The University of Central Arkansas’ Campus Recreation and Wellness and Counseling Center co-sponsored a suicide awareness program to destigmatize and open the dialogue around the topic of suicide.

Jessica Miller — UCA alum, former competitor in the Miss Arkansas Scholarship Organization, and junior board member for the Arkansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention — spoke at the event and discussed prevention, intervention and postvention of suicide. 

Prevention pertains to different risk factors of suicide — including biological, psychological, historical and environmental factors — and recognizing potential signs, including suicidal talk, change in behavior and change in mood. 

Although all risk factors are equally important, Miller emphasized biological and psychological factors, which include mental health, as a predominant ingredient to suicidal deaths.

“Research has shown that people that died by suicide had an active mental health condition at the time of their death, and so it makes it even more critically important to evaluate the presence of a mental health condition so you can seek effective treatment,” Miller said. 

Miller said suicidal talk, even if it is a joke, should always be taken seriously as well. 

“That has to be taken out of our everyday language … We have to take that talk extremely seriously, so it cannot be a punchline,” Miller said. 

Miller gave tips on how to be supportive if someone has admitted they are struggling with suicidal thoughts: Listen to their story, encourage them to seek mental health services and ask directly if they have thoughts of harm or suicide. 

“Research has shown that it’s not triggering to ask somebody directly, but it actually could have the opposite effect … Harm could mean a ton of different things, but asking this direct question will allow you to know what your next steps are going to be,” Miller said. 

If someone is in a crisis, Miller said there is a 20-minute window to intervene and save their lives. 

In this window, first, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or test TALK to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. 

After that, stay with the person in crisis; remove any lethal means, including drugs, alcohol, sharp objects and firearms; remove them from a potentially dangerous area and escort them to health services. 

Postvention is where the healing process begins. To be a support system for someone who is in postvention, Miller said to acknowledge your own feelings, be with them so that they don’t feel more alone, make yourself available by staying connected, listen without judgment and encourage healthy habits.

“Recovery, healing and grief looks different on everyone and it’s not linear,” Miller said. 

Miller’s presentation concluded with an exercise called “Seize the Awkward.” She gave each attendee a card to read to the person next to them, which consisted of different mental health check-ins like, “Are you OK? You don’t seem like yourself lately.” 

The goal was to make people more comfortable with potentially uncomfortable conversations. 

“I don’t want you guys to think that expressing emotion or telling somebody about your experiences is a sign of weakness … There’s so much strength in that vulnerability,” Miller said. 

Reesa Ramasahai, a staff counselor and the coordinator of outreach programming at UCA’s Counseling Center, said the Suicide Awareness Program served many purposes, but, most importantly, it allows the UCA community to become more comfortable with accessing resources on campus as suicide is a growing problem. 

“More and more, we are seeing students at the Counseling Center with suicidal ideation,” Ramsahai said. “We have losses to suicide on our campus. It is important for students [and everyone] to know that there are other options to suicide … we want students, friends, faculty [and] staff to get comfortable talking to someone who discloses suicidal thinking and know how to get help. Further, we wanted to recognize those who survive a loss from suicide.”

If an individual is experiencing suicidal thoughts or ideation, they can visit UCA’s Counseling Center or call UCAPD at 450-3111 for a counselor on call. If an individual is worried about someone, they can fill out a Student of Concern Report on UCAPD’s website, the Dean of Students’ website or the Counseling Center’s website.