Grantee Types: Garrett Lee Smith Campus

Delta State University Suicide Prevention Project targets university students, the majority of which come from underserved and economically-depressed counties in Mississippi. The purpose of the proposed Suicide Prevention Project is to implement a comprehensive, campus wide training program to identify students at risk for depressive, substance abuse and potential suicide precursors and funnel them into an appropriate coordinated response procedure. The project is in response to the needs of students, primarily entering the university setting from economically-depressed and socially-isolated communities, with a lack of adequate academic preparation and community resources to foster positive mental health, assisting them in overcoming barriers that prevent them from attaining academic and personal success. The goals and objectives of the project are:

Goal 1: Increase the knowledge and ability of student and faculty gatekeepers to identify and intervene with students exhibiting suicidal and mental health risk factors, and appropriately refer students in distress.
Objective 1: Train faculty, staff and student gatekeepers using the Kognito At-Risk Simulation training.
Objective 2: Promote awareness of national suicide hotline and other referral network resources
Objective 3: Strengthen campus network and referral system to address mental health needs of students by increasing coordination among the on campus, potential entrance points for the program such as our Confidential Assessment and Response Team, Campus Police, Housing department, Counseling Center and Student Health Services as well as the athletic Champs Life Skills Program.

Goal 2: Increase awareness and knowledge of mental health topics and symptoms that can lead to suicidal thoughts, reducing the stigma for seeking care.
Objective 1: Provide educational seminars on topics such as depression, anxiety, and stress reduction.
Objective 2: Provide information to students and parents on risk factors, symptoms, and appropriate interventions
Objective 3: Increase the number of students seeking mental and behavioral health services on campus.

The DSU Suicide Prevention project will train university faculty, staff and students utilizing a simulation-based training to identify, address, and refer students in psychological distress. It will provide educational seminars on topics that often precursors to suicide. Information will be provided to parents and students on mental health topics. The National Suicide Hotline will be promoted. The crisis network infrastructure will be more fully developed and strengthened.

Daytona State College, Seminole State College, and University of Central Florida have formed the Project Suicide Prevention, Education, and Knowledge (SPEAK) consortium to conduct suicide awareness and prevention activities at these three commuter institutions. Located in East Central Florida, the partner institutions serve more than 60,000 students across 10 campuses in three counties. The three institutions will provide education and training to students, faculty, administrators, and staff. The project goal is to raise awareness through education of administration, faculty, staff, students, and their families of the colleges and universities located in Volusia, Flagler, and Seminole Counties in Florida of the signs of depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation in order to prevent suicides among college students. Project SPEAK will utilize educational seminars, develop and deploy an online training, provide gatekeeper training, create a stronger network of local resources through outreaches and an annual conference, and develop a video series on suicide prevention.Through the activities, the project team will meet six measureable objectives that include training 500 campus personnel, educating 800 students, and providing intensive suicide prevention training to at least 100 campus personnel and students. In addition, the project will establish an annual conference for higher education administrators and leaders, host an annual student festival, and produce a video series on suicide awareness and prevention for distribution on area public broadcasting stations. All of the objectives are designed to strengthen each institution’s infrastructure in decreasing suicide rates and increasing help seeking among students. At the conclusion of the grant activities, each institution will have a set of resources to continue suicide prevention and awareness education and training on their campuses.We are also very excited about involving the community creatively to address the very serious concerns of mental health and suicide. As a commuter college we desire to develop supportive networks within the community to assist and support our students when they are off of our campus.

According to the institution’s Counseling Services data, students enrolled at Eastfield College in the Dallas County Community College District are at a greater risk for suicide and suicide attempts that most in the state and nation-wide. The Providing Hope, Awareness, and Suicide Education (PHASE) Project will implement activities designed to minimize suicide risks among the high number of students enrolled at the institution from vulnerable populations.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of deaths by suicide in the U.S. among 15-24 year olds were among minorities, exceeded by Texas at a rate of 45% and an alarming 62% in Dallas County, the service area of the institution and proposed project. Eastfield College, is a Hispanic Service Institution designee, is a public, two-year degree-granting institution in the northeast sector of Dallas County. In addition to representing a high number of minority students, the institution’s counseling services data indicated that nearly 40 percent (39%) of student respondents served reported having a disability, exceeding the national average of college students provided mental health care at institutions of higher education who reported having a disability. Although the average enrollment of veteran students at a public institution is approximately 370, Eastfield College, a “Military Friendly School” designee as well, reported enrollment of well over 700 veterans for the past three years. Furthermore, approximately 11% of student respondents served by Eastfield Counseling Services identified themselves as having a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) sexual orientation, again exceeding the average of LGBTQ students served in college counseling centers throughout the nation.

As a result, in addition to the general student population, the P.H.A.S.E. Project will:

• Create a networking infrastructure to link the institution and students to resources and mental health care providers,
• Develop gatekeeper training programs for students, faculty and staff to increase suicide prevention and suicide crisis response,
• Develop and implement educational seminars for students, faculty and staff to increase awareness and prevent suicide, and
• Disseminate materials to increase awareness regarding suicide risks, substance abuse, and depression as well as promote help-seeking and reduce negative attitudes and behaviors regarding mental and substance abuse disorders.

Effectiveness of the project will increase on- and off-campus partnerships by at least 50%; participation of at least 75% of campus health, mental health, public safety, and other crisis response personnel in gatekeeper training; participation of at least 200 faculty and staff in educational workshops; and at least 3,000 students (approximately 1,000 each year) with increased awareness of suicide risks and prevention resources.

The proposed program is based on the premise that suicide risk is three-tiered including early identification and assessment of at-risk students, referral to community resources for additional services, and enhancement of protective factors that increase resilience and provide buffers from stress while in college. The CLASS and SASS project seeks to expand and strengthen the “safety net” for LaGuardia students at risk for mental health concerns, in particular suicide. The proposed project seeks to promote suicide awareness through prevention, intervention, and co-curricular prevention programming.

The overall goals of CLASS and SASS Front Line Prevention project are to:

1. Increase awareness of mental health and suicide awareness through evidence based and best practice trainings. This will include providing faculty, staff and students with helpful tips and resources that improve their comfort level when asking necessary questions that might prevent suicide, and how to assist a student in seeking help.
2. Decrease stigma and increase awareness of mental health issues and suicide awareness especially among high risk and non-English speaking populations on campus.
3. Promote resilience or “protective” factors including assisting college students in identifying a trusted person in their support network and teaching them that it’s okay to ask for help.

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.

The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Behavioral Health Bridges Initiative will develop a more robust suicide prevention and substance abuse awareness program on the CMU campus. This plan will consist of: multiple approaches to develop referral and follow-up processes to behavioral health providers; suicide prevention programming and training; consistent messaging; and an infrastructure to prevent suicide and promote help-seeking behavior in the future. Colorado Mesa University has an enrollment of more than 8,780 students with almost 13% of the University’s student body coming from outside Colorado. The student population is 54% female and 46% male. Traditionally underrepresented groups compose 24% of the student population. Just over three-quarters (76%) of students are traditional-aged students enrolled in full-time study.

The Behavioral Health Bridges Initiative has three main goals. The first goal is to develop an infrastructure to support referrals to campus and community based services designed to prevent suicide, while improving the efficiency of follow-up intervention procedures. To accomplish this, a new position will be developed with a primary function of coordinating these processes by incorporating a tracking system and establishing close relationships with service providers and students. The second goal is to improve the suicide prevention training practices among faculty, staff, students, and at-risk populations on the CMU campus. In each year of the project key campus personnel will receive suicide prevention training. A total of 270 faculty and staff members and 695 students will receive formalized suicide prevention training by the end of the grant period. Comprehensive two-day trainings and condensed trainings will be offered through this initiative. The third goal is to build a campus culture of consistent messaging around the issues of substance abuse prevention, mental health access, and suicide prevention. Messaging about substance abuse, mental health access, and suicide prevention will be distributed to over 8,000 students throughout the duration of the project and will incorporate a deliberate cultural shift to promote behavioral health services.

Key collaborations with student organizations in the Gay Straight Alliance, Native American Alliance, and Student Veterans Association will be critical for the Behavioral Health Bridges Initiative. These organizations will host guest speakers on campus, where 360 students are expected to hear messages on suicide prevention. Partnerships with faith-based student organizations will also contribute to promoting a consistent message of help seeking behavior. The project will also hold behavioral health screenings where a total of 360 students will be screened, and will distribute Spanish language wallet cards on suicide prevention to at least 50 students each year. These collaborations will create on-campus events raising awareness of suicide prevention and positive help-seeking behavior.  

The College of William and Mary of Virginia, located in Williamsburg, is the second oldest institution of higher education in America. This public institutions student body of 5,900 undergraduates and 2,100 graduate students includes individuals from all 50 states and 43 foreign countries.

This grant-funded project is a highly collaborative effort for the campus. Drawing expertise from the Office of the Dean of Students, the Counseling Center, Health Promotion, The School of Education, and the Center for Student Diversity, this prevention program will target students, faculty, staff, and high-risk groups in an effort to help William and Mary students thrive during their time on campus.

Project activities include trainings for faculty and staff members, networking with area mental health providers, and life skills training for students. Through collaborations with both staff and student groups, the prevention program will reach high-risk subpopulations, such as veterans and LGBT students. In addition, the project will use a taxi service to connect students to off-campus mental health providers, thus increasing access to services. Through an anti-stigma campaign, an online program to help students in distress, and publication of resources, the project aims to create a safe and supportive environment where students watch out for each other and get help if needed.

Served: Rural Non-Reservation American Indian College Students
Methods: Networking, gatekeeper training, seminars, QPR, and YMHFA
Number Served: 375 annually and 1,125 over the project period

The College of the Muscogee Nation seeks to establish an integrated public health approach to suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention, and mental health promotion to detect, prevent, and provide early intervention services to rural non-reservation American Indian youth and emerging adults who reside within the 11-county area of northeastern Oklahoma served by the College of the Muscogee Nation. This system shall develop infrastructure, expand and enhance current programs, and provide the foundation for creating a prevention-prepared campus, promote wellness, encourage student help-seeking behaviors, and increase collaborative partnerships for delivering and sustaining effective, efficient, and culturally appropriate services.

The College of the Muscogee Nation’s(CMN) Defending the Future project shall define the need for services, the gaps between needed and available services, barriers to care, and other problems related to the need to implement suicide prevention and early intervention activities for American Indian students (youth and emerging adults) at risk of or currently experiencing issues that may lead to suicide. The project shall increase the number of individuals and gatekeepers trained to identify, assess, and manage students at risk for suicide within the campus service area. The result will increase early identification, improve the continuity of care, increase utilization of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and further implement the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Goal 1: To increase the infrastructure, capacity, effectiveness, and efficiency of suicide prevention services for American Indian students who attend the CMN.

Goal 2: To reduce the prevalence of suicide and suicidal behaviors among the at risk student population at CMN.

Goal 3: To promote systems level change at the tribal college to embrace suicide prevention as a core strategy.

The aim of the College of the Canyons’ GLS SAMHSA Campus Suicide Prevention Program is to improve student mental health by reducing student risk factors and eliminating suicide and attempts through: training and education; information dissemination; expanded mental health services capacity; enhanced campus and regional mental health services infrastructure; data that will help direct resources to maximum benefit; and vastly increasing the number of people able to identify, support, and/or refer students at risk of self-inflicted injury to services and professionals who can help get them the treatment they need.