Falcons Flourish is a comprehensive public health and evidence-based approach to prevent and reduce suicide and mental health problems, promote help-seeking behaviors, and improve the identification and connection to appropriate level of care for faculty, staff, and students to personal, professional, and academic well-being. The project goals include increasing social connectedness, life skills, and resilience; preventing suicide; and increasing help-seeking behaviors for mental health problems among faculty, staff, and students. All initiatives will be based on campus-level mental health assessments, such as the Healthy Minds Study (HMS) and the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA III) and National Faculty and Staff Health Assessment (ACHA-NFSHA). The four main components of the project are 1) peer support groups, 2) training, outreach, and education, 3) reducing access to lethal means, and 4) campus-level mental health assessment. The program is projected to reach over 4,250 members of the campus community over the lifetime of the project.
This project would have a significant reach on campus. Peer Support Groups program would reach over 50 students as group attendees and Group Leaders. 150 faculty, staff, and students would be trained in Mental Health First Aid, and 225 in Question, Persuade, Refer annually. 25 faculty, staff, and students would complete the Mental Health Champion Certificate program over the lifetime of the grant, and two Mental Health Champion receptions would be hosted to recognize their accomplishment. Suicide awareness and prevention, mental health promotion, and recovery support programming would reach over 3,000 faculty, staff, and students over the lifetime of the grant. The full campus community would be impacted by changes made to reduce access to lethal means on campus. Additionally, a representative sample of students, faculty, and staff would be engaged in campus-level health assessments. The project will involve internal and external collaborations with campus and community partners, and aligns with the University's Community of Care initiative, which includes mental health and well-being as a pillar.
Regarding the demographic background of our target audience, as of Spring 2022, there were 16,940 degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. The average age of graduate students was 31, and undergraduate students 23. Over half of faculty and staff were between the ages of 36 - 55. Both students (78.1%) and faculty and staff (90.7%) are white. Sex is roughly equal among students between female (57%) and male (43%), and slightly more female/woman-identified (68.4%) than male/man identified (30.1%) among faculty and staff. Students are more diverse in sexual orientation; only 62.4% identify as heterosexual, compared to 90% of faculty and staff identifying as heterosexual. Regarding student socioeconomic status, 20% of degree seeking students receive Pell Grants.
