Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Office of Student Outreach and Support held its final suicide prevention training of the spring 2022 semester on April 20 in Campion Student Center.
The SJU Are Not Alone Gatekeeper training program offers members of the St. Joe’s community an opportunity to learn how to prevent a potential incident of suicide and how to destigmatize conversations about mental health. Marci Berney, director of Student Outreach and Support and case manager, said the program is meant to be a community effort to get help to those who need support.
Berney said of the more than 450 student clients CAPS saw in the 2021 fall semester, at least 75% said their mental health was impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.
“The more that we can talk about any mental health issue, the more that it will lower the barrier for people to seek support,” Berney said.
A total of 29 attendees participated in four sessions this semester, held March 7, March 29, April 7 and April 20, Berney said.
Berney said the training has three learning objectives: recognizing warning signs of suicide, acquiring the skills necessary to properly express concern to someone contemplating suicide and knowing what resources are available for anyone who might need them.
Berney said the term “gatekeeper” in the name of the program signifies that in a community setting, others are able to open the doors for individuals struggling with mental health to access resources that they might not find otherwise.
“When we use the term ‘gatekeeper,’ we refer to the ability to be able to open that gate to support someone and to be able to shepherd them through it,” Berney said.
Greg Nicholls, Ph.D., director of CAPS, said participants also learn about myths regarding suicide that can prevent them from providing help.
“If one asks if someone has thoughts of suicide, that may be very upsetting and increase the risk, which is a myth,” Nicholls said. “Participants also practice asking about suicide risk, which enables them to gain confidence so that they know what to do and how to ask questions in a caring nonjudgmental manner.”
Daniel De Lude ’25, who participated in the April 20 training, said the way people are helped needs to be destigmatized.
“I hope that the SJU community becomes more aware of mental health issues on campus with their friends, and more able to put the things we learned here into action,” De Lude said.
Berney said she wants community members to know there is always someone available to help.
“We put this training together and we intentionally named it SJU Are Not Alone, because that’s really what the heart of it is,” Berney said. “We don’t want any member of our community to feel like they are alone with how they’re feeling with the thoughts that they’re having.”