Office of Student Life
Suicide Prevention

About Us

History and Development

In 2006, Dr. Darcy Haag Granello, OSU faculty member in the College of Education and Human Ecology, founded the OSU Suicide Prevention Program when The Ohio State University received the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) Garrett Lee Smith grant. This grant allowed Dr. Granello to begin developing a comprehensive, collaborative, and evidence-based approach to campus suicide prevention and to hire a staff person to begin coordinating those efforts. SPP identified and formed strategic partnerships across campus with key offices, programs, and departments to inform initial goals. Question, Persuade, and Respond (QPR) suicide prevention trainings started alongside efforts to identify and treat at-risk college students, implement student-led programs and events, and to educate campus that suicide is preventable. In 2013 REACH trainings began and The JedCampus seal was awarded to OSU for having a well-recognized campus suicide prevention program. To date, though a partnership model and using a public health approach, SPP's comprehensive program remains rooted in education, advocacy, and outreach efforts designed to engage all students, staff, and faculty in the mission to save lives. Dr. Granello served as Director of OSUSPP from 2006-2024 and remains a professor of counselor education at OSU

Mission

The Ohio State University Suicide Prevention Program (OSUSPP) works to engage a campus community of nearly 100,000 students, staff and faculty through education, outreach and advocacy. We are committed to creating a systematic, inclusive, diverse, and coordinated effort where suicide prevention is seen as a shared campus responsibility.

Principles

  • Suicide is preventable.
  • Anyone can learn how to help someone who is at risk for suicide.
  • Suicide prevention is a shared campus responsibility.
  • Reducing stigma is an essential component to lowering suicide risk and promoting a campus culture that encourages mental health help-seeking.
  • Suicide prevention and mental health are critical components of student academic and overall success.
  • Suicide prevention involves focused and strategic education, advocacy, and outreach.
  • Suicide prevention efforts must be clearly and intentionally grounded in culturally appropriate messaging and programming that celebrates and enriches the diversity of the campus community.
  • Active, engaged, and diverse campus partners and a high level of student leadership and involvement are essential to program success.
  • Suicide prevention programming should use and contribute to a comprehensive model grounded in empirical research and evidence-based best practices for public health promotion

The 10 Major Components of the OSUSPP Model

Effective suicide prevention is comprehensive: it requires a combination of efforts that work together to address different aspects of the problem. In 2018, OSUSPP developed the “Pillars of a Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program” which serves as a model for our work. We believe these pillars and strategies form a broad campus approach to suicide prevention and mental health promotion. They include: advocacy, infrastructure, screening, partnership, leadership, education, policy, student leadership, and opportunities for collaboration.