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A new policy allowing students to receive help for substance abuse problems stemmed from a similar policy for potentially suicidal students, a health representative said.
The year-old Suicide Policy, which requires students who threaten or attempt to harm themselves to attend three counseling sessions, has experienced universal success since its implementation in January 2007, said Rosemary Simmons, director of the counseling center.
Because of the policy's effectiveness, the university established the Substance Abuse Policy, requiring students who are reported with drug or alcohol problems to attend three sessions.
The most recent policy has met words of skepticism from many students.
Ben Collette, a freshman from Springfield studying biology, said he currently attends mandatory counseling sessions, but does not think the policy is effective.
"I'm not going to stop doing the things I'm doing just because I might have to go to counseling for it," Collette said. "I see it as someone telling me what I should and should not do, but I'm my own person.
"I'm going to make my own decisions no matter what."
Mallory Miller, a junior from Sesser studying accounting, said one of her friends went to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, but she was not aware of the new substance abuse policy. She said she would probably try to fight being reported for alcohol abuse, but suicide would be a different story.
Other students took the opposite view. Kimberlie Ward, a junior from Johnston City studying elementary education, said she would go to the sessions if she was reported.
"If you're suicidal or drinking that heavily, you … should get help if somebody's willing to offer to help you. You should at least give it a chance. At least once," Ward said.
The university's suicide policy mimics that of University of Illinois, which has been extremely successful, said Barb Elam, interim assistant director of the Wellness Center.
During these assessments, students will learn how to understand what caused the threat or attempt of suicide, what the they might have done differently and how future situations could be dealt with more safely and effectively, according to the Counseling Center's Web site.
The site repeated what Elam and Simmons have stressed while talking about the substance abuse policy: the guidelines are not intended as punishment for students, but instead offer help and support in dealing with stress and emotions.
Miller said the success of the policy with students is unpredictable.
"It just depends on who they are and what their problems are," Miller said. "Usually a lot of people don't take that sort of stuff seriously."
Because the Suicide Policy has only been in effect for one year, there are few ways to measure the success of the policy. Success criteria has been assessed by compliance rates, retention rates, and rates for repeat offenders, Simmons said.
Compliance has an undefeated record in both policies. In 2007, the 23 students asked to undertake counseling sessions for suicide threats and attempts did so, Simmons said. Of those, seven students choose to continue their sessions voluntarily.
Because the alcohol policy only began on Feb. 14, compliance is the only evaluation available. All five to seven students reported have complied with the policy, Simmons said.
The suicidal students' retention rate for the semester following the students' attendance with counselors was marked at 100 percent.
Not one of the previously suicidal students repeated any threats or attempts. Eventually, graduation rates will be available to help further measure the success of both policies, Simmons said.
Ward suggested an additional way to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies.
"If you're seeing a lot fewer kids being suicidal … if those numbers start going down but yet they're still looking for (suicide threats or substance abuse), then obviously it's working," said Ward.
The suicide policy is available at http://www.siu.edu/offices/counsel/cservices.html, while the substance abuse policy can be found on the Wellness Center's portion of the Student Health Center's Web site: http://www.siuc.edu/~shc.
Lindsey Smith can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 255 or lgsmith@siu.edu.
