DUNMORE, Pa. — Penn State Scranton students are obtaining real-world skills to become advocates for their peers who may be experiencing mental health crises through a program called the Green Bandana Project. The project aims to increase student awareness of vital school-based mental health and suicide prevention resources and to empower students to seek help when they need it.
The Green Bandana Project is a program for high school and college students that aims to raise mental health awareness, reduce stigma, and connect students to mental health and suicide prevention resources. Student members take a suicide awareness and prevention training course, carry resource cards and tie a green bandana to their backpack or another visible location as a way to let their peers know that they are a member of the Green Bandana Project and a trusted person who can share how and where to reach out for mental health help.
Penn State Scranton’s Mental Health Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor Sarah Jarusinski Smith spearheaded the project in 2025 as a way to get the campus community involved in reducing the stigma to mental health services, helping to support each other and show awareness for suicide prevention resources on campus.
“The students, staff and faculty have been very receptive to the project," Smith said. "Penn State Scranton is already a very welcoming campus, and we all look out for each other like family. Now, with the Green Bandana Project, members of our campus community can volunteer to be walking resources. They are trained in recognizing when someone may need mental health support and are able to connect them to those resources on campus and off.”
"The project is a national initiative," Smith added. "There are other colleges and universities in NEPA that have the Green Bandana Project. It is great to be at a crosswalk at a neighboring school and see the green bandana hanging from a backpack. The hope is for the green bandana to be a symbol of mental health support wherever you go."
The main component is training to help students have the knowledge they need to be able to assist those who come to them and be able to share available campus and community resources. The training is a brief QPR Training that Smith provides to students, staff and faculty of Penn State Scranton.
QPR Training – Question, Persuade, Refer
Developed in 1999 by clinical psychologist Paul Quinnett, the training is offered by the QPR Institute, a nationally known educational organization known for providing proven suicide prevention training to a wide range of individuals, high schools, colleges, organizations and professionals. It teaches participants to be able to identify potential signs, cues and patterns of possible suicidal behavior.
At Penn State Scranton, Smith said she saw a need for this type of training and decided to offer it on campus for any students or employees interested in being advocates and allies for those experiencing mental health challenges.
This September, students and staff attended one of many training sessions aimed at helping them recognize when students may be facing difficult situations and how to know when, if and what type of intervention might be required.
For example, according to the QPR Institute, behavioral cues, direct cues and indirect cues can help a person read a situation for possible suicide prevention. Direct cues can include verbal sayings or expressions that indicate that a person is planning to go through with suicide. Indirect cues could be expressions that sound harsh or cause concern. Behavioral cues might be seeing different pattern changes in a person’s behavior.