56 Colleges And Universities Join The Jed & Clinton Health Matters Campus Program To Support Student Mental Health

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jed Foundation and The Clinton Foundation Health Matters Initiative today announced that over 55 colleges and universities have joined The Jed & Clinton Health Matters Campus Program (The Campus Program) in support of student wellbeing and mental health. The program is designed to help schools prevent the two leading causes of death in young adults[i],— accidents, including those caused by prescription drug overdoses or alcohol poisoning, and suicide.

The Campus Program, which launched in June 2014, is designed to help colleges and universities assess and enhance mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention programming. Participating schools make a four-year commitment to work with The Campus Program to evaluate and identify opportunities to augment these activities on campus. The Campus Program provides schools with a framework for supporting student mental health, as well as assessment tools, feedback reports and ongoing technical assistance from The Campus Program team.  The Jed Foundation and Clinton Health Matters Initiative are honored to work with these schools in their efforts to promote the emotional wellbeing and mental health of their students.

To date, participating schools include:

Alfred University
Aurora University
Azusa Pacific University
Barnard College
Boston University
Butler University
California Institute of Technology
California State University - Chico
Cameron University
Columbia University
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Davidson College
Fordham University
Georgetown University
Indiana University
Marymount Manhattan College
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Monmouth University
Montana State University
New York University
Northwestern University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology
Pace University
Pennsylvania State University - Altoona
Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
Pomona College
Princeton University
Saint Francis University
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
St. Cloud State University
Stevens Institute of Technology
State University College at Geneseo, State University of New York
State University College at Oneonta, State University of New York
The Ohio State University
Three Rivers Community College
Tulane University
University at Albany, State University of New York
University of Arizona
University of California – Los Angeles
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Illinois - Champagne Urbana
University of Pennsylvania
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
University of South Carolina
University of West Georgia
Viterbo University
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis
Western Oklahoma State College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Yeshiva University

"The college years are the age when many mental health issues first manifest, and it can be a time of significant stress and pressure," said John MacPhee, Executive Director of The Jed Foundation. "The Jed and Clinton Health Matters Campus Program helps schools by working with them to survey everything their university is doing to support their students' 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 campuses, and likely greater student retention."

"We are thrilled to announce the first group of schools in the nation to join The Campus Program," said Rain Henderson, CEO of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, "and to celebrate these institutions for their recognition of mental health as an essential element of student education, development and maturation."

Membership in The Campus Program begins with a participating school taking a confidential, self-assessment survey on its mental health promotion, substance abuse, and suicide prevention programming. Upon completion, survey responses are reviewed by The Campus Program team in comparison to the program's framework—a comprehensive set of recommended practices. Schools then receive customized feedback and suggestions for enhancements, as well as direct support with their planning process. The Jed and Clinton Health Matters Campus Program grants a membership seal to all schools that participate in the program. All survey responses and feedback reports are confidential.

For more information on The Campus Program, visit www.TheCampusProgram.org.

[i] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_06.pdf

About The Campus Program

The Campus Program is a nationwide initiative designed to help colleges and universities promote emotional wellbeing and mental health programming, reduce substance abuse, and prevent suicide among their students. When a school becomes a member of The Campus Program, it demonstrates the school's commitment to assessing and enhancing their mental health promotion and substance abuse and suicide prevention programming for students, families, and campus professionals.

The Campus Program is a joint initiative of The Jed Foundation, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to promoting emotional health and preventing suicide among college students, and the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which works to improve the health and wellbeing of people throughout the United States across all generations.

About The Jed Foundation 

The Jed Foundation (www.jedfoundation.org) is a leading nonprofit working to protect the emotional health of teenagers and colleges students. Our programs are inspiring a new national dialogue on mental health, encouraging millions of young people to speak up and take action, and changing the way academic institutions create healthier campus communities and prevent substance abuse and self-harm. These programs include:   The Jed and Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program, a groundbreaking self-assessment and feedback program that helps colleges create more comprehensive solutions to support their students; ULifeline, an online resource that helps students understand and address mental health conditions like depression and anxiety disorders; the Half of Us campaign, with MTV, which uses online and on-air programming to share stories and encourage help-seeking; the Love is Louder movement that helps individuals, communities and schools build resiliency, create connectedness and promote acceptance; Transition Year, an online resource for parents aimed at helping to ensure a smooth, healthy transition into college life; and a portfolio of resources that helps campuses promote emotional health and protect at-risk students. Learn more at www.jedfoundation.org.  

About the Clinton Foundation

The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation convenes businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for women and girls, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change.  Because of our work, 20,000 American schools are providing kids with healthy food choices in an effort to eradicate childhood obesity; 28,000 farmers in Malawi have improved their incomes by more than 500 percent; 248 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced in cities worldwide; more than 5,000 people have been trained in marketable job skills in Colombia; 8.2 million people have access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications; $200 million in strategic investments have been made, impacting the health of 75 million people in the U.S.; and members of the Clinton Global Initiative have made nearly 2,900 Commitments to Action to improve more than 430 million lives around the world.

The Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI) works to improve the health and well-being of people throughout the United States across all generations.

Learn more at http://www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

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SOURCE The Jed Foundation