Campus suicide prevention: bridging paradigms and forging partnerships

Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2012 Jul-Aug;20(4):209-21. doi: 10.3109/10673229.2012.712841.

Abstract

Colleges and universities are increasingly recognizing the need to expand suicide-prevention efforts beyond the standard, clinical-intervention paradigm of suicide prevention, which relies on referral to, and treatment by, mental health services. These services frequently struggle, however, to provide effective, comprehensive care. After reviewing findings that support the need to adopt a broader, problem-focused paradigm, the article provides a framework for bridging this paradigm with the clinical-intervention approach and for conceptualizing a full continuum of preventive interventions. For each level of intervention (ranging from the individual to the ecological), we describe the goals and methods used, and provide examples to illustrate the role of psychiatrists and other campus mental health providers in the collaborative partnerships that must form to support a comprehensive, campus-wide suicide-prevention strategy.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Crisis Intervention / organization & administration
  • Female
  • Health Promotion / organization & administration
  • Humans
  • Interdisciplinary Communication*
  • Male
  • Mass Screening
  • Mental Health Services / organization & administration*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology
  • Resilience, Psychological
  • Risk Factors
  • Student Health Services / organization & administration*
  • Students / psychology*
  • Students / statistics & numerical data
  • Suicidal Ideation
  • Suicide / psychology
  • Suicide / statistics & numerical data
  • Suicide Prevention*
  • United States
  • Young Adult