ASU seniors take evidence-based suicide prevention to adolescents

It was a poignant homecoming when ASU seniors Madison Sutton and Sonia Sabrowsky returned to Red Mountain High School in Mesa in 2018 to host a week of mental health activities for 200 students.

During their senior year at Red Mountain, they lost a friend to suicide. At ASU, they turned their grief into action.

“We knew we wanted to have an impact in the world of mental health and have a positive impact, especially among adolescents and college-age students,” Sabrowsky said.

Their backgrounds in research and service inspired their response to the tragedy: They launched the Home Base Initiative, a student organization that earned a Woodside Grant in 2018, to use an evidence-based approach to address the social risk factors that can affect young people’s mental health.

Though a lot of programs address depression and other clinical risk factors, most don’t address social resilience factors such as building tight-knit school communities and fostering vulnerability and self-worth. And few take a research-based approach.

From left: ASU seniors Madison Sutton and Sonia Sabrowsky. Photo by Robert Ewing/ASU.

“The fact that there’s only a few programs out there that are actually evidence-based — that in and of itself is really important to us,” said Sutton.

Sabrowksy, a biochemistry and psychology major, and Sutton, a global studies and psychological sciences major and French minor, worked with the ASU Courage Lab, faculty and graduate students to do an exhaustive literature review and translate tested techniques into curriculum and programming.

They decided to host a wellness week at their alma mater, working especially with a teacher who advised them in Club Interact, a service club where they met the friend who inspired them.

The week of events featured mindfulness, positivity, yoga, gratitude-based crafts, meals, comfort animals and activities geared toward forming bonds and building social support networks.

Since that event early in 2018, the two friends have grown their organization, expanding to 10 team members; they’re looking into registering as a nonprofit. The project has put them in a leadership role, and their organization has benefitted from their participation in the ASU Tillman Scholars program, the U.N. Millennium Fellowship program, the Changemaker Central @ ASU  Woodside Grants and soon Venture Devils.

Recently Sabrowsky and Sutton have been developing a curriculum for schools to use to expand wellness offerings, which they’ve been proud to see increase at Red Mountain over the past four years. They hope to expand to more schools soon and have the organization set up to continue after they graduate from ASU in May 2019.

Their resources are targeted to reduce risk factors for suicide but also just contribute to a better overall school climate.

“Just having social support to reduce risk factors is beneficial, whether or not you’re struggling with something really hard. Having the relationships can improve how you’re feeling in general,” said Sabrowsky.

The two friends make sure they provide that social support to each other, as well. They vent their frustrations often since they are roommates, they go to the gym together and also have taken on practices such as gratitude journaling.

“Being there for others, I feel like that really helps my mental health,” said Sutton. “It tells me that my contribution is valid. I have the skills to support others. I can be there for them.”