Pensacola State College

Pensacola State Crisis Action Referral Effort for Students (CARES), serves all Pensacola State College (PSC) students in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in NW Florida, including First-Generation-in-College (FGIC) and athletes, but targets military veterans, their family members, and the LGBTQ+ population. The College’s diverse population of students, faculty, and staff will benefit from increased collaboration resulting in the development and delivery of education and awareness materials, and an enhancement of the referral mechanism for at-risk individuals to receive quality treatment services. The overarching goal of the proposed project is to prevent suicide of students attending Pensacola State College and their family members. The objectives of this project are to: 1) update the Crisis Response Protocol; 2) provide clinical services through an on-campus provider, as well as developing clear referral protocols with at least three local mental health providers through Memorandums of Understanding; 3) engage at least 10 community agencies to strengthen the Escarosa Suicide Prevention Coalition and complete a community-wide strategic plan; 4) provide at least 200 (600 over three years) PSC students, faculty and staff each year with training on suicide prevention, mental health and/or substance use disorders; 5) increase in-person opportunities for student to participate in online mental health screenings, as well as promote remote access to such screenings; 6) disseminate awareness and educational information about mental health, substance use disorders, and suicide prevention at no less than 15 on-campus events, reaching at least 500 faculty, staff, and students per year (1500 over three years); 7) provide on-campus trauma-informed clinical services to at least 50 students each year (150 over 3 years); 8) develop a Student Peer Support Network, training at least five students as peer support specialists; and 9) participate in the JED Campus consultation process, resulting in additional measurable objectives applied within a strategic plan to propel the project beyond the grant cycle, with fully sustainable goals within a comprehensive, collaborative, well-coordinated, evidence-based plan. This project will allow PSC to enhance and increase the capacity of an infrastructure that will promote education and awareness. It is estimated that a minimum of 2250 students, faculty, and staff, in addition to family and community members will receive formal education/training annually on suicide prevention and mental health and substance abuse issues through print materials, seminars/workshops, guest speakers, and social media.