Suicide prevention on college campuses is a topic that is of growing importance at the University of Rhode Island.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Rhode Islanders in the age bracket 15 to 34. This is the age range that most college students fall in, making suicide an important issue for campuses to be aware of.
Dr. Christopher Nasin, medical director of Health Services at URI, has been involved with changes to help with suicide prevention on campus.
“I think the University is taking ways to improve mental health care and services at the University,” Nasin said. “In fact, President Dooley has really [taken] it upon himself to make this a priority and over the last year, we have signed on to a program called JED Campus. It is a nonprofit anti-suicide program that works with universities across the country to bolster their mental health and suicide prevention services.”
Nasin emphasized that noticing signs of depression or anxiety can help students both on and off campus. These signs can tell a friend, classmate or professor that a student may need support.
“It is all about actually preventing people from becoming suicidal,” said Nasin. “It is making sure that they are hooked up with the appropriate services so that their mental health condition does not get worse. That should be the primary focus.”
Nasin has seen students on campus that have disregarded the stigma towards discussing mental health issues in a positive way. He has also attended several student presentations about how to promote mental health awareness in the student body.
“I was lucky enough to be a part of a seminar and was listening to some undergraduate students at URI talking about strategies that can increase awareness for mental health on campus,” said Nasin. “I listened to about six or seven presentations that mentioned some very good ideas, but those ideas and presentations already existed.”
Carolyn Hames, a nursing and thanatology professor at URI, sees suicide prevention as a nationwide campaign that must be discussed more often than it currently is.
“It should be a national conversation,” Hames said. “The University is simply a microcosm of the greater culture. Suicide is stigmatized, and it is generally something that people don’t feel comfortable talking about.”
Hames, who cofounded a children’s bereavement center in Rhode Island called Friends Way approximately 20 years ago, has seen shifts in people willing to talk about suicide while mental health services may be slightly behind.
“I think both the country as well as universities are getting better in recognizing the need to address the suicide crisis,” said Hames. “Our counseling center on campus is certainly aware of the issue and addressing it as they can, but more overall outreach would be helpful.”
From her work at Friends Way, Hames has found the importance of talking about suicide in a neutral, non-judgemental tone. Recently, Hames has seen more families seeking help related to a suicide death.
“I think it is most important that suicide is discussed openly and without hesitancy,” said Hames. “If you approach the conversation with reluctance or bias, it furthers the stigmatization and could be dire.”
Hames believes that students should work to bring more opportunities for discussion on mental health on campus. By discussing mental health frequently, more people who need to hear the information can be helped, according to Hames.
“Students can be the impetus to make this happen at URI,” said Hames. “This is an open invitation for student organizations or groups of students to seek support from the University and take action.”
Dr. Robert Samuels, director of the Counseling Center, sees that part of the issue with students having a stigma towards discussing topics related to suicide is derived from its portrayal in the media.
“I think some of the difficulties have to do with the way mental illness is portrayed in the media,” Samuels said. “When high-profile individuals blame disasters on people with mental illness, mental health problems and (for) committing acts of violence, whereas the reality is people with mental health issues are more likely to be the target of violence than committing violence.”
On top of booking counseling appointments and helping the center’s, Samuels has the Counseling Center reach out to specific students and clubs that request on campus.
“We are also doing outreach programming,” said Samuels. “Two of my staff are going to talk to students who are doing special spring break trips. We also do outreaches to athletics, the [Greek Life community] and basically any group that wants an outreach, we try to make arrangements for that to happen.”
For students who need mental health assistance after hours, they can call the Counseling Center’s main line to be connected to a service called ProtoCall. There, they can speak to someone who can get them help. Health Services and the Counseling Center are working to make students aware of this.
“After hours, there is a mental health line called ProtoCall, which is for students who are struggling at night after 8 p.m,” said Hames. “If they call the main Counseling Center they will be directed towards something called ProtoCall and they will be situated with a worker who will help with any kind of problem they are struggling with at that time”.
Health Services has also taken another step towards awareness by issuing a questionnaire to every student who goes into the facility for an appointment.
“We are administering a mental health questionnaire just to see if students are struggling called the [Patient Health Questionnaire],” Nasin said. “It helps the provider identify that issue and make sure the person, if they do not already have some sort of resource to address that issue, we will find them a source to address that issue.”
A final recommendation from Samuels suggested that the way to raise awareness on these issues is to make the services more visible to students and faculty such as including the number for Health Services as well as the Counseling Center on course syllabi. This would, according to Samuels, provide a clear acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by students in regards to mental health.