Students Trained as 'Gatekeepers'

A small group of students learned how to identify signs of suicidality and prevent suicide attempts during Suicide Gatekeeper training yesterday evening, held as part of the College’s second annual Mental Health Week.

For the past two years, training sessions were held for House tutors and proctors, but yesterday was the first time the training was opened to the entire student body.

According to Paul J. Barreira—the director of behavioral health and academic counseling at University Health Services who directed the training—Harvard has the perception of “encouraging people to come to their own rescue, which is not what we want to do,” he said.

“Each one of you can actually do something that will connect and break through the silence,” he said to the ten to fifteen students in attendance.

The vast majority of people at risk for suicide do communicate their intent—either verbally or through nonverbal cues, Barreira said.

“Our job is to recognize those signals,” he said.

At the end of the training, students paired up and participated in a short role-play, in which one represented a suicidal student and the other a listening friend. Many in attendance said the exercise increased their understanding of the perspective and concerns of both parties.

Maia Usui ’11, one of the event coordinators, said she was disappointed about the low turnout, but added that she understood that many students were too busy to attend.

“This is so symptomatic of the problem,” she said, referring to an annual mental health survey run by UHS that shows that a key reason Harvard students give for not seeking counseling is a lack of time.

“Perhaps because we had such a small group, the quality of turnout was excellent,” Usui said. “I definitely felt that...people walked out with a renewed sense of commitment to helping their peers.”

Mental Health Week will continue tomorrow with themed study-breaks in all of the Houses. It will culminate in a PBHA-sponsored discussion about “Why isn’t it okay to seek help at Harvard” on Friday.

“The whole point of the week is to create a caring community, empowering students, and providing tools to allow them to reach out to each other,” said Tamar Holoshitz ’10, a mental health liaison and chair of the UC’s Student Affairs Committee. “Tonight’s training fit our goal to a tee.”

—Staff writer Helen X. Yang can be reached at hxyang@fas.harvard.edu.