SUICIDE PREVENTION, INTERVENTION, AND POSTVENTION IN VIRGINIA SCHOOLS SURVEY

This survey is being administered by the Institute for Collaborative Research and Evaluation at Virginia Commonwealth University in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to better understand suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention strategies employed by schools across Virginia.

Results from the survey will be shared with VDH and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Responses will be analyzed at the school-level to understand how suicide prevention needs vary by individual school contexts, but school names will never be connected with responses in any public reporting of the data. Your personal information will also never be connected with your responses in any way. There are no right or wrong answers. Please answer each question as honestly as you can. By providing honest answers, state policy makers and leaders can help ensure that schools have the resources, training, and curriculum they need to adequately support youth mental health, specifically related to suicide prevention.

When answering the questions, please answer based on your understanding of mental health services at your school overall, rather than from your personal perspective. If you are unsure about a question, please seek input from colleagues such as other school-based mental health providers (e.g. school counselors, school social workers, or school psychologists), or school administrators.

Here is a definition of mental health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to help guide responses to questions in this survey: “Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected.”

Section one asks about general mental health and wellbeing support for students. Section two asks about suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. This survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.