Current Projects

Personal and Professional Exposure to Suicide in Military Populations

This project examines suicide exposure in the Kentucky Army National Guard as well as the experience of military helping professionals (like social workers, psychologists, & chaplains) in working with people who die by suicide.

University of Kentucky: Connecting and Networking for Suicide Prevention (UK:CAN)

University of Kentucky: Connecting and Networking for Suicide Prevention (UK:CAN) creates a new network at the University of Kentucky to decrease suicide attempts and deaths, increase help-seeking and decrease stigma around mental health on campus. This innovative project brings together expertise from across campus and is led by a team with substantial national experience in suicide prevention. It leverages support from across campus including Student Academic Life, College of Nursing, College of Agriculture, College of Communication and UK Public Relations.

Mental Health & Suicide Attempt Survivors in the time of COVID-19

This project aims to examine if suicide attempt survivors experience more difficulty than those without a history of suicide as a result of social restrictions brought about by COVID-19.

Law Enforcement Suicide Prevention- SAFLEO

Working with the American Association of Suicidology & Institute for Intergovernmental Research, this project helps provide training for law enforcement suicide prevention. SAFLEO provides training and resources for law enforcement and their families. SPEL’s contributions have been to evaluate the trainings, serve as subject matter experts and create deliverable content to show how suicide exposure impacts officers and the need for postvention services.

Rural Suicide

Utilizing data from the National Violent Data Reporting System, this project examines variables relevant to suicide in specific rural populations such as farmers, veterans and youth.

Working with collaborators in Australia, this project also aims to examine differences in US and Australia in terms of farmer suicide.

Surviving Suicide: Convening Lived Experience and Research Communities to Improve Patient-Centered Outcomes

This project brought together people with lived experience of suicide and researchers to create guidance for research that better includes the voice of lived experience of suicide.