2015 Campus Suicide Prevention Grant

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 Campus Suicide Prevention grants. The purpose of this program is to facilitate a comprehensive public health approach to prevent suicide in institutions of higher education. The grant is designed to assist colleges and universities in building essential capacity and infrastructure to support expanded efforts to promote wellness and help-seeking of all students. Additionally, this grant will offer outreach to vulnerable students, including those experiencing substance abuse and mental health problems who are at greater risk for suicide and suicide attempts. The Campus Suicide Prevention grant supports a wide range of program activities and prevention strategies to build and sustain a foundation for mental health promotion, suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention and other prevention activities such as interpersonal violence and by-stander interventions. As an Infrastructure Development grant, funds cannot be used to pay for direct traditional mental health and substance abuse treatment services such as therapy, counseling, and medication management. The Campus Suicide Prevention Grant program seeks to address behavioral health disparities among racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minorities by encouraging the implementation of strategies to decrease the differences in access, service use and outcomes among the racial and ethnic minority populations served. (See PART II: Appendix G – Addressing Behavioral Health Disparities.) SAMHSA intends that these grants will assist colleges and universities to have a campus free from the tragedy of suicide which also supports the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Objective 8.1 (See http://store.samhsa.gov/product/National-Strategy-for-Suicide-Prevention-2012-Goals-and-Objectives-for-Action/PEP12-NSSPGOALS). Campus Suicide Prevention grants are authorized under the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act (Section 520E-2 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended). This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Mental Health and Mental Disorders Topic Area HP 2020-MHMD. This grant also directly supports SAMHSA’s Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Strategic Initiative. For more information on SAMHSA’s six Strategic Initiatives go to http://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/strategic-initiatives.