ISPEAK

Islander Suicide Prevention through Education, Awareness, and Knowledge

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi program sponsored through a partnership of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, University Counseling Center, and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Grant funded by the SAMHSA Garret Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program

Maike Holleck, M.S. LPC-Associate

Maike is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student as part of the Ph.D. in Counseling Education and Supervision program. Maike is also a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology as part of the I-Speak program and serves as the Campus Suicide Prevention Activities Coordinator. She obtained her Master of Science Degree from TAMUCC in Professional Counseling, emphasizing Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She then moved on to serve as a Youth and young adult mental health and life skill coach in Germany. Now her focus lies on suicide prevention within the young adult and college population, and she is excited about ISPEAK's impact on campus.

Justen Schroeder, M.S. LPC-Associate

Justen is a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi graduate student as a part of the Ph.D. in Counseling Education and Supervision program. Along with that, Justen is a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology (CNEP) as part of the I-SPEAK Program. He graduated from Wichita State University with a Master’s of Education in Counseling with an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Sports Counseling. He has experience working with adolescents and college students in their mental health journeys. Justen’s primary area of focus is helping college students with the adjustments and developments in a student’s college life. He also has a passion for the mental health of student-athletes in all sports and capacities. Justen is excited to be a part of I-SPEAK as well as I-SPEAK's impact on the campus of TAMU-CC.

Alianna Cedillo, B.S

Alianna is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student in the Professional Counseling program, emphasizing addiction counseling. Alianna is a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology as part of the I-Speak program. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in human sciences from Texas Tech University, concentrating on addictive disorders and family studies. She has worked for American Addiction Centers as a treatment advocate and is passionate about helping people achieve recovery.

Abby Blackburn, B.S

Abby is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student pursuing her Master's in Professional Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is also a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology in the I-SPEAK program. Abby received her undergraduate degree in biology from Henderson State University. She then worked with teenagers at a psychiatric residential treatment facility and hopes to return to that setting as a licensed Professional Counselor! She is excited for her first semester as an Islander and as a member of the I-SPEAK team!

Ke'Tavion Humber, B.S.

Ke’Tavion Humber is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student in the Professional Counseling program on the Family and Marriage counseling track. Ke’Tavion is a graduate assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology (CNEP) in the I-Speak program. Ke’Tavion manages the social media account for I-Speak and is one of the QPR coordinators. Ke’Tavion completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi while being a part of the track team for five years.

QPR Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training

Learn simple and effective tools to recognize the warning signs of suicide and learn how to intervene and help someone who may be having thoughts of suicide. This workshop is free and open to all student-workers, staff, and faculty.

Kognito-Discontinued

The Kognito suicide prevention program has successfully trained over a thousand Islanders to be active suicide preventers on campus and beyond. Unfortunately, the program closed its doors in March of 2024 and will no longer be available to students or faculty. However, I-SPEAK is still committed to suicide prevention on campus. Please feel free to contact Maike Holleck at mholleck@tamucc.edu to inquire about our other suicide prevention initiatives and classroom resources.

University Counseling Center

https://www.tamucc.edu/counseling/ or call (361) 825-2703

I-Care

https://www.tamucc.edu/care-assistance/assist.php or call (361) 825-6219

988 Suicide Prevention & Crisis Hotline

https://988lifeline.org/ or call 988

National Alliance on Mental Illness

https://www.nami.org/Home

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

https://www.samhsa.gov/resource/dbhis/nami-national-alliance-mental-illness

The Trevor Project

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources/

Wellness Zone: Meditation and Mindfulness

As college students we experience a variety of stressors, and these may sometimes become overwhelming; From the beginning of the semester when we must organize our time and classes, being away from home, finances, and course workload to the end of the semester where we have finals to worry about. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of things we can do to manage these stressors!

As college students we experience a variety of stressors, and these may sometimes become overwhelming; From the beginning of the semester when we must organize our time and classes, being away from home, finances, and course workload to the end of the semester where we have finals to worry about. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of things we can do to manage these stressors! Meditation can be a useful coping tool because of its many benefits such as:

- Improving positive emotions and life satisfaction

- Reducing negative emotions

- Improving subjective and psychological well-being

- Relieving stress

- Improved emotion regulation

- Improved anxiety and depression levels (Liu & Lin, 2019)

The purpose of mindfulness exercises is to become aware of your surroundings and or feelings. Our mind is used to being busy and occupied all day at all times. It is hard to train it to focus on just one thing or on nothing at times to calm ourselves. These exercises can help us train our mind to become more mindful and help ourselves to clear our mind whenever we need to and when we are feeling overwhelmed. It is expected that during these exercises your mind will get distracted and wander with other concerns or thoughts but don't worry, just refocus and try again. It takes practice and repetition to be able to train our mind to become mindful.

5 Senses Exercise

Use your 5 senses to be mindful of your environment and connect with your body

Mention 5 things you can see
Mention 4 things you can feel
Mention 3 things you can hear
Mention 2 things you can smell
Mention 1 thing you can taste

Focus on an Object Exercise

Pick a small object that you can focus on and touch or pick up. It can be anything like a pen, a ring, a cup or something similar. Be sure to not choose something that can hurt you physically or an object that has a sentimental or emotional value because it can trigger emotions in the moment.

Once you found the object, find a place to sit comfortably with no distraction and set an alarm for 5 minutes. During these five minutes you will observe and touch the object and focus on the feelings you get from touching it or picking it and the details of observing it.

Describe the object in your mind, how does it look? How does it feel? What colors does it have? Is it heavy? Is it small? Is it cold? Is it warm? If i have to describe it to someone on the phone without saying the name of it, what would I say?

After the 5 minutes are done, notice how you feel after the exercise and return to your normal activities of the day.

Wellness Zone: Suicide Awareness and Prevention

Details on suicide awareness and prevention:

Suicide Awareness and prevention is a job that pertains to all of us. Suicide, like many mental health conditions, can affect anyone regardless of age, race or occupations. Whereas it is true that some groups are more at risk than others, it is still important to become familiar with baseline information of warning signs, risk factors and be prepared to know what to do in case someone we care about struggles with this. Being informed and prepared can save lives!

Suicide risk factors are elements that may put a person more at risk of suicide than someone who does not have them. For example, 46% of people who die by suicide were also suffering from a mental health condition (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2019). Other risks factors can be:

Someone who lost someone they loved by suicide
Substance use
Access to firearms
Serious or chronic medical illness
Gender. Women are more likely to attempt suicide but men are nearly 4x more likely to succeed
History of trauma or abuse
Prolonged stress
Recent tragedy or loss

Other risk factors include, trauma history, being part of a minority group, the LGBTQ+ community, or cultural and or religious beliefs.

Suicide warning signs are clues that can help us realize a person may be in danger or need help. These warning signs are not a prediction of suicide but they are important signs to be aware of. Some of these warning signs are, but are not limited to: (Rudd et al., 2006)

Talking about wanting to die or complete suicide
Looking for a way to complete suicide (making plans)
Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose
Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain
Talking about being a burden to others
Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs
Acting anxious, agitated, or reckless
Sleeping too little or too much
Withdrawing or feeling isolated
Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
Displaying extreme mood swings

There is always something that we all can do about suicide awareness and prevention. It can be small like becoming informed and sharing resources and trusted information about this topic or something big like being involved in the local or national organizations that work in the prevention and awareness of suicide. Being informed about identifying the risk factors and warning signs can save lives! Sometimes being there for someone and lending a hand can make a bigger impact than we might think.

Learn more about what you can do here:

https://save.org/about-suicide/preventing-suicide/

Wellness Zone: Exercise

Physical health is directly related to mental health. If we have a happy body, it certainly increases the likelihood of having a happy mind. Exercise helps stress reduction, clearer thinking, and quality of sleep. Exercise also provides a means for social interaction and can help in building a stronger immune system (Raglin, 1990). Proven benefits of exercise include, but are not limited to:

-Anxiety reduction

-Depression reduction

-Boost in positive affect

-Boost in cognitive function

The following are some good exercises that work wonders for your mental health:

Walking/Running: Enjoying fresh air, feeling the wind upon your face, and simply getting your body moving can be extremely beneficial. It’s also free! No gym, or equipment required. Going for a walk or a run can also be great for processing your thoughts, and helping you find your center.

Yoga: Yoga is a great form of exercise with many mental health benefits. It also goes hand in hand with meditation. It is great for grounding the mind in reality when it spirals into anxiety. Research has also shown that it is great for lowering the heart rate, reducing high blood pressure, and relaxing the muscles.

High Intensity Interval Training: HIIT is great in that it is a fast, intense form of working out. It’s wonderful if you’re looking to expend that “anxious energy”. When suffer from anxiety, a lot of that energy is stored in our bodies. HIIT will put that negative energy to good use.

Weight Training: Weight training has a plethora of benefits not only for physical health such as building strength and muscle, but also has many proven mental health benefits such as improved memory, better quality of sleep, and better cognition (Wilson, 2019)

Wellness Zone: Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation is the process responsible for monitoring, assessing, and adjusting emotional reactions to achieve emotional stability and rational thinking. A person who struggles with emotional regulation has trouble controlling their emotions and behaviors in a situation where it is most needed. Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with many mental health disorders while also maintaining symptoms of those disorders. (Grant et al., 2018).

Skills related to emotional regulation include identifying and labeling emotions, understanding what caused the emotions, adjusting the intensity of the emotions, accepting unwanted emotions, understanding situations that can trigger negative emotions, and providing self-soothing when experiencing challenging emotions. Deficits with any of these skills can cause issues in being able to regulate our emotions, leading to the development of negative coping strategies.

Grant, M., Salsman, N. L., & Berking, M. (2018, October 3). The assessment of successful emotion regulation skills uses: Development and validation of an English version of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire. PLOS ONE. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0205095

Situation Selection: Putting yourself in certain situations that can increase positive emotions (happiness) and decrease negative emotions (stress). This can be taking a break from studying for a final to get some ice cream.

Situation Modification: Trying to change the situation that you feel is the cause of the emotion. Using time management skills to prevent overwhelming yourself.

Attention Deployment: Change your focus by changing or modifying the intensity of your emotions. Try mindfulness when you feel strong emotions

Cognitive Change: Changing the perception of a situation to influence your emotional response. This could be talking over your perspective with a friend and getting an additional point of view.

Response Modulation: Being in charge of your physiological and behavioral responses; This can look like pausing and practicing a breathing exercise before reacting out of heightened emotion

Wellness Zone: Nutrition

College students experience many changes in their development due to an increase in social activities and responsibilities (Keck et al., 2020). Students are learning to be independent while away from home for the first time. It may be difficult for them to manage their responsibilities, such as going to class, saving money, and taking care of their mental health. During this time, students may have higher rates of anxiety and depression and develop concerning lifestyle changes. An area of concern for students is their dietary choices and how unhealthy consumption can lead to health problems such as weight gain, chronic diseases, and symptoms of disordered eating. Therefore, limiting unhealthy foods - including processed foods, saturated fats, sugars, and refined grains -can help prevent long-term health effects. Consuming these unhealthy foods can lead to risky behaviors like binge eating, overconsumption, and impulsivity Keck et al., 2020).

Studies have shown a relationship between mental health such as anxiety and depression and dietary choices with biological sex. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, men have a higher caloric consumption and have a poorer diet compared to women of any age. (Keck et al., 2020). Comparingly, men often make food choices based on cost and taste whereas women often choose foods that are nutritional. This study shows that the total calorie intake decreases due to depressive and anxiety symptoms that can cause a loss of appetite for both sexes. Following this, the presence of depression and anxiety can lead to an increase in sugar consumption for both men and women, whereas men who are depressed eat less fats, fruits and vegetables (Keck et al., 2020).

The connection between depression and dieting according to Keck and colleagues (2020) has been well-established. Research shows western diets have been frequently linked to a greater risk of depression, with Mediterranean diets being connected to causing lower depressive symptoms. Specifically, consumptions of folate, oils, soy, fish, fruit and vegetables have been related to a decreased risk of depressive symptoms. On the other hand, processed foods, sugar, refined grain and high-fat foods are connected to an increase in depression. Generally, individuals who are more depressed have a tendency to consume more calories, have higher BMI, and poorer diet quality.

Wellness Zone: Substance Use

Walters and his colleagues (2016) state that with supported research, results showed cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco to be the most used drugs by college students. A review was conducted, and the results concluded that due to substance abuse, college students are now suffering developmentally. The changes that have occurred show a significant impact during the transition from adolescence to adulthood, causing suffering and delay in taking on the roles of responsibilities expected at 18 (Walters et al., 2016).

The initiation of drug use typically occurs during the first year of college. Students who did not drink heavily during high school are at a higher risk for binge drinking during their first year, while those who did not drink at all usually begin drinking during this year. Marijuana is typically initiated and continued throughout all years of college. Most students stop using drugs by their sophomore year.

Consequences for substance use in college students can have significant consequences; these include “poor academic performance, unintentional injuries, health problems, heightened rates of engagement in other risky behaviors, legal problems, increased risk of substance use and abuse in adulthood, and mortality” (Skidmore et al., 2016).

The special populations on college campuses have been linked to higher substance use than college students not part of these populations. Although athletes have more negative consequences, this population binge drinks more than non-athlete students. By comparison, Greek life has an increased use in alcohol consumption for membership and social activity. In addition, Greek life is linked to nonmedical prescription stimulants and other drug use. Sexual minorities use substances to cope with many factors such as minority stress and internalized homophobia. Coping with social stress can lead to the engagement of risky behaviors (Skidmore et al., 2016).

Skidmore, C. R., Kaufman, E. A., & Crowell, S. E. (2016). Substance use among college students. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 25(4), 735-753.

Wellness Zone: Perfectionism

Perfectionism is the self-criticism and high standards people put on themselves. College students who struggle with perfectionism tend to have issues with procrastination and rumination. Perfectionism can have cognitive, behavioral, and emotional consequences and actively engaging in mindfulness and wellness-based strategies can lower the burden and symptoms of perfectionism in college students and turn the trait into a strength.

College students are expected to meet high standards. Students feel they must strive for perfection to meet academic requirements for scholarships, expectations from family, and personal satisfaction.
Previously seen as a negative trait, researchers now acknowledge that perfectionism can be adaptive or maladaptive. Perfectionism striving can help students become motivated and high achieving.
Perfectionism is associated with mental health disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, and other stress related disorders.
The perfectionism trait can be broken down into emotional, behavioral, and cognitive components. Proactive perfectionists rely on reframing situations for positive impact, while maladaptive perfectionists suppress their emotions. Behaviorally, obsessive-compulsive characteristics and procrastination are both common in perfectionism. Cognitively, perfectionists may ruminate on negative situations and view their progress towards goals as avoiding failure.
For students to transform perfectionism into a motivating trait rather than maladaptive, they can accept failure and learn from the experience. Students can work on their emotional regulation. Some strategies involve identifying triggers and realistic goal setting.

Newman, B. N, Strickler, J. G., O’Brien, C., Lui, T., & Lynch, M. (2019). Deconstructing perfectionism in college students: Patterns of behavior, emotion, and cognition. Personality and Individual Differences,145, 106-111 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.03.030.

Self-Assessment

This links to a quick quiz to assess the likelihood of being a perfectionist. From Loma Linda University School of Medicine.

https://medicine.llu.edu/sites/medicine.llu.edu/files/docs/self-assessment-perfectionism-test.pdf

Apps

Use a free app like Breathe2Relax or Insight Timer for tools to manage anxiety/stress.
Intentional, mindful breathing can be a powerful tool to help manage stress and anxiety. You can practice your breathing anywhere and at any time!

Compassion Workbook

Learn compassion for yourself during the challenging times
https://www.mindfulnessstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Self-Compassion_and_Mindfulness.pdf

Wellness Zone: Social Connectedness

Social Connectedness contributes to college students’ wellbeing and academic success. Students with a support network can better overcome obstacles and have a more positive outlook on life. As college students, we can turn to our friends and family during distressing moments for emotional support.

Research shows there is a relationship between social connectedness, self-esteem, mindfulness, and well-being. All of these contribute to college students’ mental and emotional health.
Students who have a healthy relationship between their social circle and their personal well-being have higher self-esteem compared to students who lack connectedness. The students with higher self-esteem tend to feel more positive about themselves and have a sense of purpose in life.
Interchangeably, social connectedness and self-esteem are connected to mindfulness and well-being among college students. When students feel supported, they take on activities that align with their interests and values. In doing so, students who are supported do not feel judged with these activities, which helps their psychological well-being.
Students who practice mindfulness have a sense of self-awareness and have lower feelings of anxiety and depression. Students aware of themselves experience less stress. These students are not concerned with anything outside of their control from the past or present but instead live in the present. This allows students to have reduced feelings of depression and anxiety. Students who experience mindfulness can make meaningful connections with people and be their authentic selves.

Rehman, A. U., You, X., & Kong, Feng. (2021). The link between mindfulness and psychological well-being among university students: The mediating role of social connectedness and self-esteem. Current Psychology, 42, 11772-11781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02428-6

I-Engage

Log-in to I-Engage with your Islander Email to see a calendar of university events, search student organizations, connect with organizations, and stay up to date on everything that is happening around campus.

https://tamucc.campuslabs.com/engage

Togetherall

Togetherall is a safe, anonymous 24/7 online support community space where you can go to if you are feeling down, struggling to cope, or just want to talk to people who understand what you are going through. In addition to being able to give and receive online peer support, you can also access self-directed online courses, articles, and assessments for your wellness and mental health. (From CC website)

https://www.tamucc.edu/counseling/selfcare.php

Wellness Zone: Financial Stress

Financial stress is a common issue found in college students, especially relating to student loans and credit card debt. College students can lessen their financial stress by setting financial goals and engaging in ongoing education about financial literacy and money management. Financial wellness is imperative to overall wellbeing and learning how to be financially well can start in college.

Financial wellness includes having knowledge of one’s financial situation and making progress towards financial goals. College students can focus on developing responsible financial behaviors while in school to have financial wellbeing postgraduation. Students’ overall wellbeing is impacted by their financial situation, so it is important to make responsible decisions with money to lower financial stress.
Between “2004 and 2005 and 2014–2015, the average price of undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board for full time students increased 33% at public institutions and 26% at private colleges (adjusted for inflation)” (Montalto et al., 2018). This has caused an increase in the need to take out student loans. Student loan debt was the biggest contributor to financial stress in college students. Another large source of stress is credit card debt. Around 70% of college students report being stressed about their personal financial situations (Montalto et al., 2018). This stress is linked to academic issues, including students considering dropping out or reducing their course load.

Developing financial wellness contributes to better overall wellness for college students. Financial wellness can stem from increased financial efficacy; this looks like students learning to be aware of their financial situation, setting financial goals, and developing plans to reach these goals.

Montalto, C.P., Phillips, E.L., McDaniel, A. et al. College Student Financial Wellness: Student Loans and Beyond. J Fam Econ Iss 40, 3–21 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-9593-4

TAMUCC Financial Aid

This links to TAMUCC’s financial aid information page. This site has various pages with information for students and parents about funding resources, repayment information, and more.

https://www.tamucc.edu/cost-and-aid/financial-aid/index.php

Self-Assessment

Take this quiz to see the state of your financial wellness. The quiz was created by researchers from Old Dominion University to help students assess the state of their financial wellness and how to build better financial wellness strategies.

https://ww1.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/offices/counseling-services/docs/wellness-test-financial.pdf

ISPEAK

Islander Suicide Prevention through Education, Awareness, and Knowledge

QPR Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training

Kognito-Discontinued

Wellness Zone: Meditation and Mindfulness

Wellness Zone: Suicide Awareness and Prevention

Wellness Zone: Exercise

Wellness Zone: Emotion Regulation

Wellness Zone: Nutrition

Wellness Zone: Substance Use

Wellness Zone: Perfectionism

Wellness Zone: Social Connectedness

Wellness Zone: Financial Stress

Contact

Islander Suicide Prevention Program

News

News

Events

Events

ISPEAK

Islander Suicide Prevention through Education, Awareness, and Knowledge

Graduate Assistant Bios

QPR Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training

Attend a training

Kognito-Discontinued

Suicide Prevention Resources on Campus and Beyond

Wellness Zone: Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness Exercises

Wellness Zone: Suicide Awareness and Prevention

Risk Factors

Warning Signs

What to do?

Wellness Zone: Exercise

Benefits of Exercise

Different Methods of Exercise

Wellness Zone: Emotion Regulation

Five types of emotional regulation strategies

Wellness Zone: Nutrition

Biological Sex and Diet

Relationship between Mental Health and Dietary Choices

Izzy's Food Pantry

Wellness Zone: Substance Use

Initiation of Drug Use in College

Consequences of Substance Use

Special Populations (Athletes, Greek Life, & Sexual Minorities)

Take the Mental Health-Substance Use Assessment

Resources

Wellness Zone: Perfectionism

Perfectionism in College Students

Resources

Wellness Zone: Social Connectedness

College Students Connectedness

Resources

Wellness Zone: Financial Stress

Financial Wellness

Resources

Contact

Islander Suicide Prevention Program

News

News

Events

Events