The Jed Foundation Announces New Partnership With The Clinton Foundation To Support Health And Safety Of College Students

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- To help prevent the two leading causes of death in young adultsⁱ,— unintentional injuries, including those caused by prescription drug overdoses or alcohol poisoning, and suicide—The Jed Foundation and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI), today announced a joint program, The Jed and Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program (Campus Program), to help colleges and universities create healthier and safer campus environments. This announcement was made at CHMI's third annual Health Matters conference.

According to the most recent data availableⁱⁱ, there are about 21 million people enrolled in post-secondary institutions in the United States. In 2013, the American College Health Association–National College Health Assessment found that more than half of college students experienced "overwhelming anxiety" at some point in the past year and about 32 percent reported feeling "so depressed that it was difficult to function" and eight percent reported seriously considering suicide.ⁱⁱⁱ

Additionally, alcohol and substance abuse are major issues on college campuses.  A report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University found half of all full-time college students (3.8 million) binge drink, abuse prescription drugs and/or illegal drugs, and almost 1 in 4 of the nation's college students (22.9%) meet the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence.^iv

"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 Foundation Health Matters Campus Program helps schools by providing a framework for how they can support student emotional wellbeing and mental health in a comprehensive way, and helping those schools develop an action plan to make it happen."

The Campus Program is designed to help colleges and universities promote emotional wellbeing and mental health programming, reduce substance abuse, and prevent suicide among 18-to-26 year-olds. The Campus Program expands upon The Jed Foundation's JedCampus program, a groundbreaking self-assessment and feedback program that helps colleges create more comprehensive solutions to support their students.

To participate in the Campus Program, schools take a confidential, online self-assessment about their current mental health, suicide prevention, and substance abuse programming. Upon completion, the school's responses are compared to recommended practices developed by national experts in college mental health and substance abuse prevention. Then, The Jed Foundation and CHMI provide a confidential feedback report and phone consultation with practical recommendations for enhancement.

Schools that demonstrate comprehensive programming are recognized with a Jed and Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program seal. The seal represents a school's commitment to student mental health and substance abuse prevention and showcases that the school employs a comprehensive, campus-wide approach to mental health, substance abuse and suicide prevention programming. Schools that do not receive the seal will be confidential.  In the future, through the Campus Program, experts will be available to offer temporary, on-the-ground support and technical assistance to colleges and universities.

Today, mtvU's Half of Us campaign and Facebook also announced partnerships with The Jed Foundation and the Clinton Foundation to help prevent prescription drug misuse among college students (mtvU) and to help college students identify potential warning signs that a friend is in emotional distress and may need help (Facebook).

The Jed and Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program is co-owned and administered by The Jed Foundation, a leading organization working to promote emotional health and prevent suicide among college students, and CHMI, which works to reduce the prevalence of preventable health outcomes, close health inequity and disparity gaps, and reduce health care costs by improving access to key contributors to health for all people.

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; 21,000 African farmers have improved their crops to feed 30,000 people; 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; more than 6.8 million people have benefited from lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications; $100 million in strategic investments have been made, impacting the health of 25 million people in the U.S.; and members of the Clinton Global Initiative have made nearly 2,500 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.

ⁱ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_06.pdf
ⁱⁱ http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_196.asp
ⁱⁱⁱ http://www.acha-ncha.org/docs/ACHA-NCHA-II_ReferenceGroup_ExecutiveSummary_Spring2013.pdf
^iv http://www.casacolumbia.org/newsroom/op-eds/wasting-best-and-brightest-alcohol-and-drug-abuse-college-campuses

Media Contact:
Elaine Andrecovich
Makovsky
O: (212) 508-9675
C: (908) 432-7181
[email protected]

Media Contact:
[email protected]

SOURCE The Jed Foundation