KENT, Ohio — With funding from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF), Kent State University will soon offer an evidence-based suicide prevention course.
According to a release, the class will be offered through the Kent State College of Applied and Technical Studies’ Bachelor of Social Work program at the Ashtabula, Salem and Tuscarawas campuses. In addition to students in Kent State's new Bachelor of Social Work program, the class will be offered to all health profession students.
Aside from the original course developers at the University of Cincinnati, Old Dominion University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kent State is the first university in Ohio to offer the class to its students. The class will first be offered at Kent State this fall.
"According to the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio averaged over 1,700 suicide deaths yearly between 2016-2021," a release from the university reads. "Despite the increasing numbers, there was little education for practitioners related to suicide prevention outside of their experience in the field. OSPF and its institutional partners have created this new course for colleges and universities to offer to undergraduate and graduate students."
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