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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Guilford section of the National Alliance on Mental Illness have taken steps to prevent suicide on college campuses all across the country.
Suicide Prevention Hotline
Work still needs to be done but giving grants to support suicide prevention and providing a hotline number (988) are steps to decrease the rates of suicide for college students. Churches, mental health organizations, and university administrations can contribute to providing solutions to the problem of suicide.
Solution Evidence
The Link between Primary Care Clinics and Public Health Resources Intervention (LinkPC-PH), a primary care suicide prevention program supported by community public health resources, was successful in reducing suicide rates. After the implementation of the program, the suicide rate in the intervention area decreased by 25%.
Student-Led Organization Helping the Problem
A student on campus, Kenaiya Fountain, created an organization on campus designed to help students express themselves in a safe space to prevent suicide. The Prayer Circle LLC saw results on N.C. A&T’s campus after hosting multiple prayer circles during the 2022-2023 academic school year. There was an evident decrease in suicidal thoughts and actions after the prayer gathering for many students on N.C. A&T’s campus.
"People coming together to choose life and come into agreement with what the Bible says helped to empower the hearts of young college students on campus," Pastor Gerald Fountain Jr. said.
The Problem In-Depth
Suicide has been a problem for centuries impacting many people including college students. The pressures of college and life circumstances can cause increased stress and suicidal thoughts in one’s behavior. From 2000 to 2020, more than 800,000 people died by suicide in the United States, and approximately 1,100 suicides on college campuses per year. According to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, suicide has been one of the leading causes of death for college students in America.
Solutions Coming to Light
Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Churches, and The Prayer Circle LLC
The SPRC did mention how colleges are implementing opportunities for comprehensive suicide prevention planning. Universities are concentrated on increasing awareness and knowledge on suicide and actively discussing it to decrease the negative stigma around it. Churches with resources are dedicated to providing spiritual resources as well as practical resources like on-call-trauma therapists to connect God and therapy. The Prayer Circle is focused on being proactive in prayer, planning events for mental/emotional expression, and partnering with campus organizations, churches/ministries, and businesses to decrease suicide rates in the community as well as on college campuses.
Church in the Community
Churches like Mount Zion Greensboro are very active in the community in continuously trying to fight against suicide and provide solutions to the problem. They are dedicated to providing spiritual resources as well as practical resources like on-call-trauma therapists to partner God and therapy. Pastor Montana So and Pastor Joseph Frierson have provided some solutions that the church can do to aid the community in solving the problem of suicide.
Everybody is responsible for fixing the problem that suicide is. If the world was a kinder place we could avoid a lot of mental health issues and suicidal thoughts and actions. Suicide Prevention on college campuses can look like campuses hiring and providing trauma therapists available at any point of the day to assist with crisis. We can HELP the problem with everyone partnering together to see CHANGE happen.
Website created by Kenaiya Fountain, a psychology and journalism and mass communications student with a concentration in public relations. Her hometown is Richmond, Virginia.