Module One - C.A.R.E.S. Training

[0:00]cares training, community awareness and resource engagement and suicide prevention training. Training created by the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research, developed with funding support from the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Campus Suicide Prevention Program and the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Suicide is a leading cause of death in college age students. Preventing suicide is something that each of us, including students, faculty and staff, can play a role in within our campus communities. This training is designed to provide all members of the campus community with foundational information needed to effectively engage in suicide prevention. At times, people might struggle to discuss suicide prevention due to uncertainties about how to best help someone with mental health concerns. For example, you may wonder whether asking someone about suicidal thoughts increases a person's risk for suicide. Instead, research suggests that acknowledging, asking, and talking about suicide reduces an individual's risk for suicide. Another common misperception is that only mental health professionals should have sensitive conversations about suicide. However, everyone, whether they have advanced training or not, can play an integral role in preventing suicide by creating a supportive environment that enhances a person's sense of well-being. One element of this can be checking in with individuals who are struggling or exhibiting symptoms that coincide with risk factors for suicide. Campus community members, such as students, faculty, or staff, are in unique positions to connect and offer support where it may be needed. One way that we can offer support to members of the campus community who might be struggling is by helping individuals access mental health services. Research has demonstrated that having a supportive conversation with a student experiencing suicidal ideation can increase their engagement with counseling services. The Healthy Minds study is an annual national survey administered by the University of Michigan that examines mental health service utilization and related issues among undergraduate and graduate students. According to the Healthy Mind study, two-thirds of college students say that encouragement from others is an important factor that positively influences service engagement. Simply supporting someone to get additional support normalizes this process and can reduce stigma for students who may never have sought counseling services before. This is especially important among students from historically marginalized groups who are more likely to experience systemic barriers to care, such as access to services. Encouraging someone to seek support is also important for those from family backgrounds that discourage discussions of mental health or view asking for help as shameful or weak. In sum, encouraging a student to use services can make a big difference. Longitudinal data from the National College Health Association demonstrates a steady increase in reports of college student loneliness over the last decade. These increases have coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, increased remote learning, and increased engagement with social media. The student life is very hard. There is a great deal of work to do. There's a great deal of learning to do, and most of the time that learning is very individual. Loneliness shows up in a lot of different, it manifests in a lot of different ways. If you're a transfer student or an international student, um, loneliness is that first year. I often think about how college is portrayed in TV or movies as this this place where you just hang out and party all the time. That is not the reality of it at all. It can be very, very lonely. In 2022, 54% of college students said they felt lonely within the past year. We must pay attention to experiences of loneliness because people who report loneliness are more likely to have a difficult time coping with challenging emotions like anxiety, stress, and sadness, which can put them at a higher risk for suicide. I think we professors take for granted that if they got to our campus, that they're okay and that they're just going through the regular ups and downs. As a grad student, I feel like a lot of my peers and myself included, we have a lot on our plate. just acknowledging, like, you don't have to pretend like everything's all good when it's not. According to recent nationwide data from the 2022 to 2023 academic year, approximately 37% of undergraduate students reported experiencing anxiety in the last 12 months, with 18% of them reporting severe levels of anxiety. Additionally, 41% of undergraduate students reported experiencing depression in the last 12 months, with 21% reporting major depression. Further, nationwide about 12% of graduate students reported severe anxiety and 14% of graduate students indicated major depression. This means a large proportion of the student population experiences psychological distress during the year. I don't know, opened our eyes to the care and repair that we need. We're the I call ourselves professors are their first line responders for emerging adults in college, in university. Uh, the bystander effect is real and being the professor and being in charge makes it even realer. We're we're not supposed to. I might get in trouble. I don't want to impose on anybody's. But I see them more than their parents see them, more than their best friends. In some cases, see them as far as on a consistent regular basis to see a flat line, a baseline of how they might behave. Even being nasty all the time is a baseline. If they start doing something different, something's off. Regarding suicidal thoughts, 15% of undergraduate and 9% of graduate students considered suicide in the last 12 months. On a campus with 10,000 undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students, this would mean approximately 1,500 undergraduate students and 90 graduate students considered suicide within the last year. In 2022, the lowest reports of having considered suicide were among Asian students, 13%. And Native American students, who were the most likely to have reported considering suicide within the last year, at 21%. In 2022, about 3% of undergraduate and 1% of graduate students reported that they attempted suicide in the last 12 months. These may sound like small numbers, but they suggest that on a campus of 10,000 undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students, about 300 undergraduate students and approximately 10 graduate students attempted suicide over the past year. Similar to suicidal thoughts and self-harm, there are differences in rates of attempted suicide across race and ethnicity, with white students being the least likely to report having attempted suicide, and Pacific Islander students being the most likely. There are also differences based on gender, with cis-women, those that were born female, being the least likely to report having attempted suicide, followed by cis-men, those that were born male. The highest rates are among those who are trans or gender diverse. Higher rates of suicide are also reported by people with disabilities, and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual. There are a lot of factors that impact a person's risk for suicide, and we will examine these factors in a later module. The illogical decisions you make have these consequences that you don't that get away from you. And I want the students to know that not only have I been there, but it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop because we're professors. There are people who are depressed and who are lonely, who are professors, and that it's good for them to also come into the classroom and say, hello Professor Galt. How are you today? And it just humanizes that our relationship is not just about the books. The main points to remember from this module are: Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are present on college campuses. There are differences in prevalence rates of suicide based on race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and ability. You have an important role in suicide prevention at your school, and engaging with a person you are concerned about and linking them to resources is critically important. In the next module, we will discuss risk factors and warning signs of suicide and provide some useful tips on how to respond to someone who may be in distress. This concludes module one.