As part of the USC Well-being Collective’s second strategic goal to create a culture where individuals and communities thrive, in 2018, a cross-campus committee at USC was formed to address student mental health through the JED Campus Comprehensive Mental Health Framework.
The JED Foundation is dedicated to preventing suicide and promoting emotional well-being.The JED Framework is based on what is known about how to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors for mental illness and suicide among college students, an understanding of the student mental health challenges that campuses face, and existing recommended practices. By joining the program, USC committed to a four-year partnership with the JED Foundation which included a comprehensive review of policies, programs, and services.
The JED Campus program targets seven areas to assess existing strengths and identify areas for improvement.
These strategic actions include:
- Develop life skills
- Promote social connectedness
- Identify students at risk
- Increase help-seeking behavior
- Provide mental health and substance abuse services
- Follow crisis management protocols
- Restrict access to potentially lethal means
A review of evidence-based recommendations was developed and presented to campus leaders. A component of these recommendations focused on equity and mental health to support communities of color.
Several collaborative working groups formed to focus on these action areas. The Environmental Scan group convened cross-campus leaders to increase safety measures within the built environment. Protective measures were implemented such as increasing physical barriers and signage for mental health crisis resources.
The Mental Health Training group advocated for faculty and staff resources to support student mental health. Registered Student Organizations, the USG Graduate Student Government, and several student leaders were an integral component of this effort. A training for faculty and staff to support student mental health went through several iterations and resulted in an online self-paced training platform available to all faculty and staff. Faculty and staff subject matter experts were consulted and students reviewed and piloted all the materials. A Student Spaces work group also developed to establish defined spaces for student social connectedness.
The following changes are also a result of this initiative:
- Student Health incorporated a depression screening during Primary Care appointments
- The Student Health Counseling and Mental Health Department increased their staffing
- Student Health expanded their “Let’s Talk” drop-in program to offer therapy outside of the Counseling and Mental health Department
- USC Pharmacies partnered with Student Health to create an annual “Drug Take Back Day” for Trojans to safely dispose of any unused or expired prescriptions and other drugs.
- Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers are trained and equipped with Naloxone (commercially known as the nasal spray Narcan) to reverse the effects of an accidental overdose from opioids.
Several related projects resulted from this initiative as well:
- “Mental Well-being for Students” prevention education module was developed and tailored for USC students. The self-pace module was designed to equip students with essential information and skills to support the emotional well-being of themselves and others.
- “You Can Help: Recognizing and Responding to Distress in Students” mental health training was made available for university staff and faculty upon request. This 75-minute training provided an overview of what faculty and staff should know in order to identify a student who may be struggling with a mental health problem and how to appropriately intervene. The training included national mental health trends among college students, as well as data specific to our USC students.
- Student Health participated in the #BeThe1To and Seize the Awkward national campaigns to address mental health awareness and suicide prevention, respectively.
While USC has addressed many of these categories, there is much more the university can do to establish mental health as a priority on campus. Instead of relying solely on the services and programs offered from USC Student Health, the university must incorporate values, resources and wise strategies in all departments across our schools, departments and administrative units.