{"303281":{"#nid":"303281","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Sends Delegation to Suicide Prevention Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFive Georgia Tech staff members attended a conference last month focused on improving strategies and interventions around suicide on college campuses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Building Suicide Safer College and University Communities conference, held at Middle Georgia State College, invited staff from public and private universities to share best practices and discuss ideas to better serve students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s not a surprising reality, but it\u2019s amazing how many schools have had to deal with suicide attempts or completed suicides on their campuses,\u201d said Dean of Students John Stein, who attended the conference and served on two panels. Stein was joined by Ruperto Perez and Lacy Currie from the Counseling Center, Shannon Croft from psychiatry, and Robert Connolly from the Georgia Tech Police Department.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne panel Stein participated in discussed building and sustaining a campus coalition, where he shared some of Tech\u2019s initiatives in recent years to build a network that educates students and faculty on suicide. The other panel discussed successes and challenges in suicide prevention, specifically how to sustain focus, momentum and involvement in the ever-changing environment of a college campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPerez served on a panel about targeting and supporting at-risk and vulnerable populations in suicide prevention, where he specifically spoke about LGBT students; other panelists addressed veterans, graduate students and international students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThroughout the conference, Perez was struck by the increased coordination of efforts and communication at many institutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt seems that campuses have implemented more formalized avenues of communications, similar to our own Students of Concern Committee,\u201d Perez said. This group meets weekly to discuss student issues, needs and intervention. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStein and colleagues also discussed how to use technology to reach and educate faculty and students, and how to sustain funding and interest in an issue that has no end point.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe remain committed to addressing this issue and see the importance of it,\u201d Stein said. The Counseling Center recently received approval and funding to increase and enhance its service to students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe conference was sponsored by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.spcgeorgia.org\/\u0022\u003ESuicide Prevention Coalition\u003C\/a\u003E of Georgia and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/dbhdd.georgia.gov\/\u0022\u003EDepartment of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities\u2019\u003C\/a\u003E Suicide Prevention Program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFive staff members exchanged best practices with others from around the state on handling and preventing suicide on college campuses.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Five staff members exchanged best practices with others from around the state on handling and preventing suicide on college campuses."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2014-06-16 09:39:57","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:37","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/deanofstudents.gatech.edu\/","title":"Dean of Students"},{"url":"http:\/\/deanofstudents.gatech.edu\/plugins\/referral\/","title":"Student Referral Form"},{"url":"http:\/\/counseling.gatech.edu\/","title":"Counseling Center"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1020","name":"counseling center"},{"id":"7027","name":"dean of students"},{"id":"10343","name":"mental health"},{"id":"167058","name":"Student"},{"id":"167239","name":"suicide prevention"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}