Grantee Categories: Garrett Lee Smith State

The More Aware Initiative (MAI) is a comprehensive, collaborative, innovative, and unified approach to improving student mental health and wellness, while working to eliminate suicide among Kent State University (KSU) students. In fall 2017, 39,367 students were enrolled at KSU, with 71.2% at the main campus. About 60% are female and 70% are Caucasian. Recent data indicate that KSU students have a higher rate of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide in the last 12 months as compared college students nationally. Over the past five years, suicide attempts, ideation, and threats have generally increased for KSU students. To promote positive mental health and decrease suicidal ideation and attempts at KSU, the initiative will achieve five primary objectives: 1) Infrastructure: develop a comprehensive and coordinated network infrastructure to expand and enhance mental health, substance abuse and related programming and services for the KSU community. The network infrastructure will include peer-led programming and activities designed to improve student mental health and wellness and reduce incidents of students in crisis, 2) Gatekeeper Trainings: offer expanded and comprehensive options for students, faculty, staff, and families to become gatekeepers through online Kognito and QPR trainings and in-person Mental Health First Aid gatekeeper trainings, 3) Mental Health Screenings: promote and offer expanded in-person and online mental health and substance abuse screenings, 4) Increase Awareness of Mental Health Services: develop and implement a comprehensive campaign to promote and raise awareness of mental health and substance use and related issues and services. The campaign will include the creation of branding, developing student service materials, and unification and enhancement of campus mental health web pages, and 5) Increase Prevention Efforts: raise awareness and provide education to students through a peer-led initiative to provide innovative programming and activities. The initiative will develop and host Flash-Up events on the KSU main and all 7 regional campuses that will substantially increase the current reach of mental health and wellness-related programming and activities. Programming will be used to disseminate educational materials, improve mental wellness, raise awareness, increase coping skills and improve resiliency among approximately 39,000 students annually and 117,000 throughout the lifetime of the project. Aspects of the initiative, will specifically focus on at-risk groups such as students identifying as LGBTQ. The initiative will collect data from a variety of sources and levels not only to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative as a whole, but to assess individual programs and activities as promising practices.

Fulfilling our land grant mission of open access and serving the state of Iowa, this grant affords Iowa State University (ISU) the opportunity to strengthen efforts around suicide and substance abuse prevention. Using a public health approach, including strategies to increase capacity, build infrastructure, conduct strategic planning, and institutionalize efforts, this project will positively benefit students at ISU, the City of Ames and other institutions of higher education in Iowa. National and ISU data indicate at risk populations as veterans, LGBTQIA+, racial and ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, low-income, and first generation students, who are a focus of this project. Summarized project goals and objectives follow: Goal 1 – Increase capacity by establishing a well-coordinated suicide and substance abuseprevention infrastructure. Goal 1 Objectives – Restructure/expand the Campus Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Team; create a community-based coalition; implement a statewide prevention conference. Goal 2 – Increase number of students, faculty, and staff receiving training to respond effectively to students with mental and substance use disorders by developing a strategic, tiered training approach. Goal 2 Objectives – Develop and implement a three-tiered training infrastructure including programming and funding. Goal 3 – Increase evidence-based screening strategies to identify students with mental and substance use disorders. Goal 3 Objectives –Conduct Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol/other drug issues on campus; increase screening, assessment, and treatment of student substance use disorders; expand usage of online and anonymous screening and referral option for students. Goal 4 – Increase knowledge about available mental and substance use disorder services and resources by implementing targeted strategies that reach at risk student populations and the broader campus community. Goal 4 Objectives – Develop social marketing strategic plan; utilize student ambassadors to conduct outreach and promotion; create a searchable community provider database to increase access to referral options. Goal 5 – Increase mental health promotion, suicide, and substance use prevention FTE on campus. Goal 5 Objectives – Hire a full-time employee to serve as a dedicated Suicide and Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator; secure funding for the sustainability of this position. Goal 6 – Increase institutional support by empowering students to reduce stigma associated with mental health and substance abuse issues. Goal 6 Objective – Facilitate coordination between student leaders from across the university to increase strategic partnerships within their initiatives. Given the initiatives in this project, we estimate reaching 14% or 5,000 students in year 1, 28% or 10,000 students in year 2, and 42% or 15,000 students in year 3. Over the 3 years of this project, we estimate minimally serving 30,000 students.

The goal of the propose PEACE (Promoting Education and Awareness about Campus Emotional Health) program is to create a cohesive educational and crisis intervention plan at Indian River State College (IRSC) regarding the risk factors for suicide and suicide prevention including alcohol/substance abuse, domestic violence, and sexual violence. Using standardized assessment tools and college-wide mental health training, high-risk students will be identified and referred for treatment. Services and programs will be provided for students, faculty, and staff such as gatekeeper training programs, educational seminars, suicide prevention awareness informational materials, and suicide postvention. The efficacy of these programs will be reflected by the development of a wide networking infrastructure that will link IRSC with resources and health care providers from the surrounding community. Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students is the ultimate goal of the PEACE program. Enhanced student-based outcomes are expected to be consistent with program-related education, identification of at-risk students, and assessment that incorporates treatment referrals based on psychological and behavioral needs. PEACE personnel intend to market the program to 26,867 students and employees both annually and for the lifetime of the project. Throughout the project, they will educate and screen 3,000-3,500 individuals per year. This student population includes, but is not limited to, our underserved, LGBT, military, and 180 residential students living at the college dormitory. IRSC is a community/state college serving the multicultural region of Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties. Many of our students meet the criteria of first-generation, low-income, or disabled. These students encounter unique problems including: basic skill deficiencies, little or no time management, research, or study skills, lack of role models. and unfamiliarity with academic dialogue while simultaneously dealing with personal issues and struggles outside of college. Any of these problems can potentially cause overwhelming feelings of stress, anxiety, and/or depression. IRSC is also experiencing an increase in enrollment of returning veterans who often require specialized services to manage multiple barriers related to conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or Traumatic Brain Injury. Education and training efforts will focus on topics such as identifying at-risk students, developing an awareness of potential behavioral warning signs in the classroom, taking the appropriate steps in safely assisting students, and learning how to make a referral. By strengthening the College’s ability to identify and fill existing behavioral health service gaps, provide improved health assessment, to offer more diverse training, and link at-risk students with the appropriate intervention(s), student success opportunities and the overall health of IRSC will be substantially enhanced.

At Housatonic Community College, an urban community college located in Southwestern Connecticut, the purpose of Project SPEAK (Suicide Prevention through Education Awareness and Knowledge) is to prevent and create awareness of suicides at HCC through QPR (Question Persuade Refer) and Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training, dissemination and presentation of printed and digital online materials and information, and through the utilization of college-wide resources and linkages with external community-based mental health organizations including the Single State Agency, Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services through a comprehensive, collaborative, and well-coordinated approach. As one of two evidence-based model cited, Project SPEAK will partner with the Jed Foundation to serve as its external evaluator. The primary goal of Project SPEAK is to expand the campus culture around wellness and help-seeking for all students. The program serves the entire college student body (5,138 students) and places special emphasis on these high-risk groups: 1. Veterans, 2. LGBTQ, 3. international student sub-populations. Strategies/Interventions: Grant funded activities will run for three years beginning from September 30, 2018 – September 29, 2021. Year One focuses on building general awareness of suicide prevention; Year Two emphasizes the targeted at-risk sub-populations; Year Three ensures the program’s sustainability beyond the grant period. The strategies utilized will include the following: Training and Workshops: QPR training for staff and students and AMSR training for designated staff; Distribution of Suicide Prevention and Health and Wellness Materials; Screenings and Referrals; Partnerships and Networking; Evaluation and Quality Improvement; and Project Institutionalization.

Project Goals are as follows:

1) Expand existing infrastructure,

2) Expand existing primary prevention efforts through outreach,

3) Train students, faculty and staff to respond effectively to at-risk students with mental health and suicidal ideation, and

4) Provide comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention and treatment services to students.

The outcomes will be a college-wide increased awareness of the causes and warning signs of suicidal and self-destructive behaviors, a reduction of these behaviors, and a deeper familiarity with the support services available on campus and in the external community. By the end of the third year, fall of 2020, the program will achieve the following outcomes: six partnerships with external mental health agencies; 4,930 individuals (year 1: 1,560, year 2: 1,560, year 3: 1,560) exposed to awareness messaging in print and online; 250 individuals trained in Mental Health related practices/activities and/or in suicide prevention and mental health promotion.

Gettysburg College (GC) proposes the Suicide Prevention Initiative (SPI) to train our community to recognize and respond to students at risk, strengthen coalitions across campus in a united effort to educate and intervene with students, strengthen partnerships with external resources, build the capacity of Counseling Services (CS) to respond to increased demand, and create a template and schedule for sustaining ongoing efforts. SPI activities include creating an organized network and safety net for students: campus community training, preventative education and intervention, ongoing screenings, postvention preparation and training, and additional clinical hours. We will be especially attentive to student groups that are at higher risk for 1) mental illness and associated self-harm and/or 2) mental illness that is untreated or undertreated, especially students who identify LGBTQ (2.9%), students of color (21.4%), first-generation college attendees (17.4%), international students (6.8%), and athletes (24%). SPI interventions will reach at least 1000 persons per year and 3000 by the end of the grant period, with an exponential impact on community members given that GC is a smaller, residential institution. GC CS staff see approximately 25-30% (higher than the national average of 15-17%) of all students who are on campus each year. The number of client sessions has risen substantially, from 3628 (2012) to 4114 (2017) and a projected 4350 in 2018. CS staff find that on average each year 30% report passive suicidalideation, 10% thoughts of harming others, 7% were hospitalized for psychiatric care before college matriculation, 19% admit to committing self-harm, 23% report active suicidal ideation, and 6% have attempted suicide. CS is experiencing the increasing complexity of presenting problems that most CS directors are reporting nationwide. Goal 1: Increase the capacity of the GC community to recognize and respond to at-risk students, and reduce/eliminate symptoms and factors associated with greater risk of self-harm and mental illness. Objectives: by January 2019, provide up to 20 hours/week of outreach planning and directed programming; by January 2019, provide up to 12 additional clinical hours/week; by January 2019, train 15 trainers to provide Question, Persuade, and Refer Gatekeeper training to campus community; by May 2019, add 1 partner to network of campus and community resources for treating students; by summer 2021, add 3 additional partners; by September 2019 and each September thereafter, provide QPR training to 1000 students (at-risk student groups targeted first); by January 2019 and each September thereafter, provide QPR Gatekeeper and/or ALR training to 200 staff; by January 2020, develop and test a suicide postvention plan; by fall 2019 and each fall thereafter, provide information about suicide and resources to 90-100% of the campus community; by September 2021, publish a plan for sustainability of programming efforts. Goal 2: Identify and respond to areas of unmet need. Objectives: beginning January 2019 and every two years thereafter, evaluate need based on the results of the Healthy Minds Study; by January 2021, complete remediation of physical areas of high-risk to suicidal students.

TIGER COMMUNITY’S PATHWAY TO HELP, HOPE AND SUCCESS Fort Hays State University’s (FHSU) TIGER COMMUNITY’S PATHWAY TO HELP, HOPE AND SUCCESS will ensure our students, faculty, and staff have adequate information, resources, and access to services which allow them to maintain overall wellness in their lives. This will positively impact our students’ mental health, and therefore increase our students’ retention, persistence, and success during their university career and beyond. With 15,100 total students served by approximately 1,000 faculty and staff, the FHSU community is extremely diverse, especially in comparison to our peer institutions. This project targets all FHSU students, faculty and staff. The most recent available demographic data indicates that 60.4% of FHSU students are female and 39.5% are male with the average age being 27.1. 51% of the undergraduate student residence is in-state, and 48% is out-of-state. The percent of American Indian students is less than 1% with other categories as follows: Asian 26%, Black or African American 4%, Hispanic/Latino 7%, White 59%, two or more races 2%, and racial/ethnicity unknown 1%. FHSU has seen a 77.7% increase in its Hispanic student enrollment over the past five years. There are currently 134 Chinese students on the FHSU campus. According to Collegeportraits.org, 28% of FHSU undergraduates are low-income with 378 students receiving veteran benefits.

Goals:

1. Increase coordination of services on campus and the collaboration between FHSU and its community partners to enhance identification, treatment and management of students experiencing mental health distress or crisis.

2. Increase the FHSU campus community’s ability to recognize, manage and prevent suicide and create a campus environment that promotes good mental health and substance abuse practices.

3. Expand FHSU’s current suicide prevention activities to reach a larger number of students.

4. Increase the commitment to the emotional well-being of FHSU students.

Brief Objectives: FHSU will begin building a campus and community network through the signing of memorandums of understandings with campus and community resources. We will hire a case manager to assist with student needs. FHSU will implement online as well as face to face gatekeeper suicide prevention and substance abuse trainings for university and community constituents. Kelly Center (Counseling Center) data indicates the top 5 reasons students seek services are: depression; anxiety; relationships; stress; and substance abuse. The Kelly Center currently reaches approximately 3000 students a year. Implementation of grant objectives will allow us to increase this number to 4,000-5,000 using online and face to face training outreach.

The purpose of the East Central University (ECU) Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program is to facilitate a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention on the ECU campus in Ada, OK. This program will increase collaboration of campus partners in the area of suicide prevention, increase suicide prevention/intervention trainings, increase the number of materials provided on campus related to suicide prevention, decrease stigma around mental health and help seeking, and increase promotion of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The program will also serve as a connection resource to better link students and families experiencing mental health or behavioral health issues to appropriate services. The entire University student population will be targeted with the proposed program. This includes approximately 4,500 students attending ECU. Within this population, a number of vulnerable groups will be served including veterans, Native Americans, and LGBT individuals. ECU is a public 4-year regional university and is located within the City of Ada, which has a population of approximately 17,303 and is the county seat of Pontotoc County with 38,194 residents. In addition, Ada is the seat of government of the Chickasaw Nation, and as much as 13% of the population within the targeted campus is Native American. Strategies and goals to be accomplished by this program include the following.

Goal 1: Increase campus infrastructure and collaboration around suicide prevention. Objective 1A: Develop a Project Leadership Team consisting of a minimum of 10 campus partners by 12/31/2017. Objective 1B: Maintain 10 Project Leadership Team members throughout grant period (9/30/2020). Objective 1C: Facilitate Project Leadership Team members on a minimum of a quarterly basis through grant period (9/30/2020). Objective 1D: Via Project Leadership Team, develop a crisis response plan and revise as needed by 3/31/2018.

Goal 2: Increase availability of suicide prevention and intervention training and materials on campus. Objective 2A: Provide at least 450 students & employees gatekeeper training programs by 9/30/2020 resulting in a ratio of 1 gatekeeper for every 10 students. Objective 2B: Increase peer helping via provision of Student Support Network to at least 30 students by 9/30/2020. Objective 2C: Provide 100% of students and employees with suicide prevention materials and other information by 9/30/2020.

Goal 3: Decrease student rates of suicide risk factors. Objective 3A: Decrease number of students reporting substance misuse by 5% by 9/30/2020. Objective 3B: Decrease number of students reporting feelings of sadness by 5% by 9/30/2020. Objective 3C: Decrease number of students reporting feelings of overwhelming anxiety by 5% by 9/30/2020. Objective 3D: Reduce access to means by hosting at least 1 prescription drug take back event on an annual basis (9/30/2018, 9/30/2019, 9/30/2020). Objective 3E: Reduce access to means by providing safe storage information on prescription drugs and firearms to 100% of students and employees by 9/30/2020.

Suicide Education and Awareness at ECU (SEA@ECU) will focus on reducing incidences of suicide and attempted
suicide by enhancing the mental health and substance use services available to all members of the 29,000-plus student
body at East Carolina University (ECU), the third-largest campus (by enrollment) in the University of North Carolina
System (ECU Instructional, Planning, and Assessment, n.d.).

The onset of mental health disorders often occurs when individuals are in their mid-teens to mid-twenties, the age of college preparation and attendance. The NSDUH 2016
survey found nearly 22 percent of college students experience mental illness or serious mental illness in the past year.
Further, over 2 million students had serious thoughts of suicide; 725,000 had made a suicide plan; 484,000 attempted
suicide, and over 300,000 either received medical care or stayed at least overnight in the hospital because of a suicide
attempt. The use of alcohol and other drugs by college students, though often dismissed or downplayed as behavior
“typical” of that group, has been strongly tied suicidal ideation in college students (Park Lee, Lipari, Hedden, Kroutil,
& Porter, 2017). Within this broad population of college students, three subpopulations are particularly susceptible to
mental health and/or substance use disorders: veterans (and their dependents), members of the LGBTQ community,
and those in recovery from substance use. SEA@ECU will coordinate and enhance the university’s current prevention
and treatment programming to prevent death and injury due to suicide or suicide attempts; improve the identification and
treatment of at-risk students; provide education and treatment services to students with mental health and substance
use disorders; promote student help-seeking behaviors; reduce negative public attitudes toward individuals with mental
health and substance use disorders; and generally improve mental health services for all students.

The project will increase linkage among ECU behavioral healthcare providers to better identify and serve students’ behavioral healthcare
needs; to provide students, staff, and faculty with education, resources, and training to improve their knowledge and
skills when asking questions that might prevent student suicide and to respond effectively to students in crisis and/or
with mental health and substance use disorders. The project will achieve these goals by increasing outreach services;
administering voluntary mental health and substance use disorder screenings and assessments; educating students,
families, faculty, staff, and individuals about mental health and substance use disorders; and by providing evidencebased
prevention and treatment services to students with mental health and substance use disorders. SEA@ECU will
impact every member of each ECU freshman class—an estimated 23,000 students per year, and 69,000 across the
three-year span of the project. It will also provide prevention services, including one-on-one professional counseling, free
of charge, to as many as 760 students in all: 180 in the project’s first year, and 290 each in the grant’s penultimate and
final years.