K E E P   Y O U R
H E A D
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D O N ' T
B O T T L E   I T
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D O N ' T
G I V E
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PROJECT GOALS
ABOUT THE PROJECT
PROJECT IMPACT

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB), defined as anything a person does intentionally that can cause injury to one’s self, including death (i.e., suicide attempt, suicide ideation, non-suicidal self-injury), is a significant public health issue. A growing number of STB prevention programs train adults and peers (termed “gatekeeper training”) to be more active bystanders– to try to help when they see someone who may be at risk for self-injury. Such programs have demonstrated positive changes in knowledge and attitudes about suicide, but have had less success in changing behaviors in real world settings and few focus on youth and young adults as bystanders.  A better understanding of the variables that promote successful STB prevention behaviors could inform more effective STB bystander actions.

Project Lift Up is a national longitudinal study of almost 5,000 youth and young adults across the United States. The project was designed to understand awareness of suicidal behavior among social networks, helping (“bystander”) behaviors, and personal impact overtime. Important contextual factors are also measured, including personal suicidal thoughts and behaviors, help-seeking, social and structural determinants of health, and personal strengths and resiliency. Survey data are supplemented with interviews with professionals in the fields of mental health and prevention, as well as with youth themselves about barriers that prevent and contexts that promote helping specific to suicidal thoughts and behaviors as well as recommendations related to prevention training.

Findings from Project Lift Up will identify ways to improve youth identification of and responses to persons at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in ways that reduce personal risk for themselves and others. A better understanding of the impact of helping will enhance prevention efforts to teach and assess self-care and support for bystanders themselves.

 

LIFT LINES

Everybody needs a lift sometimes. some words of wisdom from peers to help lift you up.

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.     /     
Just keep moving forward. Always.     /     
Try to be a rainbow is someone else’s cloud.     /     
Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.     /     
Keep hold of the small wins, the small joys, and use those as the steps to keep you going … “Collecting small things kept me going. Gotta stay to finish my collection. But in the process of making one collection, I found a new one and it kept going from there. It’s not a permanent fix, but it can at least help you until you are able to get help.      /     
You must take care of yourself to be able to care of others.     /     
Always look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping.     /     
Happiness often sneaks through the door you didn’t know you left open.     /     
Celebrate every win, no matter how small.     /     
You are loved unconditionally and with an unchanging love.     /     
If life doesn’t go right, go left. There’s always another path.     /     
Treat every day like it’s the good old days.     /     
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.     /     
We do it because we believe we have something to offer.      /     
It’s natural to cry don’t let people make you feel otherwise.      /     
Friends come and go but the ones that stay are family.     /     
Meh, I’ll make it. I always do.     /     
Hold fast. Brave the storm.     /     
There are too many flowers to smell and songs to listen to for me to stop going.     /     
What a poor reason for refusing light, because the night is so dark.     /     
If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.     /     
Don’t use your energy to worry. Use your energy to create, grow, and heal.     /     
Birthdays tell how long you’ve been on the road, not how far you’ve traveled.     /     
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.     /     
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.     /     
Love yourself the way you love others.     /     
We cannot control the world around us. We can only control our responses to it.     /     
Do not wait for the perfect conditions to start.     /     
You have writers who write about crazy characters but that doesn’t mean the writer himself is crazy.     /     
Even on the darkest days the sun will shine again.     /     
No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.     /     
Do things at your own pace. Life is not a race.     /     
God help those who help themselves.     /     
Wait and hope.     /     
Celebrate every win no matter how small.     /     
     /     At the end of the day it’s still you.
     /     You are worthy of all the things you want, even the things that feel out of reach.
     /     The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will.
     /     The sleeper must awaken.
     /     The hard times are golden because they all lead to better days.
     /     Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.
     /     Let it happen.
     /     It’s all about perspective.
     /     A bad morning does not mean a bad day.
     /     Good things take time.
     /     If speaking kindly to plants can help them grow, imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do.
     /     I know love exists because I exist, and I am full of it.
     /     We cannot control the world around us. We can only control our response to it.
     /     Hating people is like burning your own home to get rid of a rat.
     /     You don’t need a grand reason to live. The small things usually outweigh the big.
     /     The greatest glory in living lies not in the failing, but in the rising time when we fall.
     /     Work on yourself. For you yourself.
     /     Success is the ability to leave failure behind without losing enthusiasm.
     /     Self-Care: refers to the practices that promote physical, mental, and emotional well-being, and enhance overall quality of life.
     /     Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.
     /     All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
     /     Better to be a lion for a day then a sheep all your life.
     /     Keep your face towards the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.
     /     Stay close to anything around you that makes you glad you are alive.
     /     Be where your feet are.
     /     Remember, some things have to end for better things to begin.
     /     To be loved is to be known: to be understood is to be witnessed.
     /     Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.
     /     Bloom where you are planted.
     /     As long as you are breathing, you’ll grow. Everything heals, you just need time and hope.
     /     Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.
     /     It is okay if all you do today is survive.
     /     Balance is a process, not a definition.
     /     Aim for the moon and if you miss, land among the stars.
     /     A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
The poetry of earth is never dead.     /     
Be patient with yourself. Healing takes time.     /     
It’s a marathon, not a race.     /     
Remember this: be kind to your mind. Kindness is beautiful. You got this.     /     
You are loved.     /     
Sometimes you have to cut a little bit of yourself off, no matter how much it hurts, in order to grow.     /     
It’s okay to prioritize yourself.     /     
People lie and say what you want to hear, but nature won’t. Nature is life in its purest form.     /     
Treat every day like it’s the good old days, because you’re living them right now.     /     
If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.      /     
Be gentle with yourself. You have the power to protect your peace.     /     
Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.     /     
You have the courage to begin again.     /     
Your direction is more important than your speed.     /     
It’s always darkest before the dawn or “Only in darkness can you see the stars.     /     
Take the time it takes to take less time.     /     
I am patient. I am resilient. I am worthy. Today, I let go of things I cannot change.     /     
Trust your intuition. If something feels right to you, it probably is right for you. Put yourself first.     /     
More love. Less hate.     /     
Be comforted deal soul! There is always light behind the clouds!      /     
With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side.     /     
I’ve tried so hard to do right.     /     
In response to “You’re pointless simply say “Thirty-nine buried. Zero found.     /     
Wherever you go, go with all your heart.     /     
And this too shall pass.     /     
Do it and do it horribly; it means just go for it and show up, life’s about showing up not perfect.     /     
Wake up everyday with that thought that something amazing is about to happen.     /     
Wake up every day with the thought that something amazing is about to happen.     /     
Be what you want others to be.     /     
I understand you; I care about you.     /     
You are not your mistakes. They are what you did. Not who you are.     /     
The true way to be happy is to do something to add to the happiness of others.     /     
Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has been a sign that you are alive.     /     
There will be no end if you keep asking others’ approval. Be true to yourself and you will be free.     /     

OUR LIFT OFF CREW

Meet the professionals behind the Project.

Kim Mitchell Ph.D
Principal Investigator, Research Professor, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I am an Irish dance mom — my other full time job!
Vicki Banyard Ph.D
Principal Investigator and Distinguished Professor School of Social Work, and Core Faculty for Center of Reseearch on Ending Violence at Rutgers University
I love going camping.
Michelle Ybarra MPH, PH.D
Co-Investigator , President and Reasearch Director at Center for Innovative Public Health Research (CiPHR)
I enjoy doing a silly kind of Pilates called Lagree.
Shira Dunsiger Ph.D
Co-Investigator, Assoicate Professor (Research) at Center for Health Promotion and Health Equity, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown Universtiy, School of Public Health
My first job was making balloon animals at children's birthday parties!
Lisa Jones Ph.D
Co-Investigator, Research Associate Professor, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I love baking bread in my spare time.
Julie Cerel Ph.D
Co-Investigator, Professor and Director of the Suicide Prevention and Exposure Lab at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work
I take a picture of the sunset most days.
Linda Oshin Ph.D
Consultant, Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology Department Rutgers University
I love baking and will gladly shirk my research responsibilities to bake someone a cake!
Deirdre Colburn Ph.D
Postdoctoral Reasearch Associate, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I love to travel and have visited 10 different countries over the past 3 years!
Haylee Foster BA.
Research Associate, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
My rescue Pit Bull is my whole world.
Elton Ortiz MS.
Research Associate at the Center for Innovative Public Health Research (CiPHR)
Playing soccer and taking naps are my hobbies outside of work.
Gabriela Crinigan
Research Associate, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I am an artist and my inspiration comes largely from memories of my upbringing in Venezuela.
Tori Schofield MS.
Research Assistant, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I am a gym rat and love anything with peanut butter.
Maggie Crean MA.
Research Assistant, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (UNH)
I am a die-hard Red Sox fan!
Lovisa Werner
Biostatistician, Brown University School of Public Health
I competed in ballroom dance growing up!

OUR PARTNERS

Project lift up is brought to you in collaboration with the following

University of New Hampshire Brown University Rutgers University University of Kentucky CiPHR
 
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