Suicide Assessment & Mental Illness Awareness for the Resident Advisor

Suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death among college students, according to the American Psychiatric Association. And, the number one cause of suicide for college students (and all suicides in general) is untreated depression.

RAs are increasingly having to act as mental health counselors, but with limited training and experience. Yet it's imperative that they be able to identify and respond to the needs of potentially suicidal students under their watch.

Give your RAs the knowledge they need to understand the early warning signs and keep student suicide from occurring. If certain behaviors can be identified in time, suicides and other harmful actions can be prevented.

A new solution for helping RAs recognize and respond to potential suicide situations

Suicide Assessment & Mental Illness Awareness for the Resident Advisor is a new online course designed to help RAs understand the mental health concerns of today's college students–the same students for whom they are responsible.

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This course offers training in suicide awareness and referral, and an overview of various other mental health challenges experienced by college students. These include:

Depression
Anxiety
Adjustment problems
Learning difficulties
Attention problems
Eating disorders
Social difficulties

The course concludes with a discussion of risk levels, how RAs should intervene with students, and on-campus referral sources for follow-up care.

Suicide Assessment & Mental Illness Awareness for the Resident Advisor is comprised of three lessons in video format, followed by discussion, review of a case study and a "Check on Learning" to ensure understanding of the material.

A resource especially designed for the needs of today's RAs–and budget-friendly for you!

Suicide Assessment & Mental Health Awareness for the Resident Advisor

We understand how busy RAs are: they have to balance their residence hall duties with academic work, other college activities, and a social life. This course has been carefully designed with their time demands in mind. They can work through the course at their own pace–when it's most convenient for them–completing assignments when they choose to accommodate their class and work schedules. And since the materials are all available online, convenient 24/7 access means they can progress through the lessons wherever the Internet is available...in their dorm rooms, at the campus library, or sitting outside with a laptop.

The online format means the course is taken individually, with a personal login, so your RAs can try new approaches and feel comfortable making mistakes in a risk-free environment.

But we've reserved the best news for your budget. This online course is priced per semester–not per Resident Assistant–so you'll pay just $249 no matter the size of your RA group. The price is a budget-stretcher even if you're training only one new RA per semester, but the value grows for each additional person who takes the course. If you have 50 new RAs to train in the semester, that's less than $5 per person.

Your RAs will gain the knowledge they need to intervene effectively with potentially suicidal students

After completing this course, your RAs will be able to:

Identify the signs and symptoms of suicide.
Refer suicidal students to the appropriate resources on campus.
Better understand various mental illness definitions, signs and symptoms, and approaches to working with troubled students.
Rate students on a risk scale (mild, moderate, elevated, severe, extreme) and understand the best practices for intervening with these students.
Understand their legal obligations regarding reporting disruptive behavior.

As course administrator, you'll be able to track each registrant's progress throughout the course, and each RA who finishes the course receives a Certificate of Completion.

Expert presenter

Aggression Identification & Management for the Resident Advisor is presented by Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D. He is the president-elect of the American College Counseling Association, currently serves as Director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky University. He has presented nationally on counseling ethics, mandated counseling, testing and assessment at the American College Counseling Association (ACCA), Association of College and University Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and the National Association of Forensic Counselors (NAFC).