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’07 Va. Tech tragedy prompts program at YSU
The goal is how to recognize the signs of mental illness in people, and to get them help.
YOUNGSTOWN — As she listened to reports of the shooting deaths of 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, Toni Notaro, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Counseling at Youngstown State University, wondered whether she would have been able to prevent something similar from occurring at YSU.
Her answer was “no,” and she said many of her teaching colleagues agreed they had similar misgivings.
The killings took place in two separate attacks by one individual, a senior student, about two hours apart, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, known as Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Va.
Notaro, also administrative director of the Mahoning County Health Board, said the staff at the mental health board further wondered if the community at large was prepared to deal with a tragedy of that magnitude.
The result of the self-evaluation was creation of the Mental Health Training, Response & Awareness on Campus program, a joint venture between YSU and the county mental health board. M-TRAC is funded by a two-year, $50,000 grant from the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation.
The primary goals of M-TRAC are to raise awareness of mental illness, reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues and treatment, and to provide staff with the skills and resources so they will know what to do should they encounter an individual who may be at risk. Hopefully, they can get help for the individual and head off another potential Virginia Tech, said Notaro, coordinator of the project along with Lt. Michael Cretella of the YSU Police Department.
Notaro said Dr. Cyndy Anderson, vice president of student affairs at YSU, is the driving force behind the program. Anderson was responsible for YSU’s inviting the mental health board onto its campus.
Since the inception of M-TRAC, the university has taken several steps to facilitate communication on the campus.
A Threat Assessment Team was formed and meets regularly to share information. A campus-wide public speaker system was recently tested and is ready for use; a text-messaging alert system is in the works, and the university is working on a secondary Web site onto which people can reach though the main Web site for information on any crisis.
As the two-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech killings approaches, some 270 members of the YSU faculty and staff have received eight hours of M-TRAC training on how to recognize the signs of mental illness in students and others on campus, and more importantly, Notaro said, how to get them help.
She said the governor of Virginia’s report on the killings clearly illustrated the problems Virginia Tech encountered in recognizing the perpetrator’s potential for violence, and confusion regarding the privacy statues and the sharing of information.
M-TRAC training is presented by community mental health and YSU experts, and covers topics such as: What is mental illness and why do we need to be concerned; suicide signs, symptoms and interventions; reducing stigma by putting a face on mental illness; privacy concerns; de- escalation and communication skills; classroom management skills; and how to access YSU resources and university protocol for students at risk.
One thing that stood out in the governor of Virginia’s report was that many individuals at VT had a lot of information about the perpetrator. They knew that he had mental health issues and that he was having extreme difficulty with interpersonal relationships and problems assimilating into the university. But, no one knew what to do with that information, Notaro said.
M-TRAC training cannot prevent all bad things from happening. Most people who are struggling with mental health issues are not dangerous toward others. But, the thought is if we arm individuals who have interactions with students on a consistent basis, not just the police and department heads, faculty, support staff and residential advisers, we have a better chance of recognizing a potentially dangerous or troublesome situation before it becomes a reality.
M-TRAC is the first program of its kind in the state in which a university and county mental health board has collaborated to this extent. Notaro said people from the Ohio Department of Mental Health to the Board of Regents are interested, and the county has received calls from other mental health boards asking for help to start similar programs in their counties, she said.
“Our goal is not to throw the students out, but to get them help so they can succeed. We’re interested in helping individual students, but we are also concerned about the entire university community. The whole goal is to try and prevent an incident,” said Cretella.
“The likelihood that another Virginia Tech would happened here or anywhere is very small. But, there is a potential for people to hurt themselves and others. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Notaro said.
alcorn@vindy.com