Office of Student Life
Suicide Prevention

RUOK? Buckeyes

What is RUOK? Buckeyes?

RUOK? Buckeyes is an anonymous interactive screening program designed to identify graduate or professional students at-risk of suicide and encourage them to get help. Made available through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, it starts with an anonymous and confidential online stress and depression survey that is evaluated by a licensed professional mental health counselor. Through a portal that ensures anonymous communication, participants receive a personalized written assessment. Participants are invited to correspond with a counselor online to ask questions and discuss concerns about treatment and resources. All contact and correspondence are anonymous, confidential, and voluntary. Read up on The ROUK? Buckeyes Process.

  • Students who are at-risk are invited to dialogue with a counselor for additional evaluation and to discuss treatment options as needed.
  • RUOK? Buckeyes is an effective tool and the only online evaluation to demonstrate its effectiveness through research-backed data.
  • According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, students who speak with a counselor online are three times more likely to see a counselor in person and three times more likely to enter treatment.
  • Additionally, counselors say that 75 percent of students who get treatment would not have done so without first engaging with an interactive screening program, such as RUOK? Buckeyes.

Testimonials

Here are testimonies from departments that have participated in RUOK? Buckeyes:

“I think if everyone is provided an opportunity to receive help, we can only improve the overall mental and emotional health of the institution’s students! Thank you for spearheading this work. Even contact with one student who needed someone to reach out makes the program worthwhile, and this program and its staff made it incredibly easy to do so in a meaningful way.” – Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology 

“My experience with RUOK? Buckeyes has been an eye-opening opportunity for my department. It has allowed us to conceptualize that students are in need of some mental health services. Reaching out to the students showed that we cared about their well-being. They were not just numbers in our program, they were human beings that may have experienced difficulties in life and we want to assist them along the way. RUOK? Buckeyes allowed us to do that.” – English

“First of all, there was a general "awakening" that there are serious issues in our department, probably in every department - beyond the stress of graduate school. We are exploring seminars and informal presentations that address stress, health and wellness. I've talked to CCS about doing a presentation in our department. We hope this will be a "no - pressure" way for students to become familiar with the available resources, what they actually involve, and understand that it's "ok" to utilize these resources (they are not alone).” – Plant Pathology