Ask. Listen. Refer.

Friday, September 13, 2024

Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Apologies to those who received last week’s message late due to an IT glitch.
Did you miss last week’s email? Read it here.

Happy Friday!

How do we become comfortable with uncomfortable conversations? Attempting to write this message, I trudged to my kitchen table, sagged my forlorn self in the chair and struggled with how to get there from here – simply to get the important message out. Reading JED Foundation’s “It’s OK to Say Suicide” campaign fueled me to type away with the message. You see, September is Suicide Prevention Month, and unlike other occasions, it is not celebratory in nature but seeks to destigmatize the uncomfortable conversation to foster awareness. While it is a difficult topic for all of us, it is an important one that deserves attention and needs our awareness toward prevention. 

The good news is that Missouri S&T is participating in the Ask. Listen. Refer. suicide prevention training challenge. To reassure ourselves, I encourage all of us here at S&T to complete the suicide prevention program for colleges. To know what to do in case we encounter a preventable situation, I also encourage you to take the online quiz and see for yourself how informed you are about the signs and signals of troublesome situations. I considered myself relatively well-informed since I have participated in many lectures and information sessions on the topic. Yet, I failed miserably in my first attempt. In fact, it took me three attempts to successfully “pass” the quiz. I ask that you give it a try; you will learn and gain and may indeed save a life.

Incidentally, it was heartwarming to read the news yesterday that Jon Bon Jovi, the singer, songwriter and musician, masterfully helped save a woman’s life in a moment of crisis.

Encouragingly, our student well-being department and the JED Health and Well-Being Committee will launch the Mental Health Crisis Response Guide this month. Designed to help faculty and staff quickly recognize, respond to, and refer students in distress or experiencing a mental health crisis, the guide will be posted in every classroom and lab. A printed copy will be distributed to all of us here on campus as well. In addition, a short, highly informative slide deck, Navigating Student Challenges: Strategies for S&T Faculty and Staff, is now live and provides guidelines for more customized, compassionate care and support to struggling students.

Another impressive resource to consider is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)’s toolkit. Designed to inform and educate, I find the information invaluable in case we need to interact with someone intending to self-harm. You may also reference the Project Semicolon awareness materials. Here, the semicolon is used to punctuate a sentence that the author could have ended but chose not to. After a semicolon, the sentence continues, thus the semicolon is a symbol of the continuation of life, not an end. It signals a decision to move forward, not to stop.

If you are artistically inclined, our essay, poetry and art contest, with the theme of “Changing the Narrative Surrounding Suicide,” is designed for you. It’s your chance to express your thoughts and help spread awareness.

To our students, I say, please know that you are not alone. You are not alone in feeling anxious, depressed or worried. Just as you won’t hesitate to seek help when in pain physically, you should seek help when distressed emotionally. Further, I encourage you to encourage your friends to seek help if you sense that they might be worried excessively.

To our faculty and staff, I say, we are not immune from occasional mental distress either. We are all susceptible, of course, and I encourage you to explore our available resources for faculty and staff as well.

In the end, I know this: no matter how anxious and distressed we feel today, our thoughts will be different tomorrow, next week or next month. During our journey together here, we will feel elated or dejected just as we will feel encouraged or discouraged. We will have successes and setbacks, acceptance and resistance, wins and losses. In the words of Aristotle, however, “… it is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”

Of course, there is no person immune to the ups and downs of life, and regardless of our feelings now, we will do ourselves a great service to realize that our thoughts are never final, and that we must muster the courage to seek help if we are to triumph over our moments of despair.

Warmly,

-Mo.

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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu