Developed by:
Maureen McGuinness Clouse, Ed.D. Associate Director for Student Leadership & Judicial Affairs, The University of North Texas

Description:
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college-age students. Approximately 1100 suicides occur on campuses each year, while the number of students attending our institutions with mental illnesses increase. The number of suicides and suicide attempts will only continue to increase. As student affairs/ housing professionals this course will discuss a number of areas surrounding suicide on campus: high risk students and characteristics; examining the Big Ten Student Suicide Study; dispelling myths from facts about suicide; recent legal cases involving suicide on campus; prevention tips; healing the campus after a suicide and providing a number of resources for each institution to keep themselves knowledgeable about suicide on campus.

Course Outline:
Segment 1: Introduction of students at risk for suicide; suicide facts (broken down by demographic information) and the costs of suicide. We will discuss the Big Ten Student Suicide Study and its findings. We will examine the Jed Foundation, Ulifeline and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center in depth and for a future resource for campuses to access before dealing with the issue of suicide.

Segment 2: We will examine the facts of the Shin vs. MIT case and Mahoney vs. Allegheny College and how the Universities responded. What legal implications are there for Universities in regards to suicide? What procedures do universities need to have in place to avoid litigation when it comes to suicide? Is your University set for this type of situation?

Segment 3: What prevention is your institution conducting in regards to the issue of student suicide? Do you have a plan in place to help your institution recover from a suicide on campus? This week we will look at prevention tips, plans and developing a recovery plan on your campus. We will have case study examples as tools to assist you in determining if your campus is prepared for a tragedy like suicide. Concluding comments and questions for consideration will be discussed. Lists of resources from colleagues and instructor will be provided.

Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify risk factors of college students in regards to suicide.
• Identify myths from facts in regards to college students and suicide.
• Understand cases surrounding Universities in regards to suicide
• Have a list of resources to continue to research suicide and the issue of suicide on campus.
• Develop a greater understanding of studies and research conducted on college suicide.
• Develop a prevention plan for your department and institution in regards to college suicide.
• Develop a recovery plan for suicide survivors on campus for your institution.
• Outline a training program for paraprofessional and professional staff you work with in regards to the issue of suicide.
• Create a network with other professional staff around the country in regards to their knowledge and experiences when it comes to dealing with crisis situations.

Participant Expectations:
Participants will be provided with 6 weeks to complete this course, and should plan to complete one segment every 2 weeks to complete the course on time.

Bios:
Maureen "Moe" McGuinness Clouse is the Associate Director for Student Leadership & Judicial Affairs in the University of North Texas Housing Department. Moe has been at UNT since 1998, and has served as a University Judicial Officer for the past 7 years and has advised the Residence Hall Association for 9 ½ years. Moe has presented at the Texas Higher Education Law Conference; the Southwest Association of College and University Housing Officers Conference a number of times and serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Department of Higher Education at UNT teaching in areas of programming in Student Development; and an adjunct faculty member for the Psychology department teaching Psychology 1000 for the past 8 years. Areas of interest for Moe are parental notification, binge drinking, underage alcohol use, suicidal students and memorializing students who have passed away while they are students at the University. Moe has spoken at binge drinking symposiums set up by the Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission.