by Nick Hanzel-Snider
SOS Signs of Suicide is a mission-driven program. Our trainings prepare students from middle school through college, and the adults who support them to identify warning signs of suicide and depression and how to get help for themselves or their peers. At the end of the day what matters most to our team is getting this life-saving information to as broad an audience as possible. Whether it’s our SOS trainings or another suicide prevention program such as the QPR Institute’s Question, Persuade, Refer Gatekeeper training (QPR) – our goal is to save lives. In fact, SOS and QPR are excellent complements to each other. Particularly for colleges and universities, our SOS Signs of Suicide for Higher Ed Students and Faculty/Staff programs and QPR can work in tandem to help create a more informed and safer campus community.
Ideas For Using SOS & QPR Together
- QPR is intended for a university’s faculty and staff, not their student population. To expand suicide education across your community, SOS Signs of Suicide for Higher Ed Students offers a suicide prevention training designed specifically for college students, where they hear real-life stories about students who have struggled and how they got help. Combining both QPR and SOS can be an ideal way to create a comprehensive campus-wide suicide prevention initiative.
- While QPR is targeted more towards general knowledge, SOS for Higher Ed is framed specifically for college communities. Together, these two programs cover a wider base, equipping faculty, staff, and students with a broad skill set that can be applied effectively across campus and in their personal lives.
- When suicide prevention training is mandated, it can be frustrating to re-take the same course year after year. Allowing faculty and staff to alternate between training courses each year is a good way to maintain knowledge while keeping things fresh.
- Since people engage with training content in all sorts of different ways, offering multiple ways to learn about suicide prevention is a great strategy. For example, in-person QPR and the online, self-guided SOS for Higher Ed provide alternate learning paths, allowing faculty and staff to take whichever suits them best.
- While both covering the topic of suicide prevention, QPR and SOS diverge in style and tone. QPR is heavily fact-oriented, detailing statistics on suicide and emphasizing lists of life events and behaviors that might indicate suicidality. On the other hand, SOS for Higher Ed is highly interactive, using real stories from faculty, staff, and students to highlight warning signs of suicide and college-based scenarios to give learners the opportunity to practice new skills.
If your college or university already utilizes QPR, we recommend considering SOS for Higher Ed as a complementary training. Like SOS, QPR is an evidence-based training with a proven track record of spreading knowledge and awareness of suicide risk – keep using it! But by adding SOS for Higher Ed to your suicide prevention education plan, you will:
- Add examples and instruction specific to higher education to your curriculum;
- Provide multiple modes of instruction, allowing for various styles of engagement;
- Offer hands-on practice scenarios for how to talk about suicide;
- Reach students as well as faculty and staff with this live-saving information; and
- Prepare your campus with resources and actionable steps to support each other.
