Addressing Mental Health on College Campuses

A person’s mental health affects their ability to learn. At colleges and universities, issues like depression and anxiety are typically addressed through treatment, such as counseling. However, many students who need help do not seek professional support or wait until their situation is severe. While providing access to quality treatment is vital, it is not sufficient. Colleges and universities are shifting their focus to promoting student mental health and preventing problems before they occur.

In response, HHD, in collaboration with The Jed Foundation, has created a webinar series—online seminars for campus professionals who want to learn more about how to effectively and proactively address student mental health issues. Known as Campus Mental Health Action Planning (CampusMHAP), the four webinars each cover a different, yet critical, step to promoting student mental health at institutions of higher education:

1. Building momentum to address student mental health and wellness
2. Identifying institution-specific priorities
3. Implementing programs, policies, and services
4. Measuring impact of campus efforts

“There is no silver bullet,” says HHD expert, Laurie Davidson, one of the webinar presenters. “Every campus has different characteristics and needs. So what we present in these webinars is a strategic process they can use based on the public health approach to prevention.” HHD has been incorporating this approach to substance abuse prevention on campuses for 13 years with success.

Since a person’s mental health is affected not only by individual factors but also by relationships, community, and societal factors, this process addresses all of these influences by involving many different offices on campus and the extended community. Research suggests that institutions using multiple strategies to mitigate the different influences have greater success.

Cornell University has begun to incorporate the public health approach to lower its suicide rate and prevent mental distress among students. Similar to national data, 1 out of 10 Cornell students seriously consider suicide and 4 out of 10 are so depressed they find it “hard to function”.

“A thing we have come to believe at our institution is that mental health really is vital to our academic mission,” says Greg Eells, Director of Psychological and Counseling Services at Cornell. “Our strategies really have been very community-focused and our goal has been to develop a sense of a shared responsibility across the campus to include people that may not always think about themselves as being included in looking out for the mental health of our students.” In the seven years before they started this new approach, there were 11 suicides at Cornell. In the seven years since it began, there have been only 5 suicides; none since 2006.

The first two webinars, held in 2008, are now available online at no charge. Two more webinars will be offered in early 2009 and open to the public. Register online at The Jed Foundation.