2026 Alabama Higher Education Suicide Prevention Conference

Partnering for Prevention: Campus + Community Impact

August 28, 2026

8:30am-4:00 pm CT

See Agenda Detail at http://mhrsp.org/2026-conference/

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. Increasing awareness and access to mental health and suicide prevention services both on and off campus are essential to student wellness and suicide reduction. Suicide prevention on college campuses has frequently focused on awareness activities, trainings, screenings, and speaker programs. We are particularly interested in research and practice-based presentations that focus on any of the following topics as related to partnership with community and campus supports for increased awareness of mental health services and suicide prevention. Conference Presentations to include:

• Reaching out to populations at increased risk for suicidal behaviors 
• Implementing protective factors and reduction of lethal means in higher education 
• Increasing awareness of help-seeking behaviors by development and implementation of techniques to reduce stigma associated with mental health concerns 
• Connecting with community resources that provide services to students  
• Implementing faculty/staff and student gatekeeper training (i.e., QPR, Campus Connect, Mental Health First Aid) 
• Identifying effective treatments aimed at addressing co-occurring disorders such as with the intersection of suicide and mental illness with substance use  
• Identifying frameworks for developing institutional protocol for acutely distressed students which could include community partnerships 
• Implementing suicide risk assessment and/or screening 
• Examining comprehensive approaches in fostering a culture of wellness that originates from the highest administrative level 
• Building interdisciplinary teams for wellness and prevention on and off campus 
• Developing postvention strategies 
• Identifying specific clinical approaches to suicide prevention 
• Securing program funding 

**NBCC continuing education hours will be available