National-Louis University

National-Louis University, a broad-access institution in Chicago, proposes NLU-SPI, a suicide prevention approach in which a network of internal and external partners will develop a university-wide process for responding to students’ mental health needs; oversee training for staff and students; implement social media and other outreach to increase awareness of services; and increase knowledge of how to understand and respond to the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACES). The project will focus on three vulnerable populations: an undergraduate program designed specifically for first-generation, predominately low-income students; veterans and military-connected family members; and young adults with intellectual and multiple emotional disabilities. Over 1,500 primarily African-American and Hispanic students will be served annually, for a total of 4,500 students over the three years of the project. The six project goals are:

• Goal 1: Create a comprehensive infrastructure and collaborative network of internal and external partners that will establish a proactive and cohesive plan to monitor and respond to student mental health needs;
• Goal 2: Implement a comprehensive training program to increase student, faculty and staff capacity to recognize and effectively respond to warning signs of self-harm, suicidality, and substance abuse in others;
• Goal 3: Increase student knowledge of mental and substance use disorder services by developing a student outreach plan focusing on the three target populations;
• Goal 4: Increase student access to voluntary mental and substance use disorder screenings and assessments;
• Goal 5:Increase student knowledge of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (TALK) as well as others other relevant lifelines;
• Goal 6: Create a Trauma Informed culture that starts with an understanding of the life-long impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The impact objectives focus on increasing faculty, staff and student knowledge and changing responses to mental health needs:
• By Y3/Q4 faculty, staff and students will show a 20% increase over Y1 baseline in knowledge about how to recognize and effectively respond to warning signs of self-harm, suicidality, and substance abuse in others;
• By the end of Y3/Q4 there will be a 20% increase over Y1 baseline in faculty and staff reporting on student mental health needs;
• By the end of Y3/Q4 students will show a 20% increase over Y1 baseline in knowledge about mental and substance use disorder services as measured by SPEAKS survey, designed for GLS campuses.
• By Y2/Q4, students will show a 25% increase over Y1 baseline data in participating in voluntary mental and substance use disorder screenings and assessments