The mental and emotional health of college students is of crucial importance at campuses across the country. To help promote awareness here at Siena, an online survey that will take just a few minutes of your time will help inform Project HOPE, a new wellness initiative designed especially for Siena’s needs.
The Healthy Minds Study is being conducted by Siena in partnership with the University of Michigan. The survey, distributed via email last week by Student Life, closes Monday, May 8. The more students we have complete they survey (it will take about 20 minutes), the more tailored our campus’s mental health programming can be. This is about you, your health and your happiness.
This needs assessment is the first step in the application of a $300,000, three-year grant Siena has received from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which the College will use to develop Project HOPE (Health and Optimism through Prevention and Education).
“Optimism is a key Franciscan value at Siena, and we use it to anchor the other side of despair and suffering that too often happens in silence,” said Kate Kaufman Burns, director of health promotion and coordinator of Project HOPE.
Kaufman Burns said the grant activities are grounded in a comprehensive public health approach to promote mental health resources, increase mental health literacy and advance suicide prevention.
“Our new strategic plan calls us to create a more inclusive and sustainable culture of health and well-being at Siena College, and we believe this task force is a positive step towards that aim,” said Kaufman Burns. “The mission and values that inspire our work and relationships with one another, provides a fertile ground for planting the seeds of HOPE. Your partnership is invaluable to the work of saving lives and creating a healthier and more hopeful Siena experience for our community.”
The entire Siena community is invited to participate in evidence-based mental health “gatekeeper” trainings to create a common language around mental health and deepen our understanding of the process and protocols necessary for connecting those in need to lifesaving resources:
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, offered through our partnership with the Mental Health Association of NYS (MHANYS), is a certification training that requires full day participation and can be applied to your work at Siena, in the larger community, and in your personal lives. The next training will be held on Monday, May 8 from 8:30-4:30 pm in RB 202. If you are interested in this training or a future session, please complete this form.
Another evidence-based suicide prevention training, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), is available through a campus license that will allow unlimited numbers of participants to become certified through a 30-minute self-study course. Please use this form to receive login information for the QPR course.
Project HOPE has also afforded Siena the opportunity to become a JED Campus, the gold standard in suicide prevention, according to Kaufman Burns. In 1998, Phil and Donna Satow lost their youngest son, Jed, to suicide. JED is now the nation’s leading organization dedicated to young adult mental health. It helps campuses put systems, programs, and policies in place to create a culture of caring that protects student mental health, builds life skills, and makes it more likely that struggling students will seek help, be recognized and connected to lifesaving resources. There are 370 JED campus colleges that reach 4.8 million students nation-wide.
Both the JED campus and SAMHSA grant require that our community create a mental health and well-being task force. The new Project HOPE Task Force is comprised of campus and community stakeholders who will lead these prevention and well-being initiatives.
