SAMHSA Suicide Prevention with SMHL

Beginning in 2023 Resiliency Technologies and Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM-Virginia) were awarded a Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Campus Suicide Prevention Grant through SAMHSA which includes providing peer focused Sharpen Mental Health Literacy (MHL) and suicide prevention training to medical students. We have begun awarding training certificates to medical students who complete all four sections in the 6-hour course.

Sharpen MHL training as part of medical student suicide prevention.

In response to the mental health challenges facing medical students, the American Medical Association has adopted policies to support the well-being of medical students during their training. These policies aim to reduce burnout and improve mental health.  Medical schools are encouraged to: (i) create mental health awareness and suicide prevention programs, (ii) offer proactive intervention for at-risk students, and (iii) address mental health stigma (AMA, 2016).

Sharpen’s Mental Health Literacy for medical students meets AMA priorities and can be deployed easily through desktop or mobile applications. Through Sharpen's unique peer resiliency model, we are able to engage medical students deeply into conversations about mental health (Fadel et al, 2024; Hussa-Farrell, 2023; Biber, 2023; Biber & Rothman, 2023; Beretta et al, 2023).

Learn more at SharpenMinds.com/SMHL

References

American Medical Association (2016) via: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-policies-support-physician-wellness-mental-health

Berreta, K., Nguyen, C., Stoner, A. M., Ridgeway, L., Wilson, A., Fadel, N., & Biber, D. (2023). A RE-AIM Analysis of a Mental Health App for Undergraduate and Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(13), 6266. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20136266

Biber, D. (2023). The impact of an mhealth mental health literacy training for foster parents prepared for trends in psychology. Trends in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-023-00348-x

Biber, D., & Rothman, R. (2023). Mental health literacy training for college female peer mentors: A pilot study. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 14(1), 181–191. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2023-0148

Fadel, N., Stoner, A., Berreta, K., et al. (2024) A Process Evaluation of a Mobile App for Medical Students Aimed at Increasing Resilience and Decreasing Stigma in Mental Health. Cureus 16(6): e63054. doi:10.7759/cureus.63054

Hussa Farrell, R. In 2018, Resiliency Technologies launched the Sharpen digital application. Since its introduction, the service has had over 25,000 active users who engaged with some of the 700 psychoeducational modules the company has produced for more than 200,000 total views. Hussa Farrell created each of those modules and then gathered the data from the top 27 modules and assembled them into the Sharpen Mental Health Literacy Course. In 2023, Robyn was asked to lead the course at University of West Georgia as a required offering for College of Education. Five semesters of the course data are currently being evaluated by Drs. Davis and Biber under IRB study. Initial findings from student evaluations found that 98% of students recommended the course for other college students. Preprint at (2023).