Implementing suicide prevention with support from samhsa at centre college - we will serve undergraduates, aged 17 to 24, on our residential campus

In academic year, 2020-2021,19% of students in counseling reported suicidal ideation. By fall 2021, 22.1% reported suicidal ideation. There were 4 known suicide attempts. Our project creates a robust infrastructure for student support, intensifies screenings for student mental health issues, and trains campus stakeholders using evidence-based models. Approximately 58% of centre undergraduates are from kentucky. The racial and ethnic makeup of the student body is 75.98% caucasian, 6.74% black or african american, 7.58% asian/pacific islander, 4.09% two or more races, 5.3% unknown, .23% american indian or alaska native, and .08% native hawaiian. 7.4% of students identify as hispanic (of any race). Approximately 11% identify as lgbtq+ based on estimates from the centre pride alliance, a student organization. All students at centre speak english proficiently, though IT may not be a student's first language. None of our students are currently U.S. Military veterans. From a socioeconomic perspective, 21% of our current students are pell grant eligible. From a clinical perspective, our students demonstrate mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, disordered eating, substance misuse, and suicidal ideation. We have partnered with JED campus to implement a 4-year plan to reduce suicidal ideation and prevent suicide on our campus. JED's framework acts as our roadmap. With a grant from samhsa, we will address infrastructure gaps by hiring staff to create a staffing and administrative infrastructure that enhances our ability to assess and identify students at risk; develop a campus-wide health education program drawn from evidence-based practices that promotes mental health awareness, increases help-seeking behavior; and effectively uses screening to more at-risk students prior to crisis. Project goals and measurable objectives: - increase the capacity of the centre community to recognize and respond to students at risk of suicide by creating a staffing and administrative infrastructure that may improve suicide prevention. O seven objectives listed in the narrative will guide our work and measure our progress and impact. - develop a campus-wide health education program for students, faculty, and staff, drawing from evidence-based practices that may prevent suicide, increase mental health awareness, decrease substance misuse and increase help-seeking behavior. 1 o twelve objectives listed in the narrative will guide our work and measure our progress and impact. - increase awareness of and access to online mental health resources including mental health screens that may increase help-seeking behavior and prevent suicide. O three objectives listed in the narrative will guide our work and measure our progress and impact. Each year, over 1,300 people will be served. Over the 3-year project we estimate serving 4,000 undergraduates in total.