Webinar: Killing me softly: Suicide among African American, Asian, Pacific Islander and LGBTQ+ students

 Registration opens March 23, 2021

The purpose of this session is three-fold: 1) to enhance institutional awareness of suicide risk, which is the second leading cause of death among college-aged students; 2) to examine certain racial, ethnic, and cultural dynamics, gender identities, and sexual orientations, and their relationship to suicide risk and protective factors; 3) to offer participants an opportunity to work, in small groups, to develop strategies for reducing on-campus suicide risk factors, while simultaneously increasing protective factors among diverse populations. This session will discuss research that shows that campuses that successfully create LGBTQ+ affirmative environments can reduce suicide risk among these populations.

This session will also examine rising rates of suicide among African Americans entering college, which have historically been under reported due to unique cultural expressions of suicide. Further, the workshop will examine suicidal issues among specific Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, including a related case presentation. This session should particularly benefit student life/student affairs personnel concerned about suicide risk and interested in developing policies and procedures aimed at increasing factors that protect against suicide. Similarly, this session will be of interest to all members of university communities who would like to contribute to the creation of safer campus environments.