The North Dakota State University Counseling Center recently reached and surpassed its goal of training 1,800 members of the NDSU community, including faculty, students and staff, suicide prevention. The original goal of the program was to train 1,800 people over a three-year period. This goal was reached in just over two years. Training was accomplished through the presentation of NDSU CARES (Campus Awareness, Referral and Education for Suicide Prevention), a suicide prevention project aimed at educating individuals about the warning signs of suicide and steps to be taken to decrease risk. 

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1995, 10 percent of college students admitted to having suicidal thoughts during the 12 months preceding the survey. It is estimated that 1,100 college students die by suicide every year, an average of three per day, according to the National Mental Health Association/The Jed Foundation, 2002. Many times that number, 1.5 percent of the college population, report having made at least one suicide attempt according to the American College Health Association, 2005. The question before American colleges and universities is not if they should deal with suicidal students, but how.

The NDSU Counseling Center is a nonprofit organization serving NDSU students. Services are free for NDSU students and include individual, couples and group counseling. A resource library is available and workshops are offered on areas such as stress management, depression, anxiety, meditation, academic success, career exploration, mindfulness and the use of the Counseling Center.

Generous donors helped make the NDSU CARES project possible. The Dakota Medical Foundation provided a $10,000 grant and the NDSU Alumni Association provided a $1,500 grant to the Counseling Center.

NDSU CARES training sessions will continue to be offered and be scheduled by calling the Counseling Center at 231-7671.