Dayton Daily News: Wright State creates mental health task force as colleges care for students, employees

Wright State University is implementing a suicide prevention program and with a new task force to improve mental health at the university.

With the task force, the university will train people to know how to respond when someone confides mental health issues and have suicide prevention skills.

Wright State Provost Amy Thompson, whose background is in public health, and Huma A. Bashir, associate professor and chair of the Department of Human Services and interim chair of the Department of Social Work, are leading the task force.

“We started this last fall when I arrived, really due to the fact that we’ve seen an uptick on many college campuses in mental health needs of students, faculty, and staff,” said Thompson, who arrived from the University of Toledo last fall.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation polling, nearly 33% of Ohio adults reported anxiety or depression symptoms. Thompson said mental health issues are a leading cause of students dropping out of college nationwide.

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