Task Force on Student Mental Health and Wellbeing

After hearing concerns last year from undergraduate members of the Student Government Association about a stressful academic environment and perceived lack of resources available to students, President Daniels committed to a thorough review at both the undergraduate and graduate level. In response, the Task Force on Student Mental Health and Wellbeing was convened in March 2016 to assess the current state of mental health resources available to students, review current research on effective strategies for mental health promotion, and make recommendations on how the university can better support the mental health needs of our students.

The Task Force, composed of 28 faculty, staff, and students from across the university, met regularly over the past year and received input from more than 2,300 students through its September 2016 mental health survey and through numerous listening sessions.

After a thorough analysis of available research and data, the Task Force has now completed its initial draft set of recommendations. The final report with accompanying background information will be published later this year, but we feel it is important to share the current recommendations at this stage in order to ask for feedback and suggestions about how the recommendations can be improved to better serve our students.

The draft recommendations can be viewed here, and we kindly ask for your comments and/or suggestions by Friday, June 2. You can provide your response via the comments section below or by emailing StudentMentalHealth@jhu.edu. The Task Force will review and consider your input prior to developing its final report. 

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Daniele Fallin and Terry Martinez

Co-Chairs of the Task Force on Student Mental Health and Wellbeing