HU Gets Suicide Prevention Grant

Hampton, VA - Hampton University received a $5,000 Suicide Prevention Mini-Grant from the HBCU National Resource Center at Morehouse School of Medicine this semester, to extend through July 1.

The grant, entitled “Keep On Living:  A Suicide Prevention Initiative,” is designed to provide training on suicide, increase trainees’ effectiveness to engage in sensitive, direct suicide conversation with at risk students, and sponsor campus-wide suicide prevention activities.

So far, the funding has gone to coordinating three workshops on campus: "Fundamental Suicide Concepts," “Let’s Talk About It,” and "Response and Referral," said Dr. Linda Kirkland-Harris, Director of the HU Student Counseling Center.

The grant will go a long way in the dialogue about suicide, she said.

“We want to assist the campus community to be able to talk about suicide and being suicidal. The general stigma against getting counseling for emotional and mental distress applies to suicide risk as well,” Kirkland-Harris said. “There are people who need to get help who aren’t doing so. For students in general, the thought that comes to mind is, ‘I don’t need to go to the counseling center. I’m not crazy.’”

HU Chaplain and Assistant Professor Dr. Timothy Boddie, Lydia Figueroa, RN, of the HU School of Nursing, members of the Hampton/Newport News Community Services board and Riverside Behavioral Health Center have participated in on campus event for the cause.

Other planned initiatives from the HU counseling center include a “Keep On Living” card with inspirational messages, and a march, bearing the same name, to raise awareness about suicide and mental health, Kirkland-Harris said.

For more information about the HU Student Counseling Center call 757.727.5617, or e-mail linda.kirkland-harri@hamptonu.edu.

# HU #