ST. John's college project hope - project hope will strengthen the behavioral health prevention capacity and promotion infrastructure; prevent suicide and reduce mental health and substance use…

ST. John's college project hope - project hope will strengthen the behavioral health prevention capacity and promotion infrastructure; prevent suicide and reduce mental health and substance use disorders, and expand programming for students at ST. John's college (SJC) in santa FE, new mexico (NM), with a special focus on lesbian, GAY, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (lgbtqia+) college students who represent 60% of the campus community. Nationally, lgbtqia+ students face challenges accessing BH treatment due to negative perceptions of the campus climate and stigma. Lgbtqia+ students also experience disproportionately high rates of suicidal ideations, attempts, and deaths by suicide. These realities are no different at SJC, with lgbtq+ students experiencing increased rates of psychological distress, depression and suicidal ideations. To mitigate these issues, project hope will support a comprehensive public health and evidence-based approach that identifies students at risk for suicide and suicide attempts, increases protective factors that promote mental health, reduces risk factors for substance use disorders and suicide, and ultimately reduces suicides and suicide attempts on the SJC campus. Project hope is partnering with several organizations to ensure the success of this grant initiative, including the mountain center; life link; the trevor project; suzanne pearlman, MA; and the university of new mexico's division of community behavioral health. The goals of project hope are to: (1) increase capacity of SJC to promote the mental well-being of SJC students; (2) enhance BH services for all SJC students, including those at risk for suicide, depression, serious mental illness/serious emotional disturbances; (3) prevent and reduce suicide and mental and substance use disorders; (4) promote help-seeking behavior and reduce stigma at SJC; (5) improve the identification and treatment of at-risk college students so they can successfully complete their studies; and (6) utilize a data driven approach for continuous quality improvement. Performance outcomes tracked related to the: number of individuals who have received training in prevention or mental health promotion, number of people receiving evidence-based mental health-related services; number of individuals exposed to mental health awareness messages; number of individuals screened for suicidal ideation; and number of individuals referred to crisis, or other mental health-related services for suicide risk, ideation, or behavior. IT is anticipated that the entire undergraduate student population of 367 students will engage in mental health and substance abuse promotion activities annually. Additionally, 103 students, faculty, and staff will participate in related training including: mental health first aid, the trevor project's care training, and counseling for access to lethal means training. Universal screening using the PHQ-9 and audit-C will also be implemented at both the SJC health center and SJC counseling center for all students. These efforts will strengthen the prevention capacity and mental health promotion infrastructure of SJC.