BUSSW Awarded New Suicide Prevention Grant

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), Office of Suicide Prevention Services, has awarded the School of Social Work a one-year, $30,000 grant to develop overall BUSSW knowledge in suicide prevention and intervention. Training faculty will be the cornerstone of The Suicide Education Enhancement Project (SEEP), but students, field educators, and alumni also will be targeted through various training initiatives. Clinical Associate Professor Betty J. Ruth is the Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor Jordana Muroff is the Co-Principal Investigator.

It is anticipated that SEEP components will include:

1. Faculty Development Fellowships: Six faculty fellows will participate in a cohort learning project on suicide prevention and intervention (SPI). Each faculty member will be provided with SPI training and support for:

a) development of a SPI Resource Kit that will include case materials, course assignments, literature review, a list of vetted key informants/speakers, and videos/web materials;

b) participation in Faculty Development trainings on suicide held at BUSSW;

c) attendance at a suicide-related conference; and

d) participation in program evaluation activities associated with the grant.

2. Professional Training Institute in SPI: The Professional Education Program (PEP) at BUSSW provides training to thousands of social workers and allied mental health professionals annually. As part of this grant, PEP will develop a Suicide Prevention and Intervention Training workshop.

3. Evidence-based Practice and SPI: Because of the lack of empirically supported literature on social work practice related to suicide prevention and intervention, SEEP will engage in:

a) a comprehensive process and outcomes evaluation for all aspects of the project, with the goal of analysis, presentation of findings, and publication in social work and related journals, and

b) a general survey of Massachusetts social workers in an effort to assess knowledge attitudes behaviors, and training, and identify competencies and skills linked to evidence-based social work practice in SPI.

In January 2007, BUSSW received a $30,000 DPH grant to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the School’s system for content, training, needs, and resources related to suicide prevention and intervention. A team of three public health social work researchers assessed six constituencies–students, faculty, alumni, field instructors, and the wider BU university community–as well as the School’s curriculum. The preliminary assessment indicates that while there is strong informal interest in the issue of SPI at BUSSW, a clear lack of formal content and training was identified.

According to Professor Ruth, who also is the new PEP Director, “SEEP presents a venue to increase the critical role of social work in research and practice on SPI, enhance current and future social workers’ understanding and participation in multiple levels of prevention and intervention, improve social workers’ knowledge of SPI resources, and increase their participation in the development of innovative resources.

“Social work faculty fellows will acquire and disseminate this information as educators, practitioners, researchers, community-organizers, policy-makers, etc. Additionally, the professional institute will facilitate the dissemination of SPI knowledge and resources to a large numbers of social work constituencies as well as facilitate dialogue on SPI between the community practitioners and the academic institution. This multidimensional approach is critical for social workers to successfully begin to address the current and future training needs around SPI.”

For more information on the School’s SPI efforts, please contact Professor Ruth at bjruth@bu.edu