Kent State offers first evidence-based suicide prevention course in Ohio
More people across Ohio are impacted by depression, anxiety, and suicide daily.
Ohio averaged over 1,700 deaths by suicide between 2016-2021, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
‘It’s okay not to be okay’
-Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation
Despite the statistics showing this increase, few programs exist to train professionals to prevent suicide and save lives.
Young professionals entering mental health careers can take the Interprofessional Education Suicide Prevention College Curriculum which is now being offered at Kent State University.
Peggy Shadduck, Ph.D., vice president for Regional Campuses and dean of the College of Applied and Technical Studies, said the course came to KSU through a partnership with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
“To become the first institution of higher education outside of the original implementation sites to offer this course since its development is a great honor,” said Shadduck. “We are thrilled to be bringing this course offering to Kent State University as part of our new Bachelor of Social Work program. This helps fulfill a huge gap in education and training that we would like to help mitigate.”
Shadduck made the announcement online yesterday. She was joined by Matt Butler, lecturer and program director of the KSU social work program, and Austin Lucas, program director at Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
In case you missed it, you can watch the announcement here:
“Suicide is really a very specialized area of practice and, even in master’s level programs, you don’t ever get an entire semester about this topic,” said Butler. “These are skills usually learned on the job in the field or, sometimes, in continuing education courses. To have a chance to talk to undergrads about the cutting-edge aspects of suicide prevention, intervention, post-intervention, et cetera, is very exciting.”
What does the class teach?
According to KSU, the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation funded the multiple stages of development of the suicide prevention course.
The university said the course will be offered through the College of Applied and Technical Studies’ Bachelor of Social Work program but will be open to all students at KSU.
It’s offered as a hybrid elective with no prerequisites; it’s an in-person class at the Ashtabula, Tuscarawas, and Salem campuses, with most coursework being assigned online.
The instructional activities and competency evaluations are part of the new curriculum drawn from multiple disciplines, including counseling, ethics, law, nursing, medicine, psychology, public health, and social work.
It’s designed for students in undergraduate and graduate health profession studies.
The course was developed at the University of Cincinnati, Old Dominion University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“Historically, behavioral health specialists do not get comprehensive suicide prevention training,” said Tony Coder, executive director of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. “We are excited to see this course implemented at Kent State University and to train Ohio’s future workforce in suicide prevention.”
Read more about the Interprofessional Education Suicide Prevention College Curriculum at KSU.
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This story was originally published July 15, 2023 at 4:00 AM.