Suicide Risk Factors and Signs

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Assessing need and having clear polices enable staff to act quickly and effectively in a mental health crisis.

The counseling center should be housed in a central area with other student services.

Referrals to off-campus resources for long-term support is important.

When 22-year-old Katie Meyer killed herself in her dorm room at Stanford University in 2021, it sent shockwaves across the San Francisco Bay Area and the country. One reason was that Meyer was the women's soccer team’s star goalkeeper who had helped Stanford win the national championship two years earlier. The other reason was that she was the fourth Stanford student to die by suicide in just over a year. Stanford officials vowed to improve mental health services at the school, in part by hiring four more counselors and therapists. Eighteen months after Meyer’s death, however, all four positions remained unfilled, and the clinical staff was overwhelmed.[1]

Most colleges offer mental health counseling for students, but this tends to be underfunded, poorly promoted, and difficult to access given staffing shortages. Assessing the need for mental health services, developing a comprehensive strategy for meeting........

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