St. Clair College now has an additional 68 Suicide Alert Helpers and 30 Suicide First Aid Caregivers on campus thanks to the recent facilitation of fully-funded courses.
Jenny-Lee Almeida is Manager of Student Mental Health & Wellness at St. Clair College and facilitated the safeTALK and ASIST programs, which were fully funded by the Student Services department. The safeTALK program comprised of 68 students, faculty and staff, who completed a three-hour seminar in suicide alertness on Oct. 27. The next week, 30 staff and students came back to complete a two-day Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) program to learn the critical skills needed to administer emergency medical care to someone in a potential loss-of-life situation.
Almeida said a majority of the 15 staff members who took part in the ASIST program work in security or were other resident staff at the College who can support students in a mental health crisis. The other 15 participants were full-time St. Clair students from programs such as Child & Youth Worker, Police Foundations, Personal Support Worker and Nursing.
"Those who completed the 15-hour ASIST program are Suicide First Aid Caregivers now, so now we have 30 people on our campus who can help increase safety for someone in crisis," Almeida said. "With more helpers on campus, we don’t have to call 9-1-1, people don’t need to call a 1-800 number. A peer can support another peer. We can help them wherever they are on campus."
Almeida admits the cost of funding programs like safeTALK and ASIST are high but without them, more people are likely to be a bystander rather than intervene and help someone during a critical situation.
"A big reason why people don’t ask someone about suicide is because they think they will say the wrong thing. Having this training helps people feel prepared and gives them skills so they aren’t fearful to say or do the wrong thing," Almeida said. "I want people to understand what these trainings are and their value because I want to keep them on campus. This one time, all money was covered by Student Services to really advocate the fact that we need a lot more helpers on campus."
St. Clair College has partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association to provide Mental Health Counselling to our students. Students commonly seek support on a variety of mental health issues.
At South Campus, in-person or virtual appointments are available Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 8am-4pm. Walk-in services are also available on Wednesdays in Room 164, 8am-12pm. Call 519-972-2727 Ext 4484 to book an appointment.
At Chatham Campus in Room 133, virtual appointments are available Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 8am-4pm. Call or Text 519-355-5568 to book an appointment.
More info: Mental Health Services | St. Clair College (stclaircollege.ca)
