Pitt’s suicide rate lower than average

Regarding suicide on Pitt’s campus, James Cox is grateful.

“We’ve been lucky,” the… Regarding suicide on Pitt’s campus, James Cox is grateful.

“We’ve been lucky,” the interim director of the Counseling Center said solemnly. Cox recalls only one student taking his own life in recent history, and he attributes Pitt’s good fortune to the wealth of on-campus resources available to troubled students.

Apparently, Pitt’s services are not characteristic of other college campuses.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention recently launched the College Screening Project, a program designed to identify and help students with suicidal tendencies by administering an online questionnaire and providing personalized feedback from a counselor to participating students.

A voluntary program that will soon be available to colleges across the country, the project was created because, according to a press release from AFSP, “resources to identify at-risk students are currently not in place on many campuses.”

But Pitt’s Counseling Center has those resources in place. It already provides several screening projects designed to identify treatable conditions such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders, which often lead students to suicidal thoughts and feelings. It utilizes a number of consultation and outreach programs aimed at educating the student population. It offers telephone consultations to concerned friends and family and a specialist on-call 24 hours a day.

In short, the Pitt Counseling Center is well-prepared to help troubled students.

But suicide, the second-leading cause of death among college students, is still a complex and pressing issue on campus.

A recent survey, administered by the American College Health Center Association and conducted by the Student Health Center, indicated that suicide is still on the minds of some students. Cox said that out of a sample group of about 400 students, 4.7 percent had suicidal thoughts, while less than 1 percent exhibited suicidal behavior.

Cox added that these numbers constitute “a significant percentage.”

These figures do not tell the whole story. There is no way of knowing exactly how many students have contemplated taking their own lives. The survey only evaluates a sample of willing students ? clients of the Counseling Center.

Cox acknowledged that there may have been suicides on campus, among non-clients who had no relationship with the Counseling Center.

That troubling fact is the responsibility of friends, family members and colleagues in conjunction with the Counseling Center, Cox said. It is necessary for all people associated with a troubled person to look for obvious warning signs, provide support and instigate the process of getting help.

While Cox knows it can be difficult to do, he added that the Counseling Center provides consultations for those concerned for the well-being of their friends and relatives, advising them on the proper course of action.

The survey was completed May 1 and pertains to last year. The announcement of the survey’s results coincided with the AFSP Annual Lifesavers Dinner on May 7, which highlighted the College Screening Project.

Cox said he had no extensive knowledge of the program, and gave no indication that Pitt would institute it anytime soon.

But both the AFSP and the Counseling Center clearly have their work cut out for them.