Jed Campus Program
In 2022, Northeastern partnered with the nationally recognized JED Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults.
By joining JED’s Campus program, Northeastern committed to a four-year strategic collaboration to assess and enhance mental health and suicide prevention efforts across the global university system.
Year 1: Task Force and Assessment (2022-2023)
As recommended in year one of the project, Northeastern took the following steps:
- Nominated co-leads for the project who are Deb Franko, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Megan O’Hara, Director of Violence Prevention Initiatives at OPEN
- Created a JED Task Force of faculty, staff, students and administrators
- Administered the Healthy Minds Study in the Fall of 2022 to get baseline data
- Completed a self-assessment for the JED foundation’s review
- JED representatives ran student focus groups both in-person on the Boston Campus and virtually for students throughout the Global University System
- JED representatives visited the Boston Campus to lead the Northeastern JED Task Force in a strategic planning process
Year 2-3: Implementation and Support (2023-2025)
Northeastern is currently in this phase of the project.
JED representatives created a strategic plan based on the data gathered in year one. The strategic plan focuses on seven key areas based on what’s known about decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors for mental health/suicide among young people.
These include:
- Promoting social connectedness
- Identifying students at-risk
- Increasing help-seeking behavior
- Providing services around mental health and substance use
- Developing life skills
- Implementing effective crisis response
- Identifying and limiting access to dangerous means
Year 4: Evaluation and Sustainability (2025-2026)
The fourth year of the program is focused on evaluating progress and continued needs. During the fourth year, we will re-administer the Healthy Minds Study to measure progress, identify goals for future growth and improvement, and discuss ongoing sustainability around suicide prevention efforts.
Recognizing & Responding to Concerns of Suicide
When the stressors in a person’s life cause them to feel severe emotional pain, hopelessness, or an inability to cope, they may have thoughts of suicide. This is not a scenario that anyone wants to imagine for their friend or student, but it’s important for everyone to be aware of risks, warning signs, and how to appropriately respond if these concerns arise. Suicide is preventable, and those struggling with suicidal thoughts are deserving of compassion and support.
- “Northeastern Student Mental Health Guide”: See page 20 for information about suicide and supporting a friend
- “Preventing Suicide: Know the Warning Signs and How to Help” by the JED Foundation
- “10 Things to Say to a Suicidal Person” by Dr. Stacey Freedenthal, LCSW
- “10 Things NOT to Say to a Suicidal Person” by Dr. Stacey Freedenthal, LCSW
Resources
- Call 988: The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States and Canada.
- The Trevor Project offers free 24/7 crisis intervention and support hotline, online chat, and texting service for LGBTQ+ youth. Call 1.866.488.7386 Text START to 678678. (US only)
- Crisis Text Line: Free 24/7 texting support with a Crisis Counselor. U.S. and Canada: Text HOME to 741741 U.K.: Text HOME to 85258 Ireland: Text HOME to 086 1800 280