The Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Campus Suicide Prevention Grant, worth $243,982 and awarded by the U.S. Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, was given to TCU in October. It will support the TCU Counseling Center’s suicide prevention project, TCU HOPE Initiative, which is establishing a comprehensive, university-wide approach to preventing suicides and suicidal behavior on campus.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.

The grant will fund a full-time outreach coordinator and a part-time graduate assistant to support suicide prevention programming. The HOPE Initiative plans to offer training, collaborative networks, mental health screenings, outreach, integrated clinical care and social marketing.

Last year, the TCU HOPE Initiative trained more than 700 people on campus to use the Question, Persuade and Refer program, which helps identify students in distress.