Lyon College and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville are excited to announce a collaboration aimed at building affirmative spaces for everyone called Caring Campuses. 

Caring Campuses will develop an infrastructure at both institutions designed to achieve welcoming and safe campus environments for LGBTQ+ students. Funding for this initiative is made possible through funding from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness.

Caring Campuses officially launched its first initiative called Question.Persuade.Refer, or QPR, an evidence-based model for suicide prevention training course. Like CPR, QPR works to save lives by planting seeds of hope for anyone thinking about suicide. QPR teaches participants how to identify, respond effectively, and make appropriate referrals for students in distress, crisis, or at risk of suicide. Participants learn to identify the warning signs of suicide and how to question, persuade, and refer someone for help.

Lyon College’s Counseling Center is led by Director of Mental and Behavioral Health Victoria Hutcheson, LAC, ATR-P. You can make an appointment by calling Hutcheson at 870-307-7284 or 870-307-7277 or by emailing victoria.hutcheson@lyon.edu. Appointments are typically scheduled for 50 minutes and take place Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm.

UACCB’s counseling services are available to students Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. You can make an appointment with Maggie Beshears, LPC, at the Counseling Department’s office line at 870-612-2035.

If you need immediate assistance, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. This service is available 24/7.

Pictured is the QPR Certified Training Team: Amanda Roberts, Safe Scots Project Director at Lyon College, Maggie Beshears, Director of Counseling at UACCB, Victoria Hutcheson, Director of Mental and Behavioral Health at Lyon College, and C'aira Stewart, Student Life Coordinator at UACCB.