Student Voice of Mental Health Award

Recently, in response to one of my posts at www.msqueer.com about teen suicide and lgbtq teen suicides in this country and resources to help, I received a comment from someone who asked me to publicize a video competition that is coming to a conclusion soon, as well as the organization sponsoring it, The Jed Foundation.

Here are excerpts from the poster's comments: "I’m writing from The Jed Foundation....We are presenting The Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award for college students who have had mental health issues like the one’s you write about on your site and wanted for you to help spread the word.

"The award is for a video on their experiences with mental health issues and how they are working to raise awareness and encourage their peers on the issue. The award includes a $2,000 scholarship, a trip to NYC to our annual gala in June 2009, recognition through our site and events and possibly appearing on MTVU. The info is on our site (link below).

We are interested... in having folks write about the importance of doing work like this and show casing, if you will, this award we are presenting.

More information at http://jedfoundation.org/programs/student-voice-of-mental-health-award

NOTE: The Deadline for submitting a video to this project is FEBRUARY 13th! You can download an application from their site address shown here. Questions can be directed to studentaward@jedfoundation.org.

From their website, I share with you their Mission, as it appears on their About Us page:

Mission
The Jed Foundation works nationally to reduce the rate of suicide and the prevalence of emotional distress among college and university students. To achieve this end, the organization collaborates with the public and leaders in higher education, mental health, and research to produce and advance initiatives that:

• Decrease the stigma surrounding emotional disorders and increase help-seeking in the college student population
• Increase understanding of the warning signs of suicide and the symptoms of emotional disorders among college students
• Build awareness of the prevalence of suicide and emotional disorders among college students
• Strengthen campus mental health services, policies, and programs

You can also find the Jed Foundation, among other places on the net at http://www.youtube.com/thejedfoundation

There, you will find a number of videos on "You Are Not Alone - Fight the Stigma" which feature student sharings as well as educational information from professionals dealing with the issues of student mental health.

I have contacted the Jed Foundation and suggested they network with The Trevor Project, since I did not see any specific references to the LGBTQ population. I hope they follow suit. (Update: I received word back from their Project Coordinator that they were indeed hoping to work together with the Trevor Foundation and appreciated the suggestion.)

Here's one of their videos:

[NOTE: ALL RIGHTS TO THIS VIDEO BELONG TO THE JED FOUNDATION.]

The Jed Foundation also has a "Half Of Us" Campaign underway that asks students, "How Are You A Friend?" More information about this can be found at http://jedfoundation.org/about/jed-news/how-are-you-a-friend. -Deborah Adler.

©2009 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. [NOTE: All language from the Jed Foundation website is the property of The Jed Foundation. No copyright infringement intended.]

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