Monday, November 25, 2024
11/25/2024
Moreno Valley College’s Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention project will address the needs of culturally diverse Moreno Valley community college students. The overall goal of MVC’s Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention project is to develop institutional capacity to identify and respond quickly and appropriately to students experiencing suicide ideation, while also building a network of services that both prevents and reduces the need for crisis intervention. With leadership from Moreno Valley College’s Student Health and Psychological Services (SHPS) Office, this project will (1) develop a socio-ecological response to suicide prevention to eliminate risk factors that lead to suicide among college students; (2) facilitate an onsite mental health/wellness/suicide prevention team of trained trainers to provide QPR Training, Know the Signs, and other suicide prevention curriculum as appropriate; and (3) provide professional development training for Wellness Team members to improve suicide prevention skill sets. By achieving these objectives, MVC’s project will yield: (1) 15 faculty and staff trained as train the trainers; (2) 1,000 students trained in suicide awareness and prevention; and (3) 50 faculty and staff trained in suicide awareness and prevention. While this project will serve all of the students enrolled at Moreno Valley College, it will target the college’s most at-risk student populations, including BIPOC students, LGBTQ students, student parents, and first generation student. According to research by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, there are five factors that reduce suicidal ideation, including: • Promoting social connectedness • Increase help-seeking behavior • Providing substance abuse and mental health services • Following crisis management procedures • Developing student life skills The program will offer suicide prevention, upstream, and postvention services by conducting student peer ambassador outreach, staff, faculty, student, and community training. The program will emphasize increasing protective factors and social connection through daily wellness groups. The team will provide educational activities to improve coping skills and well-being. Services will be offered in non-stigmatizing and culturally appropriate ways such as healing circles, skill building groups, how to help a friend, and in non-stigmatizing locations. Grant funds will be used to hire a Student Health Education Specialist who will receive QPR Train the Trainer (T4T) training to serve as the suicide prevention coordinator and serve as a primary trainer. After completion of the training, the student health education specialist will provide a 20-hour training to 10 student peer ambassadors identifying students at risk, peer education, peer counseling, outreach strategies, and suicide prevention best practices. Through this grant, the team will offer bi-monthly QPR training and Know The Signs trainings. The student health education specialist will work with other SHPS staff to supervise student peer ambassadors as they conduct daily outreach to increase awareness and identify students at risk.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
