As a way to promote suicide prevention, Wichita State University is expanding the
#WeSupportU Suspenders4Hope campaign throughout the country in hopes of creating positive change in communities
regarding mental health and suicide prevention.
In 2015, Wichita State started the #Suspenders4Hope mental health awareness campaign,
after receiving a SAMHSA Campus Suicide Prevention grant. In 2018, the #WeSupport
Preventing Suicide Training was developed as a way to sustain the grant efforts, and
just recently, the #WeSupportU Mental Wellness in the Classroom cards have been released
to help instructors tend to their students’ mental health needs.
Now the program is available to others through the launch of a new website and on-demand
version of the training.
The program was inspired by a beloved WSU therapist who was well known around campus
as Dr. Suspenders, says Dr. Jessica Provines, assistant vice president of Wellness
at Wichita State and a two-time therapist suicide loss survivor. Provines’ team decided
to play off that theme.
“We thought, hey, suspenders support your pants. Maybe we can help teach people to
support each other with suspender t-shirts and words of hope designed into the suspenders.”
The “suspenders campaign” has been a big hit at Wichita State, with over 800 people
being trained in the #WeSupportU Preventing Suicide Training since it launched in
2018. This represents a 426% increase in the number of people trained previously at
WSU.
Provines says uniting the training and awareness campaign under the suspenders symbol
of support is what makes the program special.
“We are changing the conversation around mental health and suicide,” she says. “The
suspenders really help reduce stigma and motivate others to get involved. An evaluation
of the program showed that students who are familiar with the campaign are significantly
more likely to believe the University cares about their mental health.”
Now Wichita State is expanding the program into the community and nationally, as well.
Anyone can help spread the message of support and reduce stigma in the community.
Here are some ways you can get involved in the #WeSupportU Suspenders4Hope campaign.
Visit https://suspenders4hope.com and share this website with your peers. It offers personal stories of hope from people
who have struggled with their mental health.
Show your support by purchasing a Suspenders4Hope shirt. Every purchase of a shirt
supports mental health initiatives and includes access to a free, on-demand, hour-long
#WeSupportU Preventing Suicide Training to learn how to help someone in need. After
your purchase, post a selfie/video on your social media channels using #WeSupportU
and tagging @Suspenders4Hope, along with a link to the website. Also, follow, like and share @suspenders4hope. Throughout the entire month of September,
wear your shirts often and especially on Suspender Fridays as a visual display of
your support for mental health and a way to end stigma.
Complete and share the #WeSupportU Preventing Suicide Training with your friends.
It is an hour-long, evidence-based training created by licensed psychologists. You
will learn about the Share, Ask, Support method to identify someone in distress, gain
confidence to intervene and connect that person to crisis resources. The cost for
the training is only $20, or every purchase of a Suspders4Hope tee comes with a free
promotional code to take the training.
To learn more about bringing the #WeSupportU Suspenders4Hope campaign to an organization,
connect with a #WeSupportU specialist.
If you work in education, #WeSupportU Mental Wellness in the Classroom is an exciting
new tool to support your students’ mental health through a series of 5-10 minute exercises
aimed at infusing wellness education into the curriculum and helping your students
connect to each other, their community and to the instructor. The cards can be adapted
to in-person instruction and on-line learning environments.
By doing any of the above, you will be supporting your community, reducing mental
health stigma, changing the conversation about suicide and may be saving lives. Help
turn a dream into a reality by making suspenders for mental health and suicide prevention
what the pink ribbon is for breast cancer.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that less than 13%
of the 10.6 million people who struggle with suicidal thoughts in the United States
each year actually made a suicide attempt, and less than 1% of those struggling with
thoughts die by suicide. This means that 99% of people with suicidal thoughts recover
and find a way to find hope and live another day.
Many people get help by reaching out to a loved one, starting a healthy lifestyle
habit, seeking professional help or calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
(1-800-273-8255). This network of community crisis centers across the U.S. connected
more than 2.1 million calls to crisis counselors 2019. In Sedgwick County, COMCARE
Crisis Center answered over 55,000 of those calls for help. If you or a loved one
need help, please reach out for support.
“A traumatic loss like that changes you forever,” says Provines. “I have tried to
channel my guilt and grief into making sure the #Suspenders4Hope campaign reaches
as many people as possible. It can’t bring our loved ones back, but maybe we can bring
hope to those in pain and help prevent others from these tragic deaths of despair.”
#WeSupportU started at Wichita State University in 2015 when WSU counseling services
was awarded the SAMHSA Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention grant in order
to develop a local, strategic suicide prevention program. From that grant, was born
the #WeSupportU Suspenders4Hope campaign and Preventing Suicide Training, which was
WSU’s promise to support their students’ mental well-being. Now, others can support
their community or organization with the #WeSupportU Suspenders4Hope comprehensive
prevention approach. #WeSupportU continues to be affiliated with the University and
as a non-profit, is committed to developing quality, engaging, evidence-based content
at an affordable price for anyone interested in supporting community mental health
and preventing suicide. For more information, find us at suspenders4hope.com or follow
us on social media @suspenders4hope.
Wichita State is distinctive for opening pathways to applied learning, applied research
and career opportunities, alongside unsurpassed classroom, laboratory and online education.
The university's beautiful 330-acre main campus is a supportive, rapidly expanding
learn-work-live-play environment, where students gain knowledge and credentials to
prepare for fulfilling lives and careers. Students enjoy a wide selection of day,
evening and summer courses in more than 200 areas of study at the main campus and
other locations throughout the metro area and online. WSU's approximately 16,000 students
come from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 other countries. Wichita State's
Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use
areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to
the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on
Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.
