Enough Is Enough

Book excerpt: Are your violence prevention and mental health efforts on campus coordinated? Are all your campus professionals aware of the system for reporting information about students who may be in distress or at-risk for harming themselves or others? Is the information reviewed and acted on?Recent campus crises have highlighted that campus administrators will be judged by three things: What the campus was doing before the crisis, its immediate response during the crisis, and the follow-up after the crisis.Born out of the call by Virginia Tech’s Zenobia Hikes for urgent action to stem the tide of societal violence, and the NASPA “Enough is Enough” campaign (www.EnoughisEnoughcampaign.org) that she inspired, this book provides guidance on how to be proactive in preventing violence, and be prepared to provide a comprehensive response to a crisis. Enough is Enough presents first-hand accounts and experienced counsel from professionals who have lived through a violent incident, and continue to deal with its aftermath. They cover violence, suicide prevention, and mental health promotion in an integrated way, and offer a comprehensive plan to create a campus-wide system for collecting information about students at-risk for self-harm or violence toward others. The authors describe how to develop university-wide emergency plans, using the National Incident Management System template and involving a wide spectrum of campus services; how to create crisis response teams and victim liaison programs; offer recommendations about communication and the management of information; and address institutionally-appropriate and sensitive ways to achieve healing and recovery. The book is addressed to administrators, student affairs, services and mental health professionals, and counselors, on all the nation’s campuses, elementary through post-secondary. A Joint ACPA & NASPA Publication