Message from President Lambert & President-elect Book regarding the issue of student suicide

Dear Members of the Elon Community,

Our campus community has been saddened and shaken by student suicides this fall and in recent years. Those of you who have attended one of the Gatherings of Friends held in remembrance and tribute to these students experienced the deep pain and sense of loss felt by hundreds of members of the Elon family who loved and admired them. We continue to hold these students’ parents, siblings, and family members in our prayers, and we remain profoundly grateful for the courage and compassion these families have demonstrated in consoling members of our campus community—especially our students—in this time of shared grief.

We write to you jointly regarding some specific actions now underway, as well as plans for the months and years ahead, to address the issue of student suicide and mental health. First, Dr. Jon Dooley, vice president for student life and Dr. Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president and dean of students, have invited Dr. Nance Roy, chief clinical officer of the JED Foundation to visit campus in early February. The JED Foundation is one of the nation’s leading organizations working with schools, families, and communities in promoting emotional health and reducing the risk of suicide among teens and young adults. We look forward to Dr. Roy’s guidance and strategic counsel on ways Elon can build the healthiest environment possible, as many of our peer institutions have done with the assistance of the JED Foundation.

Second, we are currently searching for four counselors for Counseling Services, including three new positions as well as a successor for Mr. Bruce Nelson, who will retire at the end of the month after long and excellent service to the institution. Elon is not alone among universities experiencing increases in student usage of mental health care resources in recent years. These additional counselors will serve students through individual appointments and will also expand Elon’s capacity to offer group counseling sessions and important mental health education and outreach.

Knowing that counseling is just one resource for improving student mental health, Dean Patterson is also developing a visual model to better communicate with Elon students about accessing the array of mental health and wellness services, support, and resources offered through Health Services, Counseling Services, the Chaplain’s office, the Office of the Dean of Students, Residence Life, Campus Recreation, the Student Professional Development Center, Academic Support Services, and many other campus departments. Support for anyone in our community who is concerned about a student, including resources for referral, is available online at https://www.elon.edu/u/health-wellness/counseling-services/worried-about-a-student/.

We will continue to encourage Elon students, faculty, and staff to complete QPR suicide prevention training. Since the university began offering this practical, proven training through QPR Institute last March, more than 650 Elon faculty, staff, and students have already completed the program. QPR Gatekeeper Training provides instruction about simple skills anyone can utilize that are effective in suicide prevention. If you have not yet completed this training, please visit the website https://www.elon.edu/u/health-wellness/counseling-services/qpr-suicide-prevention-training/ to learn how to access the program.

This work is critically important. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young adults, and more than 1,100 college students die from suicide each year. (Men die from suicide four times as often as women, but women attempt suicide three times more frequently than men.) Nationally, only 52 percent of college students report their emotional health is above average, down from 64 percent in 1985. We know that all college students—including Elon students—feel stress and anxiety in trying to “keep up” with unrealistic standards reinforced by peers on social media. And of course, all of the stressors in contemporary society that dominate our headlines every day impact our students’ well-being. These forces call us to attend to a wide spectrum of concerns about student mental health, wellness, and well-being with multiple strategies.

Additional Elon initiatives focused on student support and well-being include the following:

The Koenigsberger Learning Center (KLC), currently under construction and opening in fall 2018, will bring academic advising, disabilities resources, and peer tutoring together in one facility located on the east side of Belk Library, which is a hub of student activity. Additional staffing for the KLC will include a full-time director of learning assistance to expand on a successful peer tutoring program by adding both cognitive and affective supports for strategic learning. An accommodation specialist for disabilities resources will extend support for that student population. New facilities in the KLC will include an assistive technology lab and 18 dedicated testing rooms. These rooms will also double as private study rooms for evening hours. Powerful synergies between these programs and the outstanding resources in Belk Library will create a dynamic learning commons that includes the Writing Center, Teaching and Learning Technologies, and a staff of research librarians who can support evolving student needs.

In 2016 the Presidential Task Force on Social Climate and Out-of-Class Engagement delivered a substantive report containing 42 recommendations on ways to help Elon students adjust to their new community upon arrival; form meaningful relationships with peers, faculty, and staff; and derive the most positive benefits from belonging to student groups and organizations. Since the completion of the report, Dr. Tony Crider, associate professor of physics, and Dr. Randy Williams, associate vice president for campus engagement, have co-chaired an implementation team to address these recommendations over a five-year timeline. Some recommendations have already been completed, such as renovated common spaces in the Moseley Center, new frameworks tested in Elon 101 for first-year students and new social events open to all students. The implementation team is discussing a wide range of issues, including the establishment of a traditions council to celebrate the best of Elon’s culture as well as invent new traditions. Dr. Williams and Dr. Julie Lellis, associate professor of communications, are leading a discussion among faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and students to consider the ideal characteristics of sororities, fraternities, and their governing councils and consider how they can best contribute to the broader success of the Elon community.

Also, significant to the work of the implementation team is the Student Wellness and Well-Being Workgroup, chaired by Dr. Caroline Ketcham, professor of exercise science and Mr. Larry Mellinger, director of campus recreation. Elon has an institutional commitment to fostering a culture of holistic wellness, and the workgroup has begun by identifying our strengths and where additional resources are needed. The goal of the workgroup is to foster an environment in which each individual is empowered to cultivate their personal wellness values that will last throughout and beyond their time at Elon. The workgroup is proposing a framework or model of wellness that will be the foundation for a campus-wide mental well-being campaign.

Updates on this important work will be shared in greater detail at both the February all-university faculty meeting and the February Board of Trustees meeting. We are grateful for the talented leadership of our faculty, staff, and students who are working hard to build a stronger and healthier Elon, and we are certain that many of these efforts will lay an important foundation for future planning.

Elon’s strong sense of community and caring will bring us through these challenging times. Let us recommit to value each member of this special community, to offer kindness and compassion unsparingly, and especially to take care of ourselves and each other as we begin this new year together.

Sincerely,
  
Leo M. Lambert                                               Constance Ledoux Book
President                                                          President-Elect