SLU Completes JED Campus Initiative, Becomes Alumni Campus
Saint Louis University has completed its four-year partnership with the JED Foundation and has officially become a JED Campus Alumni institution.
SLU began its partnership with the JED Foundation in fall 2022 as part of a University-wide effort to strengthen student mental health, suicide prevention, and well-being resources. Over the course of the initiative, partners from across the University worked to assess student needs, strengthen existing resources, and develop a long-term strategy for supporting student well-being.
JED’s final external review highlighted progress in several areas. Compared with baseline data, more students reported that mental and emotional well-being is a priority at SLU, more students felt the University makes an effort to help students from diverse backgrounds feel that they belong, and fewer students reported keeping feelings of depression or sadness to themselves. Serious suicidal ideation also declined from 12% to 9%.
The work also resulted in expanded mental health services, additional opportunities for mental health training and screening, stronger crisis response procedures, increased substance use and recovery resources, and new efforts to promote social connectedness and life skills.
Sustaining the Work
Completion of the JED Campus program does not mark the end of SLU’s focus on student mental health and well-being.
As a JED Campus Alumni institution, SLU will continue to have access to JED resources and learning opportunities while shifting its focus toward sustaining and building on the progress made during the four-year initiative.
JED’s final feedback report identified several areas for continued attention, including help-seeking behavior, social connectedness, mental health training, and clinical services. The JED task force will continue using student data and campus partnerships to guide these efforts and strengthen a culture in which students know where to find support and feel comfortable seeking it.
The transition to JED Campus Alumni status reflects an important milestone in SLU’s ongoing commitment to making student well-being a shared, campus-wide priority.
"As a family therapist and social scientist, I know healthy systems are built and sustained together," said Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D., JED Campus Co-Leader. "Co-chairing JED Campus meant building that with an interconnected group of committed faculty, students, and staff (and Duo Dog Woody!) across the SLU family. It's been a complete joy and honor to see this work impact students. Seeing serious suicidal ideation decline and more students say the administration is listening tells me students now know we are here for them."
Heiden-Rootes and fellow JED Campus Co-Leader Knieba Jones-Johnson thanked the students, faculty, and staff who served on the JED Campus Task Force and contributed their time, perspective, and care throughout this four-year effort, JED Campus Co. Their collaboration helped shape the progress made during SLU’s JED Campus partnership and laid a foundation for the work that will continue in the years ahead.
“Being able to co-lead the JED Campus work has been both a professional honor and highlight of my career as a mental health practitioner," Jones-Johnson said. "I am grateful for the generous contributions of our donors, dedicated colleagues, and passionate students in being able to embrace the vision and work collectively to transform the well-being ecosystem at Saint Louis University. By centering our institutional mission of service and care for the whole person, our JED work has enhanced and strengthened services, policies, and programs that provide holistic support for the entire community. In turn, we have and will continue to create more robust opportunities for belonging, retention, and success."