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Ocean WAVES (We Ask, Verify, Empathize and Support Suicide Prevention, is the comprehensive campus suicide prevention program at Ocean County College. This program is designed to respond to the transitioning demographics of OCC, building the infrastructure and programmatic systems to help prevent suicide. The following goals are a focus of the program: enhance mental health and wellness services, promote help-seeking behavior, reduce stigma, and improve the identification and treatment of at-risk students. Goal 1: Improve Student Mental Health Objective 1.1: By the end of the project period, at least 10% of the campus community will be trained in the evidence-based gatekeeper training, QPR to expand the ability of the college community to recognize and respond effectively to students at risk of suicide and mental health crises Objective 1.2: Continuously improve mental health services utilizing formalized student feedback and ensure a minimum of 95% satisfaction rating through annual review and QI processes. Objective 1.3: By the end of year 1 and on an ongoing basis, improve data collection and reporting mechanisms to inform continued expansion of services to address mental health concerns and treatment, both in-person and virtually Goal 2: Become central to campus- and community-wide unified suicide prevention network providing the necessary training and educational materials to support an evidence-based approach to prevention. Objective 2.1 Within 6 months of project and ongoing, build upon existing and develop new strategic partnerships with campus stakeholders, local community mental health providers, crisis response services, advocates, and professionals Objective 2.2 By the end of the first quarter, begin hosting monthly campus and community events raising awareness and providing community education on topics of mental health, wellness, and suicide prevention Objective 2.3 Within the first project year, partner with mental health experts for annual professional education and training As a community college, OCC serves a transitional student base that touches all ages and stages of life. A total student population of 7275 was recorded for Fall 2021 with 63% Caucasian, 5.9% Black or African American, 2.4% Asian, 7% Hispanic, 13.73% identifying as 2 or more races, and less than 1% American Indian, Alaskan Native, Hawaiian Native or Pacific Islander. Additionally, approximately one third of OCC's student population meet criteria for low-income status. Some of the most consistent clinical presenting concerns in the Counseling Center are: anxiety, depression, financial/housing/food insecurity, stress and overwhelm. Most recently in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, there has been a notable increase in concern related to grief and social or family relationships. OCC students are typically managing stress at home and in relationships, taking care of children or other family members, and maintaining employment all while pursuing their degrees. Ocean WAVES is designed to comprehensively meet the needs of the student population within the context of the greater Ocean County Community, with a focus on increasing identification and services to those most at risk of suicide.

Fort Lewis College (FLC), a Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institution, seeks funding for its Suicide and Substance Use Prevention Project, serving all FLC students who may be at risk for suicide or substance use disorders. This project builds capacity for FLC to solidify and implement a comprehensive campus care model and mental health strategic plan for suicide and substance use prevention. It also aims to increase the capacity of FLC’s Counseling Center (CC) and Wellness Peer Advisory Council (WellPAC) to better meet the needs of its diverse student body, which is estimated at 3,300. FLC students consistently report higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal ideation and substance use than national benchmarks. FLC seeks to become a JED Campus Partner to help solidify a comprehensive campus care model and to gain access to data, resources, and interventions such as “You Can Help” trainings that will increase knowledge and capacity across campus. FLC also seeks to fund a Basic Needs Coordinator, a Coordinator of Student Well-being, and several Student Well-being Education Instructors to deliver basic needs, mental health and substance use education through trainings, life skills groups and workshops, outreach and awareness, and by connecting students to the resources needed for success. By the end of the first academic year of this project, FLC expects to become an official JED campus, to form a task force to oversee project efforts, and to offer a minimum of 10 trauma informed mental health education and suicide prevention trainings to an estimated 200 individuals. By the end of year two of this project, FLC will have developed and begun to implement a comprehensive, strategic suicide and substance use prevention plan, including formation of a multi-disciplinary taskforce to guide the work. FLC will also have increased students’ on-campus access to substance use recovery resources via community partnerships for treatment and peer recovery and/or increasing CC staff member expertise in substance use disorder treatment by training or by hiring specialized staff. By year three, FLC will have trained all student-facing employees (about 450) and over 200 students in these training courses, expanding the support net and preparing our community for difficult conversations with individuals who may be struggling. FLC CC will also pilot a program that seeks to offer alternative healing based in Indigenous practices, by partnering with regional Indigenous experts and service providers. FLC expects to offer a combination of educational presentations on traditional Indigenous healing and wellness as well as ceremonial support groups at least four times per academic year for the life of the project, serving over 250 community members, as part of a strategy of increasing sense of belonging and culturally responsive campus services of Indigenous students. This project aims to reach at least an estimated 900 individuals over the next three years. The goal of the project is to enhance our institution’s community of care model by training more community members in trauma-informed mental health prevention/intervention skills and broadening our therapeutic offerings to better meet the needs of our Indigenous students. Once executed, these outcomes should enable students to received needed, preventative support earlier on, and then decrease numbers of students needing crisis services and therefore decrease wait-times in our CC, allowing us to better meet the needs of our marginalized students.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) proposes the MCLA Cares Project, an initiative to build a campus-wide infrastructure to support student mental health. The project will be comprehensive and cross multiple sectors of campus life including student life, academic affairs, athletics, and health services. Throughout the lifetime of this project, MCLA plans to engage 600 students and train 300 staff and faculty. MCLA’s mission is to provide an accessible liberal arts education to students, especially students with identities traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Of the College’s diverse population, MCLA has identified three at-risk populations: first-generation students, students of color, and LGBTQIA+ identified students. Of MCLA’s 1,076 undergraduate students, 47% (515 students) are the first in their families to attend college. Nearly a quarter, 23.4%, of MCLA students are students of color (in internal documents, MCLA uses the general term “minority”). Though the College does not track the population of LGBTQIA+ students, there is a robust campus community of self-identified students as demonstrated by an LGBTQIA+ safe residency floor to open in fall 2022, and an active Rainbow Alliance. The thrust of much of the grant’s programming and activities will be directed at collaborating with these populations to identify their specific challenges and needs. MCLA is planning a multi-pronged approach to addressing mental health support deficits across campus. Activities will begin in September 2022 by hiring a Health Promotion Coordinator, a newly created position that will be the major staff to direct the activities of the grant. Their role will include planning and implementation of the grant’s activities as well as producing additional mental health and wellness programming. The first year of their time on campus will be spent investigating the specific needs of the campus through two data collection surveys and building a foundation of cross-sector support by convening an MCLA Task Force on student mental health, which will meet monthly throughout the duration of the granting period. A key component of this project is the collaborative journey with the Jed Foundation (JED), a private foundation committed to addressing mental health concerns in educational settings. JED will conduct a review of MCLA’s policies, procedures, programming, and resources. From that review, MCLA’s Task Force will be able to create a detailed action plan to bolster policies and procedures to better serve the mental health needs of student populations. As a JED Campus Partner, MCLA will utilize JED’s comprehensive assessments as an expert advisor throughout the development of this new mental health infrastructure. Additionally, grant funds will contribute significantly to training the campus community, specifically in suicide awareness and prevention. Grant funds will provide professional development for MCLA’s Health Services staff, including attendance at relevant conferences, as well as prioritizing training for student-facing staff and faculty. This goal also includes the expansion of the MCLA wellness ambassadors program, a group of trained peer health educators that promote holistic wellness.

NCC Thrives! will facilitate a campus environment in which mental health resources are accessible, seeking help is encouraged and seen as a strength, and members of the campus community recognize and respond to students in crisis. The project will implement a mental health public awareness campaign featuring a new Mental Health and Wellness Portal, a diverse group of speakers who will share personal stories of mental illness and addiction, videos, murals, and other, visible, mental wellness messaging, and low sensory “Zen Dens.” Newly trained students, faculty and staff gatekeepers will create a community of responsibility where individuals feel responsible for one another’s well-being. Relationship building with community partners and telepsychiatry for students in crisis will connect students to trauma informed providers. Northampton Community College (NCC) serves more than 8,000 credit students each year, and, as an open-access institution, serves a student body facing significant academic, personal, and financial challenges that inhibit their ability to remain in good academic standing and fully participate in the learning process. NCC students work hard inside and outside of the classroom; more than half of all students care for dependents, most students work for pay, and more than half receive need-based financial aid. The stresses of college, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are taking a toll on students’ mental health. While more than one third of respondents to the College’s online mental health assessment indicated that they had recently considered suicide, fewer than half said they would seek help due to stigma or misunderstandings of the counseling process. NCC Thrives! addresses this gap in students’ knowledge of available mental health resources and their misconceptions about mental illness and help-seeking while creating a community of gatekeepers who can respond to those in crisis. NCC Thrives! will: • Increase the number of NCC students who know how to access campus and/or community mental health resources to 75% (from a baseline of 62%) of students and will increase to 75% (from a baseline of 47%) the number of students who identify the need to receive mental health services expressing intent to seek services; • Certify (13) NCC faculty/staff to teach suicide prevention and mental health gatekeeper trainings: seven (7) in year one; three (3) in year two; and (3) in year three. • Train 800 student, and faculty/staff mental health gatekeepers: One hundred sixty (160) in year one; three hundred twenty (320) in year two; and three hundred twenty in year three. • Develop (10) new or enhanced existing community and campus partnerships that will increase student access to trauma-informed professionals who can support them or provide treatment: seven (7) in year one; two (2) in year two; and one (1) in year three. a. Northampton County Human Services, Northampton County Emergency Services, and Carbon Monroe Pike Mental Health and Development Services have committed to participate. b. Provide 720 hours of telepsychiatry counseling for students: two hundred forty (240) hours in year one; two hundred forty (240) hours in year two; two hundred forty (240) hours in year three.