Peer Support as a Path to Suicide Prevention

When a college student is struggling, the first person they turn to may not be a counselor, professor or family member. It may be a friend sitting beside them in class.

That simple reality is at the heart of a new partnership between Connecticut Children’s Youth Suicide Prevention Center (YSPC) and The Support Network (TSN), a national nonprofit that trains college students to facilitate peer support groups. Together, the organizations are working to expand access to student-led mental health support on college campuses nationwide.

The need is significant. Recent data from Harvard’s Making Caring Common initiative found that 52% of college students report high levels of loneliness, while 88% say their campus is facing a mental health crisis.

For Connecticut Children’s Youth Suicide Prevention Center, expanding opportunities for connection is an important part of suicide prevention.

“Peer support programs like TSN are an enduring support for students on college campuses and align well with the Youth Suicide Prevention Center’s Fresh Check Day program to reach ever more students,” said Dr. Steven Rogers, Medical Director of the Youth Suicide Prevention Center at Connecticut Children’s.

This partnership builds on Connecticut Children’s growing work in college mental health and suicide prevention, including Fresh Check Day, which brings mental health promotion and suicide prevention programming to more than 150 college campuses.

Strengthening Peer Support and Suicide Prevention

The partnership between Connecticut Children’s Youth Suicide Prevention Center and The Support Network advances both organizations' shared commitment to preventing youth suicide through early intervention, education, and sustained community connection.

By combining clinical expertise in child and adolescent mental health with a peer model that has taken root organically on campuses nationwide, the Center is uniquely positioned to:

  • Expand structured peer support to more campuses, including community colleges and regional institutions with limited clinical resources
  • Strengthen training, supervision, and safety protocols with clinical oversight
  • Build the evidence base for peer-delivered mental health support in higher education
  • Foster social connectedness, a known protective factor against suicide

With this transition, Connecticut Children's continues to expand its national footprint as a leader in youth mental health education, advocacy, and innovation, ensuring that more students have somewhere to turn on the campuses where they live and learn.

The Support Network Model

Founded at the University of Michigan in 2014 and incorporated as a national 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2018, The Support Network has launched at 11 campuses, has trained more than 1,100 student facilitators, and has reached over 5,000 students with weekly groups.

The Support Network is a student-led peer support model designed to reduce isolation, normalize help-seeking, and create an accessible, inclusive, and confidential space for students. Unlike traditional counseling services, TSN groups are facilitated by trained undergraduates and are open to all students, with no diagnosis, referral, or waitlist required.

The model reflects a straightforward truth: students in distress are far more likely to open up to a peer than to a stranger — in fact, 67% of college students confide in a friend before turning to family or professional help — and the act of facilitating a group is often as formative for the facilitator as it is for the participants.

Campuses operating TSN chapters typically include:

  • Semester-long facilitator training in active listening, group facilitation, and risk recognition
  • Clinical supervision and ongoing quality review for facilitators
  • Clear referral pathways developed alongside campus counseling and health services

Looking Ahead

Connecticut Children’s Youth Suicide Prevention Center is committed to expanding free, in-person, student-led peer support on campuses nationwide, with a goal of reaching a dozen campuses by 2030. Together, both organizations are working to ensure that more students are seen, supported, and connected to help at the moment they need it.

If you are part of a college or university community, there has never been a more important time to bring peer support to your campus. Because the person a struggling student talks to first is almost always someone their own age.

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