Know Your Resources!
As preface, here is an editorial from today’s edition of the State Press, the University’s daily student-run newspaper:
A graduate student walked into a professor’s office in the College of Design South building and shot himself in front of the professor Monday morning.
That image is horrifically shocking. It is so out of the realm of normalcy and so beyond what we would ever want to imagine happening so close to us.
We come to school thinking it is a safe place to be, a safe place to learn. When an incident like this occurs, it shakes and scares us.
But it brings to light the chilling statistics surrounding depression and suicide at ASU. According to a study released in 2006 by ASU Health and Wellness Promotion, 11 percent of ASU students seriously considered attempting suicide last school year and 1 percent made an attempt. With a student body of more than 60,000 at the time, those percentages translate to 6,600 and 600 students. [read more]
While this incident is truly disturbing and we are all saddened by the loss of a contemporary and grieving with the professor, this is a wake-up call for everyone – students, staff, and faculty alike – to know that resources exist if you are stressed out.
ASU has excellent crisis counseling resources. From their website:
ASU counseling centers provide crisis intervention for students who are experiencing a mental health crisis. During normal working hours, students may contact any ASU counseling center to request a same day appointment to discuss urgent situations.
After office hours, EMPACT Suicide Prevention Center, Inc. is available for crisis consultation by calling 480.921.1006. [source]
While we’ll probably never know what caused that graduate student to take his own life, this I do know: if you’re stressed out, talk to someone. Talk to family or a dear friend. Talk to your professors. Talk to your academic advisor. Talk to an ASU counselor. Just please talk to someone. Don’t let things multiply inside you just because you don’t think it’s that significant to someone else.
Talk. Just please do it.
-Edward Jensen
This could be a sad teachable moment. Depression is a bad thing. You can’t just talk your way out of it. There should be a ASU wide campaign to encourage the community to take part in depression screening. It can help to ID that you have it or a loved one has it. There are things that can help. I am afraid that I have lost friends to depression.