Suicide Prevention on College Campuses: Promoting Comprehensive Planning
Suicide is the leading cause of death among college and university students in the United States. In addition, many other college and university students have suicidal thoughts and attempt suicide. Suicide and suicidal behaviors are a major concern for colleges and universities, and efforts are underway to intorduce suicide prevention programming on many campuses.
A goal of The VT Suicide Prevention Center is to promote and support the development and implementation of young adult suicide prevention and intervention strategies at Vermont institutions of higher education in order to prevent suicide among Vermont young adults. In order to achieve this goal we have organized meetings and trainings for teams of faculty and staff to come together and strategize their campus capacity and approach to suicide prevention. We support and promote the JED foundation/ SPRC Suicide Prevention Comprehensive Approach to be utilized within these teams.
https://www.jedfoundation.org/professionals/comprehensive-approach
Suicide Among College and University Students in the United States
https://www.sprc.org/sites/sprc.org/files/library/SuicideAmongCollegeStudentsInUS.pdf
Campus Suicide Prevention Toolkit
In addition to training, the VT-SPC has assembled and distributed the Campus Suicide Prevention Toolkit. This resource is a gathering of suicide prevention articles and guidelines to assist any campus team who is interested in building their campus capacity to deliver a suicide prevention approach.
To attain a copy, please contact info@healthandlearning.org (shipping and handling charges will apply – U.S. mailing only)
Gatekeeper Training for College Campuses
There are many Gatekeeper trainings with Best Practice Designation which are pertinent to a campus setting. Several to explore would be:
Campus Connect: counselingcenter.syr.edu/campus_connect/connect_overview.html
ASIST: www.livingworks.net/programs/asist/
QPR: www.qprinstitute.com/gatekeeper.html
Connect: www.theconnectprogram.org/
For technical assistance, contact:
info@healthandlearning.org
802.254.6590
Additional Resources for Colleges and Universities
Active Minds on Campus: www.activeminds.org
Working to utilize the student voice to change the conversation about mental health on college campuses, remove the stigma that surrounds mental health issues and create a comfortable environment for an open conversation about mental health issues on campuses throughout North America.
Jed Foundation: www.jedfoundation.org
Working nationally to reduce the rate of suicide and the prevalence of emotional distress among college and university students.
People Prevent Suicide: www.peoplepreventsuicide.org
Envisioning a world where all stakeholders of college campus life are prepared to prevent suicide and to support those affected by it.
Virginia Campus Handbook: www.campussuicidepreventionva.org
Recognizing and Responding to Students in Distress: Faculty Handbook:www.campussuicidepreventionva.org/facultyhandbook/#/2/
Guide to Mental Health Issues Facing College Students: www.bestcolleges.com/resources/top-5-mental-health-problems-facing-college-students/
Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) – Postvention: A Guide for Response to Suicide on College Campuses – https://hemha.org/postvention_guide.pdf
The National Center for Campus Public Safety – Suicide Contagion: Identifying Those at Risk and Postvention Strategies – https://www.nccpsafety.org/news/articles/suicide-contagion-identifying-those-at-risk-postvention-strategies
The Vermont Suicide Prevention Center, a program of the Center for Health and Learning, also holds a number of events and training sessions throughout the year to help educate individuals about suicide prevention. Click here for more information – www.healthandlearning.org/events
