percent through physically connecting UNK’s Counseling and Health Care offices; (2) enhance UNK’s current crisis response plan through training opportunities for the UNK community and those who are actively involved with executing the plan; (3) enhance student services by creating a networking infrastructure to link UNK with at least two providers from the broader community who can treat mental and behavioral health problems; (4) recruit and train nineteen peer counselors to respond effectively when dealing with mental and behavioral health issues; (5) to create a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) campus organization in order to diminish the stigma and barriers associated with help-seeking behaviors for mental and behavioral health issues by 10 percent within the first year of the organizations existence. To meet these objectives, we propose to conduct gatekeeper training; develop and implement education seminars; provide wellness training to undergraduate peer counselors, disseminate information to parents, and create linkages to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Contact Information:
Ismael O. Torres
University of Nebraska
Student Affairs Building
Kearney, NE 68849
Email: torresio@unk.edu

University of North Dakota

Program Description:
The American Indian Suicide Prevention Program at the University of North Dakota (UND) is a two-phase program that will develop a circle of care model for suicide prevention. The first phase will be development and integration at UND and the second phase will be the application of the model to tribal colleges in North Dakota. The circle of care model provides linkages to and from the reservations and UND, to exchange information with the suicide prevention coordinators and IHS mental health contacts. The tribal contacts will inform the campus crisis team of traumatic events that occur on the reservations to activate campus support services. The crisis team reciprocates by relaying traumatic campus incidents to the reservations so families can provide support. A steering committee, consisting of the American Indian Crisis Team, project staff, UND officials, tribal liaisons, tribal college representatives and AI students –from each ND reservation (and two at-large) will assist in the-development and future modifications, The model at UND will include education and training for: the crisis team members, interested community members, and American Indian students. The curriculum includes: identifying signs of suicidal behavior, developing skills to de-escalate situations, learning stress-reduction techniques and problem solving skills, and acquiring knowledge of resources and support services, such as counseling. The trainings, for AI students, will be incorporated into the currently-offered workshops and seminars about school success and student retention. The training material is from the LaFromboise Adolescent Life Skills Curriculum and will be adapted to be culturally appropriate for tribes in North Dakota. In addition, Mental Health First Aid training will be implemented in the campus community in year one of the project (and at tribal colleges in year two and year three). The Mental Health First Aid training was created specifically for the non-mental health professional to: recognize signs of mental health problems, de-escalate situations, assess risk for suicide, and help individuals’ access resources while receiving emotional support. Personnel from the Center for Rural Health at UND will facilitate the training program. The University will offer unique cultural components to students who are in need of support by: creating a sweatlodge, offering ceremonial activities on campus, and providing access to a spiritual advisor as part of the circle of services. The project will be evaluated from three primary sources of data: interviews with the program staff, self-report data from students who have contact with the program, and demographic records. The intention of this evaluative process is to provide data that will facilitate improvement and revisions to the program by assessing how the program’s processes work, and the impact it is having upon the students. The data collection and analysis of findings will be on-going throughout the years, and integrated within the standard functioning of the program. This formative evaluation will detail the refine the model, and make it applicable to other campuses.

Contact Information:
Jacqueline S. Gray
University of North Dakota
Box 9037
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9037
Email: jgray@medicine.nodak.edu

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University of North Texas

Program Description:
College and university campuses are critical for developing young people in today’s society. Students coming to college at this time bring greater levels of emotional problems than five years ago and their emotional problems have grown more severe. Students are experiencing increased pressure to achieve and often have additional burdens interpersonally and financially. Depression and anxiety among students is more apparent than in the past. Minority populations are not exempt. African American and Latino young people are also suffering with depression and anxiety and are considering suicide are at a greater rate than ever before. Students who do not have effective strategies for managing increasing pressures of life may decide suicide is their only option. Research shows these students often do not seek treatment. College and university professionals have a responsibility to help college students identify and accesses resources to overcome what may appear to them-as insurmountable obstacles to moving effectively into adulthood. Identifying and assisting students who are depressed and considering suicide is key for colleges and universities. Developing individuals into effective contributing members of society with a wide variety of talents and ideas is the goal of suicide intervention. The QPR Gatekeeper approach works to develop students and staff by enhancing participants’ ability to be more effective and proactive with persons in crisis. Participants are able to identify key indicators of suicide intention and develop skills to help a person receive care they need in a crisis. Leaders will develop more in depth skills to lead others in learning the process. Staff and faculty who are prepared effectively for a crisis situation can guide a student to receive assistance in overcoming crisis. Students themselves can learn how to help a friend. Gatekeeper training provides participants in a two hour format with warning signs and ways to assist a person who may be contemplating suicide. The ASIST Program for suicide intervention and prevention developed by LivingWorks, will add to the participants’ knowledge and skill by directly addressing attitudes held considering suicide. LivingWorks pioneered inclusion of an attitudes component for participants to evaluate their own beliefs and attitudes about suicide. The extended educational approach is targeted towards staff, faculty, students in counseling and psychology and students who may lead two hour workshops in the future. Campus wide programming in the area of suicide prevention and intervention is a key approach to increasing knowledge and skill. Preventing suicide is the goal. Learning how to identify someone who is considering suicide and listening to the person are skills that will be developed. Through a campus wide network a safety net for students in crisis, can be built. Colleges’ and universities’ attention to the mental health of students encourages successful matriculation for all students.

Texas State Page

Contact Information:
Carolyn Kern
University of North Texas
PO Box 310829
Denton, TX 76203
Email: kern@unt.edu

University of Puerto Rico

Program Description:
The University of Puerto Rico at Cayey proposes a program to develop a comprehensive support network and college action plan for attending potential and serious cases of suicide. The focus of this program entails training through workshops and information materials for the campus body, in its informational aspect and a smaller number in direct services. Also, a comprehensive network strategy will be implemented through a crisis hotline and a referral program.

The UPR-Cayey, one of the 11 units of the Puerto Rico state university system, accepts only well-qualified students in the natural and social sciences, the humanities, education, and business administration. Although academically well-qualified, a large percentage of these students are academically unsophisticated. Many of them are first-generation college students, some from rural and semi-rural backgrounds, most of them low-income, and 90% from a seriously deficient public school system. This creates a situation of great stress for those who don’t immediately catch on to the college environment. Although extensive formal studies have not been undertaken, the sample of those attended by the part-time psychologist indicates that there is a high rate of depression and incipient mental and behavioral health problems in the group that leaves and even in the group that stays. Although suicide has not been a problem, per se, among the college’s student body, there is reason to believe that these conditions could easily lead to suicides later in life if these youngsters do not learn to deal with frustration and depression more effectively at this stage in their lives. One reason to think this is the very high rate of suicide, problem behaviors, and outright violence. Puerto Rican society, generally lauded for its human warmth, is also ironically characterized by one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption, domestic violence, homicides, and suicide under the American flag, and in some cases (alc