Austin Lucas '17 leads suicide prevention programming, training, events and education for the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation.
By Braden Moles
Senior Content Specialist
moles.13@osu.edu
Alumni from the College of Arts and Sciences are spreading the message about suicide prevention and mental health as part of their roles with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing suicide.
In Ohio, approximately five people die by suicide every day, and one in five Ohioans struggles with mental health or substance abuse disorders, according to OSPF. These issues hit close to home for Austin Lucas, program director for OSPF, who graduated from Ohio State in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“I have a few family members that suffer from severe mental illness,” he said. “Growing up and observing how that affected my family, how that affected me, I always had a soft spot for wanting to help folks who were struggling with either a mental health condition or suicidal thoughts.”
He first learned about OSPF at a career fair during his senior year at Ohio State. Now, Lucas manages suicide prevention programming, training, events, education and resources for federal, state and foundation grants for OSPF, and he credits his psychology coursework at Ohio State with helping to prepare him for his career.