This brief, engaging video was created for all Texas institutions of higher education to raise awareness and promote strategies to address suicidality among students of all ages and backgrounds. The video includes warning signs and emphasizes that help and resources are available on campus and in the community. The intended audience is incoming first-year, transfer, graduate, and professional students, though it is also appropriate for current students — and those who work with them. This video is general enough to be used in many contexts, was designed by a multidisciplinary team, and is one way to partially meet the legal requirements of Texas 88(R) SB532.

The 6-mionute video features actor portrayals and animation for three stories with universal themes taken from real stories and research. The video was created by The University of Texas at Austin's Division of Student Affairs and the CHC in partnershp with a video vendor with funding from The University of Texas System.

To design this video, CHC coordinated a multidisciplinary team from student affairs, new student services, counseling, and health communication professionals. Over the course of a year, they followed a research-driven process that included an environmental scan, focus groups, a survey, and ongoing consultation with students and staff from a range of Texas institutions. At all key junctures of the process, CHC consulted with stakeholders to ensure the video’s messages, characters, style, and tone would resonate with its target audience as well as build buy in for its use.

The video and related content are designed to reflect and reach students of all ages and backgrounds at Texas institutions of all sizes, including 2-year and 4-year schools and health and professional institutions.

To help institutions use the video for student orientation and other offerings, we created three brief companion pieces: a guide for administrators, and another for facilitators leading a discussion related to the video topics. The final piece includes static versions of key lists from the video on signs of suicidality, ways to help, and crisis resources. These materials also explain the law and provide options on how to add their local campus and community resources to the content.