NC State Prevention Services collaborated with various departments and student organizations to raise awareness for Suicide Prevention Month in September.
According to College Degree Search, suicide rates in teenagers and college-age young adults have tripled since the 1950s. Young men are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to young women, and nearly half those who seriously considered attempting suicide did not tell anyone.
Emily Anderson, prevention service coordinator, said suicide is the second-leading cause of death in young adults. She said this statistic is high because there are not many health-related factors that could contribute to death at this age compared to older adults, who have more health concerns.
“Factors around college campuses are really related to social connections and stress and managing any kind of mental health concern they might have already had or are starting to emerge,” Anderson said.
Sindhoor Ambati, a fourth-year studying psychology and English and co-president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) at NC State, discussed reasons why college students might be impacted by stress at high levels.
“College is a time of concentrated stress,” Ambati said. “So many things are going on, and you are literally trying to plan out the rest of your life. You are trying to figure out your future, and at the same time, you are dealing with all the normal social and academic pressures that life throws at you.”
Ambati talked about NAMI’s mission of stopping the stigma associated with mental health.
“The general idea is to increase awareness and decrease the stigma surrounding mental illness and make sure that every student is aware of the resources that are available for them,” Ambati said.
On Sept. 10, prevention services collaborated with NAMI for the Annual Candlelight Vigil in recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day. This was one of the two main events on campus to recognize suicide prevention; Fresh Check Day was the second event, taking place on Sept. 25, which collaborated with the Counseling Center, GLBT Center and Women’s Center, according to Anderson.
Fresh Check Day was held on Stafford Commons. Departments set up booths that promoted mental health and suicide prevention. The event included free food, interactive games and giveaways.
“Fresh Check Day is an event initiated by Wellness and Recreation as part of their health campus initiative,” Ambati said. “It pulls together different campus partners; we tend to approach a lot of events together.”
Anderson said collaboration across different departments led to a greater reach of students.
“Previously, different events were housed in multiple departments,” Anderson said. “We can have a greater reach to students when there are multiple departments in one place. Students can really see all their options for resources as opposed to just singular events. They would only have contact with one of those resources, and it might not be the resources that they would benefit from.”
Last year, NC State created its own prevention department. Anderson said the goal this year is to expand Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training the department provides. So far, she said students and staff have responded well to the training and said they benefited from it.
“Ultimately, suicide awareness prevention is letting people know what their resources are and encouraging support and connection on campus,” Anderson said.
