University Health Center sponsors Suicide Prevention Week

A colorful patchwork quilt with squares commemorating the lives of friends and relatives aims to break the silence and stigma associated with talking about suicide as the final part of the university's first annual Suicide Prevention Week.

The quilt, which is on display at Hornbake Plaza today, rounds out a week chock full of discussions, remembrances and educational programs for students who have suffered from depression or lost a loved one to the disease.

For some, like special education doctoral candidate Asha-Lateef Williams, coming together with other survivors helped her deal with the loss of someone she loved — her son committed suicide in June.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do next," Williams said. "I figured this was a good opportunity to be around people that won't freak out if you just start crying because they understand that emotion."

Throughout the week, the University Health Center-sponsored programs to encourage students to understand and watch for warning signs of depression, including increased or excessive substance abuse, recklessness, withdrawing from friends, family and society, mood changes and insomnia. The Suicide Awareness Health Education and Training Program, which led the initiatives, also focused on debunking many of the myths surrounding suicide.

"Some students feel talking about suicide may give someone the idea or people who talk about suicide won't really do it," Suicide Prevention Coordinator Carrie Martin said. "Research shows that if you ask someone or have a conversation with someone about suicide that actually lowers anxiety and opens up conversation."

A recent Health Center-sponsored survey conducted by the American College Health Association found that 6.8 percent of students at this university seriously considered suicide in 2007. Even more students admitted to having feelings often associated with suicide, according to the survey—93 percent of students reported feeling overwhelmed and 57 percent of students said they felt hopeless.

So far this year, the university has seen three student suicides: Two in the spring semester and one this fall.

Because the onset of mental illnesses such as depression typically occurs in people between 18 and 24 years of age, Martin said, college students are a particularly susceptible population.

"If a person happens to suffer from depression they would mostly likely experience it for the first time in college," Martin said.

In part because of the onset of depression among college students, it is also a prime time for thoughts of suicide, according to the Jed Foundation — a nonprofit working to reduce the rate of suicide and the prevalence of emotional distress among college students. The Jed Foundation reported that one in ten college students have considered suicide and 75 to 90 percent of all people who die by suicide are clinically depressed.

"I want to be a teacher and I feel like suicide is an issue that effects teens, especially in schools,"  junior education major Ellen Slobodnik said. "I feel like awareness would help these situations out."

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