The university has taken steps to combat student suicide on campus over the past year, though a new grant proposal shows University Health Services administrators believe there is still work to be done.
According to Kathy Kruse, an assistant dean in the Division of Student Life, suicide is always a topic of concern, but this year a group of students has brought the issue to the forefront.
UW-Madison senior Alby Luciani, whose story of surviving an attempt appeared in the Cardinal last fall, sophomore Claire Kaufman and others are leading the effort. The awareness campaign will begin with a suicide awareness walk on Saturday, April 9, and Luciani said they hope to become an official student org next year.
""Any time a student has something they want to do, that's where we can support them because that's student life behind it,"" she said. ""So [the administration] could plan this walk, but probably five people would've showed up, and now there's like 1,500 people signed up to go.""
The university itself has also been involved in improving services on campus.
The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates provides additional funding to campus through supplemental tuition charges. Through a grant from MIU, the Counseling and Consultation Services unit of UHS created a new case-management program to serve students with long-term mental health and social support needs.
""Our counseling center is a short-term model, and so a lot of times they can't help students that have severe mental health or severe issues,"" Kruse said. ""So we need to outsource to a therapist in the community.""
She added it is difficult to solve severe issues within UHS's 10-session annual limit or the 20 sessions total offered throughout a student's academic career at UW-Madison.
In addition to the new position, C&CS also added a triage system that allows students to walk in during business hours for their first consultation with counselors instead of making an appointment. Established in January, C&CS has had 30 percent more initial contacts with students this year compared to the same time last year, according to Danielle Oakley, director of C&CS.
At the same time, C&CS also launched Let's Talk, an initiative that provides informal counseling services at campus locations other than the UHS center on East Campus Mall. C&CS currently serves 10 percent of the student population, and the Let's Talk model is meant to reach the other 90 percent.
""Some people still have a stigma about going to counseling,"" Kipp Cox, another assistant dean in the Division of Student Life, said. The other locations make it easier to seek help because they are less obvious than the counseling center, he said.
This issue is also addressed in a federal grant proposal the university submitted to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to help combat suicide on campus. The agency's stated goal is to ""reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities.""
The university will know next fall if it received the grant, which would provide $102,000 per year for the next three years to create a comprehensive suicide prevention program.
The grant also cited national health data, saying most students who report being depressed are not in treatment.
""What we propose in the grant, if we're funded, is to pull together a campus and community coalition focused on suicide prevention and do a more in-depth analysis to determine what are our gaps and more importantly, how would we go about filling those gaps?"" Tom Sieger, director of campus health initiatives and prevention services, said.
If they do receive this grant, UHS may consider purchasing At Risk, a $28,000 online program to help community members recognize the signs of depression and respond effectively to students at risk. The grant says gatekeepers––people with more one-on-one contact with students than UHS––also have a responsibility to identify students at risk and encourage them to seek help.
UHS had planned to implement At Risk this semester but lacked the necessary funding.
According to Danielle Oakley, director of C&CS, people often hesitate to ask if someone is OK because they are embarrassed or don't want to offend the other person.
""We just want to educate people how to actually ask that question because the number one myth out there about suicide is that if you ask you will make it more likely that it will happen. The exact opposite is true. You will not put the thought of suicide into the head of a person who is not thinking about it at all,"" she said.
The university also seeks to increase help-seeking behavior by reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues. The grant also lists restricting access to ""potentially lethal means,"" as both an effort already in place and one that could be improved.
Although the university already bans weapons on campus, part of this strategy would address binge drinking, as this is seen as a contributor to suicide. According to the grant, the university already focuses ""significant efforts"" toward this goal, but could still improve.
""If you're already suicidal and then you're using alcohol, it's a depressant, and it depresses your ability to be rational about things,"" Oakley said.
The grant cites suicide statistics from the Wisconsin Violent Death Reporting System for 2001-'06, which says over one third of victims had alcohol in their system at the time of death. It also notes that a very high prevalence of binge drinking characterizes the UW-Madison student population.
In each of the areas it seeks to improve, the grant lists programs and initiatives that the university has already implemented to prevent students from completing suicide.
But overall, Cox said it is important that students reach out as well.
""If there is any way that we can help a student we do that,"" Cox said. ""We bend over backwards to make sure they're connected, that they feel like they have a sense of belonging, that they're valued and that yes, there are tomorrows even though right now it seems like there's not. We're very, very concerned that if there are students who need help, we want them to not be silent.""
