My Students
Students are struggling with their mental health more than ever.
As an educator, we know that you want to support your students’ mental health and emotional well-being but you might not always know how. If you notice that a student is struggling emotionally, there are ways to help. These tips and tools are here to help you recognize the problem, start a conversation, and provide the support they need.
If you or someone you know is feeling hopeless or having thoughts of suicide, text HOME to 741-741 or call or text 988 now.
Helpful Resources
Help Your High School Student
High School students face unprecedented challenges around their mental health and emotional well-being. JED is dedicated to helping school districts and high schools evaluate and strengthen their programming and systems related to mental health, suicide prevention, and substance misuse prevention with our JED High School program.
Help Your College Student
For many students, mental health is the leading reason they struggle at school or don’t graduate. Colleges play a critical role in addressing the emotional health of their students and creating systems, policies, and a school culture that ensures their students get the help and support they need. JED can help by empowering your campus community to strengthen its overall efforts to address student mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention.
Making the Transition out of High School
The transitions from high school to college and from college to adulthood can be extremely trying and challenging for students. And while your primary mission is to provide your students with the classroom knowledge they need to prepare for their future, there are other important developmental skills they need to help ensure future success in life. JED’s Set to Go Program offers easy-to-implement resources for educators to help students develop the emotional skills needed to prepare them for these transitions.
Faculty Guide to Supporting Student Mental Health
This easy-to-use guide provides educators with simple, evidence-based ways you can support your students. Most faculty are not clinicians, and we know it can feel intimidating or overwhelming to think about supporting students’ emotional health, especially given all of the responsibilities you already have. But you do not have to be a mental health professional to have a positive impact on your students’ emotional well-being. This guide will show you how.
Let’s Talk NYC
To support mental health, the Let’s Talk NYC Campaign was created to help teachers and school staff become mental health allies for students. It includes a teacher training, a downloadable guide and more so you can be a resource to your students and help them get the support they need. While this program was designed for NYC, it can be used by anyone, anywhere.
Pressure to be Perfect Toolkit
Pressure to be Perfect is about recognizing that what you see posted by others is just one part of their story—a single post or video rarely reflects all that is happening behind the scenes. This toolkit, a collaboration between Instagram and JED, was created to help young people figure out the best ways to use Instagram and includes tips and tools to improve their experience, connecting them with resources for further thought and discussion.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
988 is the new three-digit dialing code where compassionate, accessible care and support are available for those experiencing mental health-related crises—including thoughts of suicide or a substance use crisis. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.
Help during COVID for High School Professionals
As the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve, feelings of uncertainty and anxiety can arise for students, faculty, and staff. 66% of high school administrators feel that young people’s mental health issues have increased over the last five years (High School Mental Health Research, JED/Fluent, 2020). JED has several recommendations and resources to help you support your students in maintaining mental and emotional health while they continue to focus on their studies.
Help during COVID for Higher Education Professionals
College communities are faced with more challenges and uncertainty in light of COVID-19. Academic schedules have been disrupted and students, faculty, and staff have had to adapt to different forms of distance learning and working. JED has several recommendations for supporting your students and campus community during this period of remote learning and beyond.
Breaking Modern Loneliness: A Workshop on Mental Health
In partnership with Blue Boy Foundation and Microsoft, this workshop teaches young people the importance of good emotional health. Participants learn to devise an action plan for navigating life’s challenges and hopefully take away a sense of connectedness, awareness of skills for boosting and maintaining emotional well-being, and access to resources to help themselves and others who may be struggling.
JED Programs
Seize the Awkward
There are different ways to start the conversation and yet, no wrong way. Developed in partnership with the Ad Council and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, JED’s Seize the Awkward has videos, GIFs, conversation starters, and more to help make starting the conversation, well, less awkward.
JED Storytelling
Sharing stories is a powerful way to reduce shame, prejudice, and secrecy, and inspire us to be proactive about our mental health. JED has two video series that help shine a personal light on mental health. JED Voices features intimate conversations with notable and influential mental health advocates and JED Storytelling features personal experiences of everyday people who’ve struggled with their mental health.