With the popularization of socio-technical online spaces (high-tech spaces through which people
interact, collaborate, and co-create), Web 2.0 ("Social Web") information technologies offer a new tool
for the creation of protective factors against suicide, including a virtual student community. Raising
awareness of suicide and de-stigmatizing that awareness are critical elements in building protective
factors around students. It was in this spirit that Kansas State University began work on a website that
would eventually become the University Life Café under the auspices of a federal grant from the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The University Life Café
aligns with university endeavors supporting student development of coping skills.
