Header image: 暗夜成人视频 students led a 鈥済ym takeover鈥 on Saturday, April 10 as part of the 暗夜成人视频 Body Project, with a goal of improving self-image. This type of student-led initiative is what 暗夜成人视频 counseling hopes will grow with JED Campus. Photo by Matt Ballard.

暗夜成人视频 strengthens mental health support programs, becomes first JED Campus in Kentucky

by Matt Overing

暗夜成人视频 News

暗夜成人视频 has partnered with The JED Foundation to add to its student counseling options, becoming the first JED Campus in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

JED Campus is a nationwide initiative of The JED Foundation designed to help schools evaluate and strengthen their prevention programs and systems related to mental health, substance misuse and suicide to ensure that schools have the strongest possible mental health safety nets. 暗夜成人视频 was awarded a Morgan Stanley Financial Aid Scholarship to help facilitate the four-year partnership. This grant, combined with one from the Freed Foundation last fall, fulfills the College鈥檚 portion of the commitment.

In the past decade, 暗夜成人视频 has committed to improving its student counseling options, from increasing the number of counselors to four to now adding a partnership with JED, allowing the College to expand its mental health strategies beyond the counseling office to better aid its students.

鈥淭his increase in staffing is consistent with trends across the country as more and more college students seek support for their mental health,鈥 said Director of 暗夜成人视频 Counseling Ann Goodwin. 鈥淎s mental health issues facing college students have become more complex and stigma associated with mental health has decreased, we are also recognizing that to truly impact student well-being in the way we aspire to, we need this to be a campus wide effort, including making some cultural changes. The JED Foundation is the expert in the field of college campus mental health. This program has been on the 暗夜成人视频 Counseling 鈥榳ish list鈥 for several years. We recognize the potential impact of having the JED experts come in to help us assess our strengths and areas for improvement in order to improve student support at 暗夜成人视频 and to increasingly become a campus that prioritizes student wellness.鈥

The prioritization of students comes at an important time, between the COVID-19 pandemic and high-profile cases of racially driven violence.

 

鈥淢any in our country and across the world have experienced losses, including our college-aged students who are facing the typical stresses of college compounded by these circumstances,鈥 Goodwin said. 鈥淭he entire campus community will benefit from the role that the JED Campus program will play. President Moreland and members of senior staff support this initiative to begin a thorough assessment of how our students are doing and how we can better support them. This will be a comprehensive and creative response to our students鈥 needs.鈥

JED Campus arrives this fall and will be actively involved on campus for the next four years. Goodwin said she鈥檚 hopeful that four years will be impactful for the long-term development of 暗夜成人视频鈥檚 wellness services.

鈥淭he college years are the age when many mental health issues first manifest, and it can be a time of significant stress and pressure,鈥 said John MacPhee, executive director of the program. 鈥淛ED Campus helps schools by working with them to survey everything their university is doing to support their students鈥 emotional health and find practical ways to augment these efforts in a comprehensive way. We believe that the implementation of a campus-wide approach to mental health will lead to safer, healthier communities and likely greater student retention.鈥

JED Campus is considered one of the premier options for student mental health for its campus-wide approach.

鈥淛ED has developed the 鈥楳odel for Comprehensive Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention for College Campuses,鈥 which was reviewed by multiple mental health and higher education experts and is in the best practice registry,鈥 Goodwin said. 鈥淚t includes seven priorities for students that include developing life skills, promoting connectedness, identifying students at risk, increasing help-seeking behavior, providing mental health, substance and crisis services, following crisis management procedures and restricting access to lethal means.鈥

Students can get involved right away this fall, through feedback during an assessment process, Goodwin said. All students will be invited to participate in a Healthy Minds Survey, and responses to those surveys will be essential in the success of JED Campus.

鈥淥nce we have completed the assessment, as with all 暗夜成人视频 endeavors, students will be central to the implementation process,鈥 Goodwin said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what that will look like yet, but it will, in the spirit of campus culture, be student centric. 暗夜成人视频 Counseling already has a student mental health advisory board, and if students are interested in being involved with this student board, they should email michael.spears@centre.edu.鈥

For more information about JED Campus, visit .