The Wellness Center will hold an event on Sept. 27 entitled “Suicide Awareness, Make a Difference,” on both the Greenspring and the Owings Mills campuses. Students can visit a table on the Greenspring campus in the Manuszak Center from noon to 2:30 p.m., and on the Owings Mills campus in the Rockland lobby from 4-7 p.m.
The student peer educators on the Wellness Center staff will host the event as part of their charge of planning, promoting, and executing Wellness Center events.
This will be the eighth year for the event, which was created to increase awareness about suicide and to break the stereotypes associated with mental illness.
Brenda Boggs, nurse practitioner at Stevenson, said that the No. 1 cause of death among college-age students is car accidents, and the second is suicide. The CDC reports that there are more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses per year, and one in 10 college students has made a suicide plan at some point.
The event will provide information about what can be done to help someone with suicidal thoughts. Students can also take a quiz to see how much they already know about suicide prevention. Free gifts will be handed out to anyone who attends.
The Wellness Center will also promote a free training program called Kognito during the event. This program, available online, uses virtual humans to show the positive impact conversations can have on a person’s physical, emotional, and social health. One good conversation could make a significant and often life-saving difference in someone’s life. This program provides education about how to help a friend who is feeling overwhelmed and having difficulty functioning. Those who complete the program will receive a certificate.
The goal of “Suicide awareness, make a difference” is to help prevent suicide by providing adequate resources and education. By attending the event, students will have the opportunity to interact with peer educators and become educated on an important topic. To learn more about the event, contact the Wellness Center at 443-352-4200.