Care Referral

Members of the KU community are encouraged to provide referrals for students, faculty, and staff when they have reason to believe someone is struggling and may need care and support.



Signs a care referral may be appropriate include:

• An individual is experiencing significant distress due to personal, financial, academic, or work factors.
• An individual is experiencing a significant mental health or medical issue and needs guidance for how and where to get help.
• An individual needs assistance finding and navigating resources and doesn’t know where to begin or how to access help, and you are not equipped to offer that support.
• Anytime you are concerned about the safety of someone in our community, particularly if you are concerned they may cause harm to themselves or others.

Reminders:

• Whenever possible, address your concerns directly with the individual for whom you have concern in a private and supportive manner. Offer to connect them to Support and Care Referral Team (SCRT) through a referral.
• Care referrals are private but not confidential. A member of the SCRT will reach out to you and the individual to gather information, learn more about needs, and offer resources, supportive policies and other supports.
• The SCRT is not an emergency resource and does not replace the need to call 911 or 988 (suicide and crisis lifeline) in situations for which you have imminent safety concerns. A care referral after the emergency call can be helpful to connect the person to resources and support after emergency services have responded.