Improving Mental Health in Higher Education

7/20/07-For the past two years, State of Mine, a youth-oriented, non-profit behavioral advocacy organization based in New Mexico, has directed a mental health awareness campaign for institutions of higher education. Faculty forums, created in collaboration with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, and Parents for Behaviorally Different Children Advocacy Organization, were designed as a “crash course” in helping educators assist students with mental illnesses —a topic that is rarely discussed at colleges and universities, and for which almost no training or dialogue is offered. The faculty forums, held once every semester, were extremely successful, as demonstrated by the 45 individuals who attended the first one-hour forum. Presenters have included college students living with a mental illness, staff members from the special services department, trainers in psycho-social rehabilitation and recovery principles, and legal counsel on disability-rights law. In addition, awareness workshops were conducted to help individuals understand what it is like to live with a mental illness.