About The Campus Suicide Prevention Center of Virginia
Mission
Our mission is to equip Virginia’s education communities to address suicide risk proactively and responsively. We support campuses by promoting well-being and providing training, consultation, opportunities for collaboration, and planning for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.
Vision
Our vision is for every campus in Virginia and its surrounding community to collaboratively support well-being so that everyone is empowered to create lives worth living.
Our Work:
1: We support teams in developing and using a comprehensive plan for higher education campuses.
We teach and promote a public health model that brings together people from various campus roles with a combination of strategies designed to adapt to meet unique needs and resources.
2: We provide online and on-site/regional training for higher education campus professionals.
We offer evidence-based interventions and programs covering clinical assessment and intervention, gatekeeper (“first aid”) training, postvention, and training for campus planners.
3: We share resources related to suicide prevention and wellness promotion on higher education campuses.
We’ve curated a library of 200+ resources about suicide prevention, mental health, wellness promotion, and more.
4: We provide resources and training for K-12 school divisions & professionals.
We help schools create supportive communities to prevent suicide through training, resources, and comprehensive planning.
5: We support students in the transition period between high school and college or the workforce.
We support students to increase mental wellness, enhance strengths, build life skills, and deepen social connections.
6: We provide technical assistance to campus professionals about suicide and community well-being.
We help campus professionals develop strategic plans for campus communities and effectively respond to crisis.
Our Team:
Danette Gibbs, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Lee-Duffy Ledbetter, MS
Project Manager – High School Transitions Project
Sherry Ceperich, Ph.D.
Training and Development Coordinator – High School Transitions Project
Emma Gleckel, M.Ed., LPC
K-12 Prevention Specialist
Leah Hale, MA
SMVF Assistant
Scott Pruett, MS
Technical Coordinator, Web Administrator
Our Values:
- Data-informed: We promote best practice strategies and use data to guide our work.
- Comprehensive: We use a “Big Picture” approach to suicide prevention, which involves using a combination of strategies to strengthen individuals as well as systems.
- Collaborative: We create opportunities for diverse stakeholders to learn from one another in order to solve common and complex problems and achieve shared goals.
- Accessible: We work to meet campus professionals/teams wherever they are and understand that goals, needs, and resources will be different on each campus.
- Sustainable: We foster ongoing relationships with campuses and work towards dynamic solutions that can adapt and evolve as needed for both short and long term suicide prevention planning and well-being promotion.