Six percent of college students have contemplated suicide at some point. Suicide is currently the second-leading cause of death for individuals ages 18 to 25, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As the recipient of a $305,000 grant aimed at suicide prevention, Oregon State University-Cascades is working to change those statistics.

OSU-Cascades was one of only 15 universities nationwide to receive a 2014 Garrett Lee Smith campus suicide prevention grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The college plans to use the grant to develop programs to support student mental health and identify and respond to students at risk for suicide, according to Linda Keys, associate professor and senior research in public health at OSU-Cascades.

The announcement of the grant allocations came at a “propitious” time, according to Keys.

“With the campus due for expansion, now is a good time to look at how to promote the mental health of students,” Keys said.

Part of the grant money will be used for training faculty and staff to understand better how to identify someone at risk for suicide, according to Keys. Another portion of the funds will be used to increase college collaboration with community partners who provide crisis intervention services and student mental health support services, according to Keys.

Keys, and co-lead Linda Porzelius, head of counseling services at OSU-Cascades are also discussing a web-based suicide prevention information database for students, faculty and staff.

The announcement of the grant allocations came at a “propitious” time, according to Keys.

OSU-Cascades hopes to support student involvement in the program and has opened two positions for student-led portions of the project. The students selected for those roles will help determine the best way to reach students on-campus as well as encouraging fellow students to seek help when they’re experiencing stress.

Molly Svendsen | The Broadside

(Contact: [email protected])

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