How students help each other: a unique suicide prevention project

The university has started training student volunteers for the prevention of suicidal behavior under the JANYNDAMYN project. It is carried out with the support of the World Health Organization, the Commission on Women's Rights and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The project is being implemented for the first time in higher educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kozybayev University was the first where it was put into practice on the basis of a Psychological Service.

Today, the problem of suicide among young people remains very relevant. In this regard, the task of the organizers is to train students to identify children in difficult life situations, provide them with primary psychological assistance and support, and, if necessary, refer them to specialists from the Psychological Service of the university or medical organizations. Perhaps such attention will save someone's life and allow our students to understand not only the feelings of other students, but also themselves.

Within 2 months, the volunteers will receive competencies in the fields of general and age psychology, suicide prevention, psychiatry, clinical psychology, and resilience building. They will master the basics of rhetoric and public speaking, nutrition and healthy lifestyle formation. Leading teachers of the Pedagogical Faculty, psychiatrists of the North Kazakhstan Region Mental Health Center, the head of Tartcraft Fitness LLP and the Pilgrim National Student Theater were invited as speakers. A total of 40 university students were selected for the project.