SSW aims to prevent suicide

When Betty Ruth, a School of Social Work clinical professor, was a student at Boston University, there was no information or classes about suicide prevention.

Ruth, a 1994 graduate of the school, said BU has come a long way from when she and a team reviewed suicide education information from 2004 to 2006 and found the university, along with most other colleges, was severely lacking in resources.

"There was not one course on suicide offered at BU," Ruth said. "We lacked journals; we lacked books; we lacked videos . . . We had our work cut out for us."

Fifty current and graduated social work students met in the College of Arts and Sciences last night to listen to social workers Ruth, James McCauley and Heather Wightman discuss suicide prevention on the state, community and university levels.

SSW's project, the Suicide Education Enhancement Project, aims to integrate suicide prevention and intervention education into the community.

Components of the project include faculty fellowships, professional training, student and agency collaborative fellowships, research projects and student projects, Ruth said.

"This is all about getting the voices of the students involved," Ruth said.

Heather Wightman, project coordinator for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, sat on the panel with Ruth, discussing community and state aspects of suicide intervention.

Wightman discussed how the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is trying to improve its suicide prevention policies.

Despite surveillance, conferences, training, suicide help phone lines, post-vention -- dealing with the aftermath of a suicide -- and survivor support groups, Wightman said there can always be more.

Panelist Jim McCauley, Riverside Community Care director of youth and family services, said there were four things he wanted the audience to take away from his speech.

"The first thing is that post-vention is suicide prevention," McCauley said. "The second is that, especially with adolescents, we really do see a huge increase in riskier behavior after a suicide. The third is that the impact is far greater than we ever could imagine. And the fourth is that there's a lot more that we don't know."

SSW Associate Dean Ken Schulman said he was impressed with how the night went.

"It was an excellent foundation of information on a topic that has, for so long, been shoved under the rug," Schulman said.

"These issues have implications for everyone, especially college students, because the seriousness should -- and does -- concern people," Schulman said. "It was a very comprehensive presentation that requires people to want to do more on the suicide issue."

Although the night's goal was to inform and mobilize those in the social work field, Schulman said there is still more work to be done.

"I think there are clearly important efforts and programs that are in place, but there is a continuing need for education and to be alert for the signs and concerns relating to people's emotional states," Schulman said.