New tool helps students aid mentally troubled, suicidal peers

By ADAM KING - onCampus staff

Ohio State's Campus Suicide Prevention Program has launched a new Web site aimed at giving students the resources to help reduce the second-leading cause of death among their peers.

The new site, reach.osu.edu, went live April 25 and features detailed descriptions and contact information for every entity available to help a troubled student on the Columbus and regional campuses. It also has an extensive list of Columbus-area programs and services.

"Reach.osu.edu educates about mental health on campus, but it is really designed to help students who are worried about a friend or classmate and want to know more about how to reach out to that friend," said Sarah Newlin, program manager for CSPP. "It tells them how to approach their friend and gives them the resources of where they might encourage them to go."

She said the Web site is the next critical step in addressing at OSU what is a nationwide problem - one that is more nefarious than the more publicized campus homicides, such as those at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois.

"In this climate, everyone is on pins and needles wondering if what happened at NIU or Virginia Tech might happen on their own campus," Newlin said. "That being the case, it is wonderful that we've been getting messages about safety measures and text message alert systems, but we still need to be mindful of the fact that suicide is a much larger threat to our campus than any potential mass homicide. It's the second leading cause of death among students, and so we also need to concentrate our efforts on that right now."

CSPP also is trying to combat the stigma associated with mental health problems, specifically the idea that mental illness creates murderous tendencies. In fact, most people who are suicidal are not dangerous, said Darcy Haag Granello, an associate professor of counselor education and CSPP's principal investigator.

"In the way the campus shootings have raised mental health awareness, it also has the effect of potentially making people afraid of those with mental health issues," she said. "In my perfect world I'd like to see friends reach out to friends who are in need, where people get help for themselves and mental illness is looked at as any other type of illness and not stigmatized."

So it's imperative, Newlin said, that everyone on campus is clued in to what services are offered and how to access them. CSPP has been incrementally building an awareness campaign to do that, and reach.osu.edu gives the program another outlet to inform the campus community.

In the coming months, the Web site will be adding videos, such as the April 25 panel discussion from the program's kickoff event, "Kick Back at the RPAC," which featured seven students who had faced depression or suicidal thoughts and what they did to confront their issues successfully.

"We also will add testimonials from students who have helped out a friend so others can see it in action and hear from actual students so they know how to help," she said. "We'll show what the warning signs of depression, mental illness and suicide look like so students can recognize it in friends and classmates."

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