Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Emergencies
On this page:
- How to Seek Help
- How to Help Someone Who May Be Suicidal
- SOS For Higher Ed: Suicide Prevention Training for Students, Faculty and Staff
How to Seek Help
There are moments when stressors can become overwhelming, making it difficult to cope and manage effectively. This may lead to feelings of hopelessness and, for some, thoughts of suicide. It is not uncommon for individuals to experience such thoughts at some point in their lives. In fact, research indicates that 1 in 10 college students report having thoughts of suicide within the past year. If you are struggling with these thoughts, please reach out for support now.
If you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital emergency department.
Campus Resources
- Counseling and Wellness Services is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5 p.m. at 937-775-3407. Faculty, staff, and students are welcome to accompany another student to Counseling and Wellness Services, in 053 Student Union, if they are experiencing a mental health emergency to facilitate their meeting with a counselor.
- Call Raider Cares at 937-775-4567
- Raider Cares is Counseling and Wellness Services’ 24-hour crisis phone service staffed by off-site mental health professionals providing emotional support, assistance, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention to current Wright State University students.
- Public Safety at 937-775-2111 or 911
National Resources
- Text or call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at: 988
- Veterans Crisis Line: call 988 and press 1 or text 838255
- Text or call the Trevor Project (LGBTQ) at: 1-866-488-7386
- Text or WhatsApp the Crisis Text Line at: 741-741
Additional Resources
How to Help Someone Who May Be Suicidal
There is no single cause for suicide. Suicidal behavior is typically related to a person's feeling overwhelmed by one or more life stressors. Often, people contemplating suicide struggle with clinical depression, anxiety, and/or substance use problems. Often these conditions are undiagnosed and untreated and thus increase the likelihood that suicidal ideation will become suicidal behavior. Use the acronym A.S.K. from Active Minds to guide you when helping someone who may be suicidal
It only takes a minute to help prevent suicide.
Acknowledge
Start the conversation and set the tone by showing them your full attention. Let them know their feelings and experiences are valid and that you believe them.
Tips
- Tell them you are here to listen
- Let them know you care and believe them
- Focus on the conversation
Support
Show support by listening to them and affirming how they’re feeling.
Tips
- Be open to different ways of providing support
- Ask open-ended questions
- Let you friend take the lead in telling you what they need
- Listen before responding and repeat their feelings back to check your understanding
Keep-in-Touch
A.S.K. regularly and consistently. Make a plan for reconnecting.
If you are worried that a friend’s safety is at risk, use the crisis resources listed at the top of this page. You are allowed to call a crisis line for someone else!
Learn more about A.S.K. at activeminds.org
To learn more about recognizing warning signs of suicide, and how to have the conversation with a friend in need, join the Mental Health Peer Mentor program on campus.
SOS For Higher Ed: Suicide Prevention Training for Students, Faculty and Staff
SOS for Higher Ed includes two 30-minute, self-guided online training courses for students, faculty, and staff. The training include video and interactive learning to teach everyone on campus how to ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell) in their role in suicide prevention.
SOS for Higher Ed uses real and diverse stories of mental health struggles and recovery along with modeled scenarios to provide all learners with actionable steps to help someone in need.
We encourage everyone in our Wright State community to take 30 minutes to learn:
- How to recognize signs of suicide risk
- How to have caring conversations that encourage someone to seek help
- How to build community connections that foster positive mental well-being
- An overview of available student mental health resources, on and off-campus
To access the course:
- Visit mindwise.digitalchalk.com and click “Create Account.”
- Enter name, email address, and chosen password, click “Create.”
- Enter the redemption code wright and click “Next.”
- View the dashboard and select the SOS for Higher Ed course that fits your role
If you are struggling now, help is available, 24/7/365.
- Call Raider Cares at 937-775-4567
- Call/text/chat 988
- Text or WhatsApp 741741
