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MU Awarded JedCampus Seal For Comprehensive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Programming

The University is now recognized nationwide by the Jed Foundation as one of the 30 JedCampus seal schools. This two year recognition was awarded on Oct. 2 because of MU’s comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention programming.

The Jed Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting emotional health and preventing suicide among college students, issued this seal of approval to the University. Yale University, Cornell University, New York University, and Columbia University are a few others who have received the seal.

According to the JedCampus website, the program is a nationwide initiative to promote wellness on college campuses.

This recognition was based off of an 80 question, two-hour online assessment that evaluated the school’s mental health programming in comparison to the Jed Foundation’s recommended practices. Schools were provided confidential feedback after completing the assessment relating to crisis management, strategic planning, and identifying at risk students.

“When a school is awarded the JedCampus Seal, it shows that they follow the recommended practices in providing comprehensive mental health care on their campus, as evidenced by their JedCampus survey results.”

Being acknowledged by the Jed Foundation has further enhanced and expanded the already effective programming on campus. President Paul R. Brown explained, “The physical and emotional well-being of our students is a priority for Monmouth University.”

John MacPhee, Executive Director of The Jed Foundation, said, “Schools like Monmouth University have shown they employ a comprehensive, community-based approach to mental health care which will result in the identification of and care for more at-risk students.” He added, “We believe that the implementation of a campus-wide approach to mental health promotion will lead to safer, healthier campuses and possibly greater student retention.”

The University has only been expanding its abilities as a leading University in mental health throughout the years. In 2007, the campus was recognized as a best practices campus model in the state of New Jersey for its inclusive mental health programming. Last year, the University was awarded a three year $301,215 grant to promote suicide prevention by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Since then, Counseling and Psychological Services have been further expanding and promoting wellness and resiliency on campus.

“Thank you to the Jed Foundation for recognizing our outstanding mental health programs, services, and suicide prevention activities that promote resiliency within our community,” said President Brown.

Franca Mancini, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, said, “It’s hard to talk about mental health… but I think that we find a lot of ways to demonstrate that we are very accessible and that we will do what we can to help the students reach their full potential.”

Mancini says that everyone on campus is a part of the solution to help students reach their full potential. Counseling and Psychological Services has training sessions with student leaders, faculty and even the off-campus community to create a holistic focus of reducing the stigma surrounding mental health.

Counseling and Psychological Services have executed programming surrounding mental health promotion and suicide prevention. One of their more recent events was Take Back the Night. This program focused on a march to end violence. Students and faculty walked throughout campus, sharing facts and statistics about violence and sexual assault along the way.

Counseling and Psychological Services are also taking part in an interactive online training called Kognito. This online stimulation training program helps to identify students who are experiencing distress, assists with the process of approaching these students, and provides information for referring students to on-campus support services. To access, students can visit: kognitocampus.com/student and employees can visit: kognitocampus.com/faculty.

These are only some of the many programming efforts to promote mental health and suicide prevention on campus.

“To have acquired national recognition truly acknowledges the work that we do and Monmouth’s commitment, not only to academic excellence, but also to student wellness,” said Mancini.