Mental Health Framework to Support College Students of Color

 

The Jed Foundation (JED), a nonprofit that exists to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for teens and young adults, and the Steve Fund, a nonprofit created to support the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color, partnered to create the Equity in Mental Health Framework (EMH Framework). The EMH Framework provides 10 actionable recommendations and key implementation strategies for colleges and universities to help assess and strengthen support for the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color.

 

Results from a 2015 study (PDF) commissioned by JED, the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, and the Jordan Porco Foundation, uncovered that emotional preparedness ---  defined as the ability to take care of oneself, adapt to new environments, control negative emotions or behavior, and build positive relationships ---  is a major factor to students' success during their first year at college. While many individuals arrive on campus feeling emotionally and academically unprepared, results of this online survey of 1,502 U.S. college students showed that less emotionally prepared students are more likely to be African American (15% vs. 9%). Results indicated that first-year African American college students are more likely to struggle than their white peers. Students responded that they:

The Steve Fund and JED developed the EMH Framework recommendations after obtaining snapshots of current programs and exploring how they could be improved and replicated. A set of key questions regarding best practices for meeting the emotional well-being and mental health needs of students of color guided the process. Data from multiple sources was reviewed and analyzed to produce key findings. "Our young people face daunting challenges as they transition to adulthood, including those fortunate enough to pursue higher education," said Evan Rose, president of the Steve Fund. "These expert recommendations build understanding of the challenges while equipping colleges and universities to better address our students' needs. This effort is critical to the mental health, college completion, and life chances of the nation's most rapidly growing demographic and the population which drives our work-young people of color."

 

Visit equityinmentalhealth.org to download the document and access other valuable tools, including a video of higher education leaders from some of the nation's leading universities and colleges discussing why the EMH Framework matters.

 

For an additional resource on this topic, you can learn about the forum on managing student mental health at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) facilitated by the National Center for Campus Public Safety and Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Law Enforcement Executives and Administrators. Forum participants from 28 HBCUs in 14 states identified 6 broad categories of challenges and several recommendations to address these challenges: human resource needs, training needs, policy needs, procedural issues, communication obstacles, and cultural barriers.  Download the full report to read the recommendations.  

National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month

 

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery and it occurs when a trafficker exploits an individual with force, fraud, or coercion to make them perform commercial sex or work. It is a public health concern that impacts children, families, and entire communities across generations. Human trafficking requires awareness, training, and a response from communities, social service providers, health care providers, and other first responders. In the U.S., 7,621 cases of human trafficking were reported in 2016, according to the  National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH).

 

 

Those targeted by traffickers do not belong to any class, religion, cultural, or ethnic group. Traffickers can be any gender or age, and may be strangers, friends, peers, romantic partners, or family members. Some populations are more vulnerable. These include:

Individuals who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect Children involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems Runaway and homeless youth Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Victims of violence Migrant workers

Undocumented immigrants Racial and ethnic minorities People with disabilities People with low incomes Those with a history of substance abuse Those communities exposed to intergenerational trauma  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) individuals