Two Colorado State University faculty have received a nearly $800,000 federal grant to expand emergency mental health care access during the pandemic.

Deborah Essert, director of the Psychological Services Center, and Brad Conner, director of the addiction counseling master’s program, received money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Their initiative will train providers in Colorado in evidence-based suicide-prevention practices.

“Part of the aim of this project is to bring to light that, for some, there are dangers more powerful, and more proximal, than the threat posed by COVID-19,” Essert told CSU’s newsroom. “For some, the more imminent danger is the one waiting for them at home, or the threat they pose to themselves when they are home alone.”

At CSU, there will be a new Integrated Suicide Treatment Team that can treat 60 new clients, and the university has begun hiring. Essert said the pandemic has created a “perfect storm” for increased suicidal thoughts, given the distancing between persons, isolation to reduce transmission, financial instability from a faltering economy, and general stress.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255, and CSU’s own service is at (970) 491-7111.