Utah’s JED Campus Cohort Convenes to Celebrate Success and Plan for the Future

Over the past four years, the 16 public higher-education institutions in Utah have participated in JED Campus as a cohort. The cohort gathered Sept. 25 at Southern Utah University for a final convening to celebrate their accomplishments and create strategies for sustaining programming and support in the future. 

The daylong event marked the formal end of the Utah System of Higher Education’s engagement in JED Campus, which was generously funded in part by the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. With the theme of Sustaining Success: The Work Continues, participants from the 16 institutions were led through an analysis of collective program successes, challenges, and opportunities. Participants heard from JED Senior Clinical Director Dr. Kurt Michael about practical approaches and interventions for reducing access to lethal means of suicide for college students.

The end of the cohort does not signal the end of the system’s work to protect student mental health and prevent substance misuse and suicide on its campuses. Comprehensive mental health support is a continuous learning journey and requires innovation and commitment to succeed. 

Attendees also participated in sessions on promising practices to propel sustainability in all 16 schools, including addressing stigma as a barrier to help-seeking, promoting life skills on campus, and building resilient Behavior Intervention Teams.

The day concluded with a graduation ceremony, complete with graduation music, caps, and applause after each school’s name was called. The ceremony recognized each school individually for its work over the past four years, including accomplishments such as: 

• Streamlining processes for collecting reports about students of concern
• Making physical changes to campus spaces to promote belonging
• Collaborating with off-campus organizations to build community
• Expanding mental health training initiatives
• Publicizing self-screening tools for mental health and substance use

Bringing a system of diverse schools — each with varying resources and access to community support, conflicting priorities, and different levels of buy-in — together to protect student mental health is truly commendable.

Learn more about how JED can support your college, university, or state’s system of higher education.