Suicide in Post-Secondary: It’s Not Okay.

Did You Know?

Approximately 16% of students across Canadian post-secondary institutions have seriously considered suicide? Or that suicide is the leading cause of death for post-secondary students? While this isn’t a new revelation, the ongoing struggles students are having with mental health issues have been highlighted and heightened since the pandemic. 

This is my purpose today – to bring attention to some of the key underlying causes related to suicide, and suicide ideation, in post-secondary students; to address why what we are doing isn’t enough; and provide some recommendations as to what we can do to do better.

It’s important that we begin to focus on these issues, and their underlying causes, so that we can all come together to do more for those who aren’t okay.

Why Are Our Adult Students Struggling?

There are several reasons students are struggling with mental health to the point of contemplating suicide, making it impossible to consider them all, however, if we can gain deeper understanding of many of the common underlying factors, we can take action to ease some of the related stressors.

1. Ongoing pressure for perfection.

Majority of the messaging presented to children, adolescents, and adults through formal and informal communication in our daily upbringing, education, athletic and sporting activities, and throughout social media is focused on ‘doing it right,’ ‘always giving your best,’ ‘getting the best grades,’ ‘being top of your class,’ ‘being the best player,’ or ‘second place is first loser’ type of messaging. And it’s not healthy to have so much pressure placed on top performance being the only acceptable type of performance. It’s coming at children at a much earlier age than ever before, and we are exposed to it more frequently, almost even consistently, than ever before, due to the advances in technological communications, smart phones, and social media. We don’t get a break from the need to be the best for fear of not being good enough.

2. Non-stop comparison.

Again, based on our current way of life, and the continuous exposures we have to other’s accomplishments, successes, and achievements on social media, we are being inundated by the opportunity to compare our own performance, success, and ‘place’ in life to all those around us… most of whom we don’t even know on a personal basis. Yet we cannot help but compare ourselves against those around us because it’s now we are now learning to gauge our social fit. It’s a dangerous way of life, because no matter how good you are doing, I will assure you that you will always find someone else who seems to be doing better – and without having learned the self-awareness skills (an important aspect of emotional intelligence) necessary to authentically come to know, like, and even love ourselves, it becomes difficult to avoid damaging comparisons between ourselves and those in our immediate, and online social networks.

3. Too little time spent understanding, learning, and practicing the skills related to emotional intelligence (EQ).

I’ve done quite a bit of research into our current mental health crisis, and why it seems we are continuing on a downward spiral, particularly as compared to decades past. And what I’ve come up with speaks to the fact that due to the societal and technological changes in our world, our children, adolescents, and adults are navigating life without having been provided the social and personal interaction opportunities that are necessary to develop a solid foundation of emotional intelligence skills and abilities. Emotional intelligence involves our ability to recognize, regulate, and respond to our own emotions in a healthy and positive manner, in addition to being able to recognize emotions in those around us and respond to them in the same way. Emotional intelligence involves developing mental skills in 5 key areas, including:

- Self awareness.

- Emotion regulation.

- Empathy.

- Motivation.

- Social Awareness.

In my perspective, this is the key reason we are seeing such a high level of mental health struggle, at all ages, and is one of the key contributing factors underlying the disturbing suicide, suicide attempt, and suicide ideation rates we are seeing in all age ranges. I’ve spoken to EQ in more detail in some of my previous blogs, and will continue to do so in the future, so I won’t get into each of these topics individually here, however, I will say that in general, we no longer live in a world where development of EQ skills can come naturally in childhood and throughout adolescence and adulthood, as it once did.

If we genuinely want to help people grow and develop in a way that allows them to manage life’s challenges, to be resilient through hardship, and to thrive through adversity, we have to start intentionally, thoughtfully, and purposefully teaching the skills and abilities related to EQ.

Doing so, affords children, adolescents, and adults opportunities to practice these skills and receive continuous feedback, if we want to help them develop past the point of despair. Let’s face it – life is hard, and while it can also be filled with a lot of joy, greatness, and fun, there are a lot of struggles we must overcome to get to the good. If we can’t find our way through the big and heavy emotion that envelops us through the hard, we become lost in ourselves, and in our place in this world.

Expecting people to simply find themselves, and find their way, without having helped them develop the skills necessary to do so, just isn’t working.

In addition to the three factors I’ve focused on above, it’s important to consider additional contributing factors such as the stress to support oneself through schooling, the stress of gaining fruitful employment upon graduating and having spent all of that time, money, and effort to gain formal education, the stress of providing for one’s family, dealing with personal injury or illness, caring for loved ones, raising children, or the many other personal and situational related struggles that each individual is experiencing at any point in their lives.

What Are We Currently Doing to Help?

Currently, and generally speaking, we offer student counselling services, we offer a helpline, or a physical campus location where students can seek help if they are

struggling. We offer wellness days, we develop and implement programs geared toward normalizing the struggle, though I haven’t seen a lot of change first hand, occurring as a result of these programs. That is, of course, not to say there has been a lot of positive offered that I haven’t personally noted. And we offer fall and spring break. Maybe some institutions offer a little more, while others may offer a little less. Either way, I don’t believe what we are currently doing in the typical post-secondary system to mitigate suicide ideation, attempt, and death by suicide is sufficient because we are trying to fix the issues, without actually focusing on the issues.

So, what’s the Issue?

A quick Internet search offers some pretty sad insight into what many students in Canada have experienced when they’ve reached out for help at their academic institution, when they were dealing with suicide ideation or related mental health struggle. Being forwarded to a counsellor who they couldn’t gain access to for weeks later, being sent to the hospital only to be sent home with advice to seek counselling and a note for their teachers, or, in more concerning situations, removed from campus in handcuffs and brought to the hospital by campus police, again, to be released to follow up with a counsellor after having experienced additional trauma due to the nature of the ‘help’ offered by their institution.

My take on the issue goes deeper. In that we do not have sufficient professionals who are competent to offer the type of help someone needs, when they are in psychological crisis. Please focus on my choice of the word competent, here. I didn’t say trained, I didn’t say qualified, I said competent and for good reason.

Unfortunately, as is the case with any qualification and/or training, many people can go through the program or process and still lack the actual knowledge, understanding, skills, personal connection, and EQ that allows them to successfully use and integrate their learned theory and skill effectively. Particularly when that theory and skill involves working directly with other humans. It’s akin to someone who has passed their Driver’s test, received their license, but continues to have accidents, drive recklessly, and put others in harms way. Sure, they may be qualified and trained, but that doesn’t inherently make them a good driver.

To counsel someone, regardless of qualification and training, one must possess deep EQ skill and ability, they must understand the counselling process, they must be wary of triggers and trauma activation, they must be able to empathize and build a felt and trusting connection with the other person. They must genuinely care to help the person, while being able to walk away from the interaction without keeping the struggling person’s hardship in their own emotional sphere. And none of this is an easy task.

So, rather than recognize this gap in our ability to help, we continue to hire more ‘qualified and/or trained’ counsellors to ‘help.’ We offer more ‘wellness days,’ ‘therapy animals on campus,’ and new ‘fall and spring breaks.’ All great, but again, not even coming close to touching any of the root causes we’ve discussed so far. And they’re not capable of creating meaningful or sustainable help to those who are struggling, because they’re superficial solutions that work to overshadow the root causes rather than mitigate them. Bottom line is, we need to do more, and we have to stop bypassing the discomfort or debilitating feeling that comes with acknowledging the real underlying issues, and start taking innovative action to better the situation for all involved.

What Does Better Help Look Like?

I obviously can’t give you a play book that will help mitigate these issues, in all situations. But what I can do, is offer some suggestions, recommendations, and insights that might help you to move in a direction that offers more benefit to your students who are struggling. Here we go!

FIRST,

Consider facilitating a meeting with a group of internal and external experts in the areas of mental health, suicide education and prevention, psychology, counselling, academics, and innovative thought process. Do a risk assessment, facilitated by a competent risk assessment specialist, to address the risks to mental health that students are experiencing at your institution – AND ensure to reach out to your student body to ask them about their mental health struggles. THEN, listen to what they have to say. Don’t sluff of any of their responses simply because you don’t believe it’s the case, or because you don’t understand it. Once you’ve got a clear understanding of the mental health hazards and risks your students are exposed to, consider what you can do to control them. 

SECOND,

Find student insurance providers who are willing to stop limiting student access to differing mental health services that might work for them. For example, if students only have free access to your on-campus counsellors, you are limiting their ability to find beneficial help. If you are limiting them only to receive access to registered psychologists, you are limiting their ability to find beneficial help.

Some might be helped from a social worker with whom they find a trusting connection, some might benefit from a wholistic health specialist with whom they feel a common grounding, and some might benefit from alternative therapy treatment like neurosensorimotor therapy, EMDR treatment, personal coaching, yoga, meditation, and/or mindfulness training, etc.

Boxing all those who are struggling into finding help in the same place, using the same processes, is limiting and exceptionally closed-minded based on all the research we have supporting differing alternative treatments that work differently, for different people. It’s an old-school practice that requires focused consideration and questioning.

THIRD,

Start bringing competent, inspirational, and relatable mental health advocates and speakers into your institution on a regular basis. People who have experienced their own hardship and struggle, and who have found a way to overcome and thrive despite the hardships often still remaining. Find people who your students might be able to connect with, and who might be able to offer them some insight they’ve not yet considered.

Even if you’re only getting a few students show up, and/or benefit from the speaking events, you are doing something to help those seeking help in such situations. Maybe your students can then connect with these individuals on LinkedIn, Instagram, or some other form of social media and receive a daily dose of their positive message, all because you set up that initial connection.

AND FINALLY,

Set up the mental health, and suicide education and prevention policies, programs, and protocols within your organization that are supported by evidence-based practices, that are supported by the remainder of your student and staff policies and procedures, and that can create a safe and trusted space for students to reach out for help, when they feel they are sinking.

If it’s not safe for them to ask for help for fear of being escorted to a hospital by campus police, you are not helping them. If they feel that you will simply refer them to a counsellor they don’t connect with, or can’t book an appointment with, you are not helping them. And if you are sending them to seek help from someone who is not competent in their role, or who does not have the support of institution systems, policies, and procedures, you are not helping them.

What’s the Catch?

💲💲💲💲💲

I grasp that there is a financial burden attached to all these recommendations, one not one likes the financial commitment that goes along with new initiatives.

Particularly where we are with the economy right now. And I’m sure everyone agrees that the financial burden shouldn’t be considered above human wellbeing.

But guess what...

There’s a financial burden encapsulated into each one of those student’s you’re losing to suicide. And there’s a financial burden associated with the related impacts on the remaining students who are left to navigate the loss of their friends, classmates, or colleagues.

Furthermore, there is a financial burden related to the similar impacts experienced by your instructional staff who are not sheltered from those negative repercussions.

If you want to make meaningful change for your students who are struggling with mental health and/or suicide ideation, it’s time to broaden your view of what costs you’re willing to expend, and accept, as an academic institution. It’s time to recognize that the status quo isn’t sufficient. It’s outdated, it’s ineffective, and we need to do more. 

You get to choose your commitments and choose your burdens. Choose wisely because the reality exists that people’s lives, and wellbeing, depend on it.

Main Takeaways from Today’s Blog:

1. Our post-secondary students are struggling with mental health issues, and suicide.
   

2. We need to do more to support their wellbeing, starting with changing our current thoughts on what works, and what’s possible.
   

3. We get to choose what action we take, or don’t take – and there’s a lot of pressure to choose wisely. 

Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll join me again for some other blog posts, and to check out the services we offer that can help you gain some well integrated, and holistic balance in your life! Until next time, take care and stay well!

DO YOU NEED HELP RIGHT NOW?

If you ever find yourself struggling with your mental health to the point that you don’t feel as though you can manage, or you feel as though you may cause self-harm, please contact Talk Suicide, Canada, or a local suicide helpline, immediately. I’ve included links below for quick access to either.

Please know, you are worth it, and the world does need you in it even if you’re struggling to believe that in this moment.

Talk Suicide, Canada. https://talksuicide.ca/

International Suicide Hotlines. https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/

#suicideprevention #mentalhealthandwellness #suicideeducation #selfawareness #emotionalintelligence