University of TN at Chattanooga

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s (UTC) Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention (GLS) project is designed to help support and accelerate UTC’s efforts in the development of a comprehensive crisis response plan, to enhance the campus community’s awareness of suicide risk factors and warning signs, increase connection to community resources, and increase trainings for students, faculty, staff, and parents to encourage early intervention and utilization of campus and community resources. Our targeted population will include all 13,000 UTC students, faculty, and staff including; veteran students, students with disabilities, first-generation college students, and LGBTQ students within our population. The GLS grant will help our campus focus on these initiatives by providing us with additional staff to help us in the development of a comprehensive plan, to provide trainings to our faculty, staff, students, and caregivers, and in the creation and distribution of awareness campaigns. The ProtoCall services requested in this grant will provide our campus with a resource for our community to increase crisis response for our entire campus community and includes additional line for community members to report behavioral concerns to encourage and facilitate early interventions related to mental health, suicide, and substance abuse. The project will also engage the larger community by creating partnerships and Memorandums of Understanding community crisis response services, emergency rooms, and service providers. In addition, the efforts of this grant will allow UTC to identify and assist high-risk populations by integrating information into existing alcohol and other drug prevention and education efforts. The total impact of the project is estimated to be approximately 6,000 people over the three-year project period through orientation sessions, staff trainings, student outreach, and community events. Project Goals include: Goal 1: Create an Advisory Board to develop a campus-wide protocol for crisis response utilizing the JED Framework for Developing Institution Protocols for Acutely Distressed or Suicidal College Students and Campus MHAP: A guide to campus mental health action planning.. Goal 2: Utilize evidence-based training, Question, Persuade, Refer gatekeeper training programs, and educational seminars to educate staff, students, parents, community members, and faculty. Goal 3: Enhance the campus community’s awareness of suicide risk factors, warning signs, and resources through programming and promotional materials.