Building and Maintaining an Effective Campus-Wide Coalition for Suicide Prevention

Abstract

Preventing suicide is a commonly shared priority among college administrators, faculty, staff, students, and family members. Coalitions are popular health promotion mechanisms for solving community-wide problems and are valuable in campus-wide suicide prevention efforts. This article provides an example of an effective suicide prevention coalition. Recommendations are offered for other campus-based suicide prevention coalitions. These suggestions are based upon the steps taken to create and implement a suicide prevention coalition at our institution and feedback from our coalition members. Attention is paid to challenges in building and implementing coalitions. Data are provided with regard to perceptions of the coalition's efforts on campus. Future directions for effective coalitions are offered.

Keywords:

• coalition
• culture
• prevention
• suicide

Acknowledgments

The Emory Cares 4 U Coalition includes the following individuals who contributed to the development and implementation of the coalition and manuscript preparation: Michelle Calderon, Jane Yang, Sandra Schein, Emily B. Jackson, Donna Wong, Kay W. Stewart, Kayla Hamilton, Adam M. Lesser, Virginia Shadron, Timothy Downes, Ken Hornbeck, Bin Yao, Lelia Crawford. Marvin Poulson, Alyssa Lederer, Linda Vo, Susan M. Carini, and Rachel S. Barnhard.

The work is supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration entitled “Positively Transforming Emory's Diverse Culture: Reducing Stigma and Promoting a Community of Caring” awarded to Nadine J. Kaslow.