Mo West Professor Receives APA Grant To Support Suicide Awareness and Prevention

Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph is the recent recipient of a small grant from the American Psychological Association support suicide awareness and prevention efforts by a faculty member and her students.

Assistant professor of psychology Dr. Nuchelle Chance received the grant through the APA’s commission on ethnic minority recruitment, retention and training in psychology task force. The grant covers both research and outreach efforts with a special emphasis on racial and ethnic minority disparities associated with mental health and suicide rates.

Two students have been selected as research assistants. Those students are Latonya Mitchell and Marian Montiel. They will receive scholarships while working toward developing a presentation or written manuscript on mental health and suicide based on their own research question.

On the outreach side, Dr. Chance and her students will work with Can You See Me, Inc., a non-profit that works to raise awareness about mental health issues co-founded by student Demetrius Chance.

One of the outreach programs will be a podcast hosted by Creative Minds, a student-founded group. The five-part podcast will stream live with guests, activities and giveaways. the first podcast will originate from the Blum Student Union at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, with subsequent episodes airing March 8, March 15, March 22 and April 5.