If you haven’t yet pledged your support to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for Giving Tuesday, TODAY is the day.
The holiday season is here and now is the perfect time to consider the people who benefit the most from our efforts, including our incredible research grant recipients.
If a young person attempts suicide, they will often be hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. While facilities and treatments vary, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is usually used to help them learn coping skills for suicidal thoughts and to aid recovery.
When they are discharged from the hospital, however, they face numerous barriers to implementing the coping skills they have learned while in the hospital when they return to school and their daily lives. Dr. Marisa Marraccini from the University of North Carolina has developed a virtual reality (VR) program that can be used while the person is still in the hospital, to enhance CBT and allow them to practice some of the skills they are learning in a specially designed virtual school environment.
“My work situates suicide prevention within the environment youth spend the majority of their time: schools,” said Dr. Marraccini. “Without prioritizing the school environment, researchers and practitioners miss opportunities to address the day-to-day stressors and issues faced by students.”
Dr. Marraccini and her team will be partnering with young people to center the voices of Black/brown and LGBTQ+ youth to ensure the VR program matches their specific needs.
Our goal this year for Giving Tuesday goal is to raise $250,000.
Pledge your support for suicide prevention today – then share your impact by tagging @AFSPnational and #Give2AFSP on social media to show your friends, family, and others in your community how they can also get involved.
