University of Florida

The University of Florida Suicide Prevention Program’s goals are to increase students’ use of protective strategies and decrease stigma to encourage early intervention and prevent serious mental health crisis. Additional goals include increasing students’ confidence and competence in identifying, approaching, and referring fellow students who are in distress. Lastly, faculty and staff will report increased confidence and competence in identifying, approaching, and referring fellow students who are in distress.

Program strategies are to develop and implement a Social Marketing Campaign aimed at decreasing stigma and increasing use of protective strategies (EX. Increased personal connectedness, increase self-care, and empowered to seek help when you begin to notice problems); in addition we will provide an interactive on-line Gatekeeper Training through Kognito, At-Risk for university faculty, staff, and UF students. The project will target the more than 50,000+ students of the University of Florida through the social marketing campaign. In addition, 500 faculty and staff per year will report improvement in skills and increased confidence in intervening with students in distress after completing At-Risk Gatekeeper Training. Furthermore, 500 students will report improvement in skills and increased confidence in their ability to intervene with fellow students who are in distress after completing At-Risk Gatekeeper Training.