The impact of experiential exercises on communication and relational skills in a suicide prevention gatekeeper-training program for college resident advisors.

OBJECTIVE: In an effort to identify students at risk for suicide, many colleges are implementing suicide prevention training for campus gatekeepers. This study evaluated the efficacy of a 3-hour, experiential-based gatekeeper training that included an emphasis on enhancing communication skills and relational connection in addition to the didactic foci of standard gatekeeper training. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-five college student resident advisors (RAs) were trained with Campus Connect.
METHODS: The training was dismantled to examine the specific contribution of experiential exercises on training outcomes.
RESULTS: Compared to didactic training alone, following participation in experiential exercises RAs' training outcome scores exhibited additional improvement on the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory-2 and a 14-item self-report measure of self-efficacy for specific suicide- and crisis-related knowledge and skills.
CONCLUSIONS: In gatekeeper training, experiential exercises emphasizing awareness and empathic responding and practice of these skills contribute to an improvement in crisis response skills above and beyond that of didactic training alone.