From 2011 through 2014, the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services began and operated the UAA Integrated Suicide Prevention Initiative (UAA ISPI) with a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and a match from the UAA Office of the Provost and the College of Arts and Sciences. The UAA ISPI implemented a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable approach to suicide prevention across the University of Alaska Anchorage campus community. We augmented and coordinated existing suicide prevention efforts to reach our faculty, staff, and students.
Drawing upon years of strategic planning guided by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center Strategic Planning Process, UAA ISPI brought together relevant campus units and accomplished five primary goals:
1. We increased training opportunities related to suicide prevention and mental health promotion on the UAA campus for staff, students, and faculty.
2. We increased collaboration among logical campus partners for purposes of delivering suicide prevention messages.
3. We developed and disseminated relevant educational materials to improve suicide risk reduction. Many of these resources continue to be available across campus.
4. Our efforts were aimed to decrease stigma surrounding mental health problems on campus. Our activities promoted help-seeking among those at-risk for suicide.
5. We promoted the Alaska Careline, part of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline network, as a 24/7 resource for anyone affected by suicide.
Throughout our grant project, we used the following strategies to accomplish our goals:
1. We convened an Advisory Council that guided our comprehensive and coordinated suicide prevention and mental health promotion efforts on campus.
2. We provided targeted faculty, staff, and student gatekeeper trainings that led to a better understanding of suicide risk factors, greater identification of students at risk, improved student referral for mental health and suicide intervention, and availability of peer-supports; and
3. We developed and implemented a campus campaign to promote help-seeking behaviors and reduce stigma. These materials continue to be displayed across the UAA Campus.