Despite September coming to a close, and with it Suicide Prevention Month, the University of Oregon still provides multiple options in terms of mental health services and crisis prevention, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the beginning of a new school year.
UO is a Jed campus, meaning it follows the Jed Foundation’s guidance for suicide prevention, including guidance for screenings, crisis management, mental health care, means restriction and education. Its Suicide Prevention Teams — there’s one for faculty and staff and one for students — lead efforts on campus, focusing on mental health awareness and reducing stigma.
Jed has a broad understanding of what suicide prevention can look like from promoting life skills like sleep, nutrition, exercise and self-care to removing lethal means from campuses. UO’s SPTs address this range of strategies and put a particular focus on promoting a community that prevents suicide, former SPT coordinator Suzie Stadelman said.
The team offers trainings to faculty and students about how to recognize signs of suicidality and how to approach conversations about it with peers.
Ireland Gill, the lead coordinator of the Student Suicide Prevention Team, said the primary signs to look out for are stark changes in behavior.
“If somebody is usually sleeping like eight hours a day, and all of a sudden they’re only sleeping four,” she said. “Or they usually eat three meals a day, and now they’re dropping down to one meal a day. Things like that.”
College students aged 18-24 “are actually at about half the risk of dying by suicide compared to people in that same age demographic who are not enrolled in colleges or universities,” Stadelman said. “So being a college student is actually a protective factor for suicide.” She said this is partly due to preventative measures that universities take and partly due to the community — in which a teacher or friend might reach out if they notice a behavior change — that many people find in college.
The University Counseling Center’s website offers advice for recognizing and addressing signs of suicidality. It says, if you notice a big change in someone’s behavior, tell them what you’ve noticed and ask if there’s something going on; it’s best to be direct. Asking questions about suicide will not put the idea in anyone’s head, according to the site.
As you converse, try to be empathetic and avoid blame. Also offer resources like the Counseling Center or a crisis line. The UCC crisis line is 541-346-3227, and there are several other lines to offer. Locally, White Bird Clinic (541-687-4000) and Hourglass Community Crisis Center (541-505-8426) both have 24-hour crisis lines. There is also the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800-273-8255) and the Crisis Text Line (text “HOME” to 741-741).
The SPTs also offer workshops and trainings that aim to “increase skills in identifying and responding to students who may have thoughts of suicide, increase comfort to engage with a student in a conversation about your concern and ways to seek help and refresh knowledge of campus and community resources and how to make an appropriate referral,” according to the website. SPT recently implemented a program called Kognito, which gives students and staff an online interactive roleplay to practice talking with someone who is suicidal.
Gill said that while destigmatizing talking about suicide is important and having conversations with a friend or peer can help, “you can only go so far with your intervention.”
“You can’t make somebody do something,” she said.
Mental health resources are an important wing of suicide prevention, Stadelman said. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reported 90% of individuals who took their own lives in 2019 exhibited a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of death, but 43.8% of those diagnosed with a mental health condition did not receive mental health services in the past year.
Stadelman said the Counseling Center and the Duck Nest are both helpful tools that students should feel free to use.
“Sometimes I hear students say, ‘Well, it’s not that bad, and I don’t want to take someone else’s spot,’ which is really thoughtful,” she said. “But, if you’re struggling at all, we want to see you.”
The Counseling Center offers resources for any and every stage of mental wellness, and Stadelman recommends seeking help sooner rather than later.
“We see the whole spectrum: homesickness, relationships, anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, trauma, everything you can imagine,” she said. “If students are struggling in any way, we’re happy to see them.”
