Saint Louis University Becomes JED Campus to Enhance Student Mental Health and Well-Being
As part of its ongoing commitment to enhancing the mental health and well-being of every student, Saint Louis University has established a new partnership with a leading organization that’s been working to save the lives of young people nationally for more than two decades.
SLU is partnering with the Jed Foundation (JED) to become an official JED Campus. The non-profit’s nationwide initiative helps schools evaluate and strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems.
Through the four-year partnership, JED will help SLU elevate its support of student mental health, providing assessment tools, feedback reports, strategic planning assistance and ongoing support from the organization’s higher education team, which includes clinicians experienced in working with college students.
“Becoming a JED Campus means we will spend the next four years working with JED to understand how to better use existing resources, where to add more and, most importantly, how to foster a stronger culture of well-being, hope and resilience that is systemic and lasting,” said Eric Anderson, SLU’s assistant vice president for student well-being.
To steer JED Campus efforts across the campus, SLU is forming an interdisciplinary team that will be led by Knieba Jones-Johnson, LMFT, director of the University Counseling Center; and Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D., LMFT, a faculty member and assistant vice president for research in the Division for Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement.
In collaboration with the JED Foundation, SLU will launch a Healthy Minds Study on Oct. 24. Offered through the Healthy Minds Network, the confidential study asks about mental health and access to campus resources, giving the University a starting point for the work ahead with JED. A second Health Minds Study will be conducted in fall 2025 to gauge progress.
During the spring semester, JED Campus experts will visit SLU to hear directly from students and the University’s JED Campus team. Those conversations, along with the results of this fall’s Healthy Minds Study and other efforts, will help guide the foundation’s recommendations for the University.
Becoming a JED Campus is the latest step in SLU’s journey to creating a culture of well-being on campus. It’s also a direct outcome of the work led by SLU’s Student Well-being Task Force during the 2021-2022 academic year. Partnering with an organization such as the JED Foundation was among the actions the group recommended.
The JED Foundation was founded in 2000 by Phil and Donna Satow, who lost their youngest son, Jed, to suicide in 1998. The foundation has worked with nearly 400 institutions representing more than 4.5 million students.
For questions about the JED Campus initiative, email studentwellbeing@slu.edu.
Who is The Jed Foundation?