Grantee Types: Garrett Lee Smith Campus

College of Menominee Nation (CMN), a Tribal college located in Keshena, WI, with a second campus in Green Bay/Oneida, is developing a suicide prevention program to offer prevention services currently unavailable to our high-risk populations. CMN serves several high-risk populations including Native Americans and veterans. Currently the college does not have a counseling department. This SAMHSA grant provides CMN with a full-time professional to develop awareness and preventative services, which include a referral networking system with local mental health agencies.

CMN will accomplish all required SAMHSA activities, targeting the approximately 1,000 students each year at its Keshena and Green Bay/Oneida campuses. In general, the project is assisting CMN to develop a campus suicide prevention/education program from the ground up.

The objectives of our project include the following:

1. By September 2012, train at least 50 percent of CMN employees, targeting faculty, administrators, advisors, tutors, and student workers, to respond effectively to students with mental and behavioral health problems.
2. By September 2010, develop the infrastructure to connect CMN to local mental and behavioral health providers.
3. Annually, educate at least 150 students on suicide prevention, identification, and reduction factors.
4. By September 2012, increase the availability of suicide prevention information materials and resources on the CMN campuses.

CMN is located in a very poverty-stricken area serving predominantly Native American students. While the reservation is poor monetarily, it is very rich in Native culture and natural resources. We intend to modify general suicide prevention information available where appropriate to draw on the strengths of Native culture and identity. We will use this grant to develop an information, resource, and referral system at both of our campuses.

The goals of the CofC suicide prevention plan are to decrease suicides, suicide attempts and high risk behaviors such as substance abuse by increasing mental health and substance abuse awareness, increasing help seeking behaviors, increase campus and community capacity to identify and support students at risk for suicide, and improve case management of high risk students seen in counseling services or referred into the community. Currently there are approximately 11,000 undergraduates and 1,500 graduate students, with females 66% of the student body and 25-30% living on campus. Counseling and Substance Abuse Services at CofC recognizes that an increasing number of students coming to college nationally and at the college arrive with pre-existing mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The College of Charleston has had two suicides in the last year and eight known attempts, two overdoses and an average of 30 students per semester needing transportation to the local emergency room due to risk for alcohol poisoning, many drinking to compensate for feelings of loneliness and depression. Approximately 50% of students seeking services with Counseling and Substance Abuse services report suicidal ideation, and more students at the college report binge drinking, regular marijuana use, and use of other illegal drugs than the national average. Goals, strategies and interventions and measurable objectives include: 1) build community capacity to help prevent suicide through establishing a community consortium on suicide prevention, having annual conferences to include use of ASIST and SafeTalk skill building, expand our volunteer crisis services such as Peer Counseling, to the Lowcountry’s College Community, and assess change in student mental health and high risk behavior using the National College Health Assessment annual survey; 2) strengthen CofC culture to refer students with mental health or substance abuse concerns, create a policy guide for faculty and staff on how to refer, hold workshops for faculty each semester using ASIST or SafeTalk, and track any increase of faculty referrals of students in distress via FAST reports to DOS, CASAS clients seen each semester, and student contacts with Peer Counselors; 3) Decrease the negative stigma associated with receiving mental health services on college campuses, and increase knowledge of available on campus and off campus resources specifically the National Suicide Prevention Hotline through annual Mental Health Monologues and other projects that celebrate recovery efforts, mental health and substance abuse screening and awareness days, improving social media use and website development. Objectives will be assessed through annual tracking of numbers of individuals attending outreach activities, and 4) Hire a Case Manager to follow up with clients who have significant mental health needs and who were referred out to the community. The Case Manager will: track 100% of students referred to on or off-campus mental health or substance abuse providers/programs, and CASAS students at-risk for suicide.

College of Central Florida (CF) Suicide Prevention Initiative project is to bring about systematic and cultural change that will result in better identification of and help-seeking for students at risk of suicide. Target populations include, but are not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Questioning individuals, American Indian/Alaska Natives, military family members and veterans. CF’s project will serve Marion, Citrus and Levy counties in North Central Florida. The overarching goal of the proposed project is to prevent suicide of students attending CF, and their family members.

The Objectives of this project are:

1. Develop a college advisory committee that will assist and advise in the creation of a campus wide response protocol to manage the acutely distressed or suicidal student;
2. Increase the amount of training to Central Florida College students, faculty and staff on suicide prevention and mental health awareness;
3. Increase collaboration among College of Central Florida, Bay Care Behavioral Health Center, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and other community partners to convey the message that suicide prevention is a community responsibility;
4. Increase the promotion of the National Suicide Prevention Line;
5. Present educational seminars and informational materials to College of Central Florida students, faculty, staff, and family members on suicide prevention, identification and reductions of risk factors such as depression and substance use/abuse; and
6. Increase help seeking among College of Central Florida students and reduce the stigma attached for seeking help for mental and behavioral health issues among our students.

This project will allow the college to develop and implement an infrastructure that will promote education and awareness, incorporating the philosophy that it is everyone’s responsibility to be knowledgeable on suicide awareness, know the signs-and-symptoms, strategies to dealing with and know the resources to use, if an occurrence occurs.

It is estimated that a minimum of 800 students, faculty and staff and family members will receive formal education/training annually on suicide prevention and mental health issues, through modules for classroom-based instruction, a series of seminars/workshops, and guest speakers. Many more individuals will be exposed to and gain awareness through print materials, National Prevention Day activities, and social media.

Clemson Cares: A Campus-Wide, Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Strategy will integrate SAMHSA’s model of recovery, building and enhancing Clemson Univeristy infrastructure and programs to address the full continuum of suicidal behavior. The univeral and selective prevention efforts will be driven by NSSP goals, and will be culturally compentent, evidence-based and implemented by an interdisciplinary team of on-and-off-campus stakeholders.

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.

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The purposed project presents a comprehensive suicide prevention program which will be implemented at Chaminade University of Honolulu in response to a request for applications from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration Services (SAMHSA) for Campus Suicide Prevention proposals which facilitate a comprehensive approach to preventing suicide in institutions of higher education. This proposal has been thoughtfully and collaboratively developed to prevent suicide attempts and completions and to enhance services for students with mental and behavioral health problems such as depression and substance use/abuse that put them at risk for suicide and suicide attempts.

This proposed project will accomplish its goals by improving and strengthening the mental health and substance abuse prevention services and programs at Chaminade University. By improving the assessment, identification, treatment capacity and infrastructure system at Chaminade University it will be able to provide high quality care for its diverse student population. This program, called E Ho opili No Na Haumana, meaning to come together for the students, describes a proposed system of education, outreach, early identification, assessment and referrals, that will utilize evidenced-based strategies that are gender and culturally sensitive. The program will provide services to Chaminade students, faculty, staff, families and parents, but will focus on several of our high risk groups including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students as well as our large number of Native Hawaiian and military students.

Century College, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, through its Century College Campus Suicide Prevention Project, proposes to modify the campus organizational structure to ensure that Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention become acknowledged priorities among student and College personnel. With enrollment at 13,000, Century is the largest two-year college in Minnesota and has a minority population of 39 percent. We expect that a continuous learning model will emerge from this effort; one that increases the College’s capacity to deliver and sustain effective Mental Health Promotion and Substance Abuse and Suicide Prevention programs. The College will employ strategies to heighten awareness and prompt responsiveness to at-risk students and develop effective, evidence-based intervention protocols for students at heightened risk or in crisis. Productive and collaborative relationships with campus and community partners will enhance the initiative. Training and seminars will be developed and delivered, including some designed to be culture-specific and some designed to engage and respond to at-risk youth, e.g., LGBT, veterans, racial minorities. The College will deliver some trainings/seminars via multimedia, ITV or on-line to accommodate digital learners and reach broader audiences with the message of suicide prevention and awareness. College personnel will be offered training to assist them in identifying at-risk students and respond appropriately, and students will be reached through seminars designed for varying learning styles, to address issues of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, including identification of at-risk students, reduction of risk factors (e.g., depression, substance abuse), promotion of help-seeking behavior and reduction of stigma associated with help-seeking. The initiative will enable the establishment of Campus Mental Health Resource Centers to centralize current resources, acquire new print and media-based materials and disseminate these to faculty, students, staff and community constituents.

The overall purpose of the ConnectCWRU project is to build a connected, outcomes-driven infrastructure that improves communication between providers and leads to better on-campus suicide prevention efforts based on the best currently available evidence and practice. In addition, Connect CWRU proposes a novel approach to detect and predict suicide risk, a research priority of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. ConnectCWRU emphasizes the need for novel ways to detect risk because not all at risk individuals exhibit traditional warning signs.

College healthcare providers have unique opportunities for early identification of students at risk. For example, UHS data suggest that students coming in for emergency contraception have an increased likelihood of a second and third visit within three months, often with a mental health crisis. This project will develop algorithms that detect and predict increased suicide risk from healthcare data such as this.

In developing this infrastructure, ConnectCWRU will meet multiple goals and objectives, including the following:

1. Create a comprehensive crisis response plan with a networking infrastructure that links on-campus and community resources.
2. Increase the number of community members trained as gatekeepers who can identify students in crisis and know where and how to refer for help.
3. Develop and implement educational programming focused on positive mental health, risk reduction, and resiliency training.
4. Expand access to assistance for students in crisis through promotion and coordination of local and national hotlines.
5. Increase access to linguistically appropriate information about common problems faced by college students and suicide prevention services available to students.

Sacramento State aims to reduce and ideally prevent campus suicide through Be Well,its comprehensive Suicide Prevention and Mental Wellness campaign. Be Well aims to create a culture of wellness that integrates many currently disconnected services, and to continually assess and enhance that culture. Mental health professionals, faculty, staff, and students will learn to identify and intervene with students at risk for suicide and other mental health issues.

This inaugural suicide prevention and mental wellness program will serve a primary population consisting of the University 29,000 enrolled students, a secondary population consisting of instructional faculty and direct-service staff members, and a tertiary population consisting of students, families and support networks. The co-directors of Be Well, the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA) and the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) have worked with a cross-divisional grant planning committee to identify the three overarching goals that will guide the work of this project.

The projects first goal is to deliver a campus-wide suicide prevention and mental wellness campaign that increases awareness and use of on-and-off-campus resources. Its second goal is to implement a robust gatekeeper training program that trains and familiarizes general and targeted audiences in suicide prevention awareness, intervention, and referral. Third, Be Well will create a suicide prevention web presence that all students, as well as their support networks, can easily locate and access.

The co-directors will chart the progress of each goal by monitoring the degree to which action plans have been put in place and outcomes have been achieved. Specific action plans are described in the project narrative but in general, these plans aim to accomplish several critical outcomes in each year of the grant funding.

First, during year one of the grant, Be Well will increase awareness of the suicide prevention and mental wellness services available to students, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. As a part of that outreach, the program intends to reduce the stigma of seeking help via a peer-to-peer marketing campaign. Additionally, the campus will begin a mental health survey program that will screen users of the health center for risk factors related to suicide. Second, by year two, grant funding will support a case manager position who will coordinate the ongoing gatekeeper training program. This gatekeeper training will focus first on advisors who work with groups identified as at-risk by the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and later on a broader group of faculty, staff and student leaders. Finally, in year three, CAPS will implement accessible suicide prevention web resources for students and their support networks. Many of these outcomes will occur concurrently, and all will be ongoing and sustainable after their implementation.