Congratulations Dr. Atherton!

Dr. Leigh Atherton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Addictions & Rehabilitation Studies (DARS), was awarded a three-year grant totaling over $300,000. The grant, “Suicide Education and Prevention at ECU”, was funded by the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention program at the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.

Dr. Atherton and the Suicide Education and Prevention at ECU grant team aim to pilot the use of Kognito online software to increase suicide awareness and prevention skills. Additionally, grant staff will present to freshmen orientation courses this fall and in the spring of 2020 to discuss the common risk factors associated with suicide and discuss how students can best approach peers they may be concerned about. The grant team will also host Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshops for those on campus who are most likely to encounter students in crisis. The overall goal of this project is to create a campus that is aware of risk factors associated with crisis.