The University has received a $75,000 federal grant intended to support and expand suicide prevention resources on campus as part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s nationwide effort to raise awareness of youth suicide.
The University received a Campus Suicide Prevention Grant, which will help college students suffering from mental and behavioral health illnesses. The University will receive $75,000 per year for three years.
“Every dollar that helps heal those battling life-threatening depression brings us closer to saving our children and families,” Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said in a recent press release.
Smith’s son, Garrett, committed suicide in September 2003.
Grants were made possible by the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which was signed by President Bush last October. The program will offer $9.7 million to support national suicide prevention efforts.
Suicide prevention will continue to be one the University’s highest priorities, University President Dave Frohnmayer stated in a letter to the Counseling and Testing Center director Robin Holmes.
Holmes could not be reached for comment before deadline Wednesday.
“Oregon’s youth suicide rate is higher than the national average,” Frohnmayer wrote. “This is one of the reasons our campus community makes significant efforts to educate students, faculty and staff that suicide is a public health problem that can be prevented.”