In 2017, Columbia University established a partnership with the Jed Foundation (JED) to enhance student health and well-being efforts on campus.
Progress of the Columbia-JED Campus Strategic Plan
The JED Steering Committee forms 14 working groups to address the important areas of action identified in the JED Strategic Plan. Led by Dean James J. Valentini, chair of the JED Steering Committee, cross-functional teams are formed to begin to move the implementation of JED’s multi-year plan.
The Student Health Advisory Committee, composed of undergraduate and graduate students from across schools, helps guide the redesign of Columbia Health’s website.
Columbia Health’s redesigned website launches, providing students a more user-friendly navigation and easy access to all resources and services.
The Undergraduate Residence Hall Roof Door Security Project is launched to improve residence hall roof door security, balancing the need to restrict student access while maintaining emergency access functionality.
Columbia Health launches the Behavioral Health Initiative, posting two Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) psychologists in Medical Services during select peak periods, allowing for seamless and expedited referrals to counseling for students visiting with their primary care provider.
Committee begins to develop a health form that will allow identification of students with any significant history prior to their arrival at Columbia and allow proactive outreach from the relevant office to these students with connection to resources.
Columbia Health begins the Health Psychology Initiative, placing psychologists from Counseling and Psychological Services into Medical Services, to provide additional points of entry to mental health services.
Columbia University Public Safety partners on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, a free service to the Columbia community to anonymously and at no cost turn in unused or expired prescription medication for safe disposal.
ULifeline, a confidential mental health screening tool, launches for all students.
A primary care case manager is dedicated to assist with Columbia Student Health History Form review, outreach and follow up.
Gatekeeper Training is incorporated into the leadership training required of all student group leaders.
An improved New Student Orientation Program experience is launched, with new training for student volunteers and leaders in order to build their capacity to support peers in distress and connect them to appropriate resources.
Various Lerner Hall spaces are converted to student lounges and fun zones, including the 4th-floor lounges and Lerner ramp lounges.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) has an increased presence at New Student Orientation Program, including late night drop in hours, open tours of CPS spaces and participation in Columbia 101.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) staff is present in residence halls during the Fall 2018 New Student Orientation Program (NSOP), where they share information and personalized services. Orientation Leaders take their groups through Lerner 5 during NSOP, so new students can see the CPS facility.
Work begins to revise protocol that keep faculty, staff, students, parents, family members, alumni and other community members knowledgeable and appropriately informed of emerging concerns.
Work begins towards creating a simplified readmission pilot process for students returning from medical leave. The improved process will decrease the amount of time and travel previously required.
Work begins to formalize inter/intra school notification, ensuring all Columbia undergraduates receive timely notice of student emergencies.
Live Well | Learn Well, a new wellness marketing campaign, launches its centralized website, with access to information on wellness resources across campus.
First-year community lounges transition to being reservable by individual students as well as groups of students that are unaffiliated with a recognized student group. Additionally, the John Jay Lounge piano is relocated to Broadway Hall.
Work begins to develop and update systems for ensuring the accuracy of emergency contact information for all students.
Work begins to establish protocols for identifying and communicating with impacted communities (residence hall, class/academic, affinity or identity-based, student employment/research, clubs, athletic teams, hometown, and other social networks).
Communication on the launch of Live Well | Learn Well is sent to the undergraduate community.
The National Prescription Drug Take Back semi-annual event takes place and is utilized by approximately 25 people.
Enhanced reporting is created to aid in identifying and communicating with the most-impacted communities. Additional work begins, in partnership with Undergraduate Student Life, to improve the accuracy of student group membership information so that all affected students can be reached.
Columbia Health participates in the University student wellbeing survey.
Main sources of student emergency contact information are identified, making it easier for staff to access them. Work begins to develop a centralized software system to eventually house student emergency contact information in one location.
Following the launch of the comprehensive Health History form, 2,554 new students complete the form over the summer. A Registered Nurse Case Manager contacts any students who could benefit from further follow-up.
Enhanced reporting is created to aid in identifying and communicating with the most-impacted communities. Additional work begins, in partnership with Undergraduate Student Life, to improve the accuracy of student group membership information so that all affected students can be reached.
More than 1,000 fleece blankets with the Live Well | Learn Well logo — as well as an accompanying resource card with the website’s URL —- are handed out to students.
Work on a pilot weekly social/community-building programming series to increase opportunities for students to gather and connect begins.
Based on student feedback, work begins on rewriting the medical leave policies to clarify the readmission process.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) introduces a meditation workshop, with staff from the Berick Center for Student Advising and Undergraduate Student Life being trained to run the workshops.
Rather than host a week of programming, a month-long calendar of offerings occurred. Programs geared toward first-year transitions and students hoping to find connections included: Multicultural Affairs Open house/House Party, Students of Color @ Columbia Welcome Week (offered a Queer and Trans SOC Mixer, Mixed Mixer, Men of Color Alliance Opening and Women of Color Kick-off event, First-Gen Low-Income (FLI) @ Columbia Open House/Social, LGBTQ @ Columbia Open House and International @ Columbia Open House.
New protocol is implemented to better streamline communication of emerging concerns, including improved message sequencing and more consistent messaging on social media platforms.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) sees an 11 percent increase in visits from the last year.
Work begins on a Student Ambassador program in which appointed student leaders from all three undergraduate schools will serve as liaisons to Columbia Health, providing information about available services, helping connect students with resources and providing feedback that may be useful to Columbia Health in improving programs and in resolving problems students may encounter.
Staff members are identified and trained to serve as postvention response group.
Twenty-two new student members join JED Working Groups, increasing overall student representation on the working groups to 43 percent of the JED Working Groups' membership.
A Columbia Health Nurse Practitioner completes training and receives her waiver to be a Suboxone prescriber – a first among our peer universities.
Columbia Health receives a $15,000 Irving Institute Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Pilot Research CaMPR Phase 1 Planning Grant funded by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) for work on the dissemination and implementation of opioid education and Naloxone training on campus.
The Columbia Recovery Coalition’s membership increases from seven to 33 members, resulting in two active weekly group meetings.
Fall 2018 utilization of the screening tools ULifeLine and BASICS increases as a result of broader advertisement/promotions by Alice! Health Promotion and additional campus partners.
All Core Curriculum faculty teaching first-years complete Gatekeeper Training.
Progress continues on the Undergraduate Roof Door Security Program, done in partnership with the FDNY. The initial phase, impacting East Campus and Broadway, is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
The working group begins to explore the feasibility of expanding out the survey tool to the larger student body at a later date.
During winter break, additional furniture is placed into John Jay Lounge so that more students can sit comfortably and participate in programming in the community lounge.
With student input, the committee finalizes Live Well | Learn Well branding.
Postvention response group begins development of standard guidelines and procedures, with a draft completed by the end of March 2019.
Emergency communications protocol is evaluated and refined to reduce report time, increase transparency of messaging and enhance message delivery.
Work begins to identify alternatives to replace armed door closures.
The Live Well | Learn Well website reaches 4,778 page views, with spikes occurring immediately after the website was announced and during finals. The most popular page is Resources, especially areas covering mental health and academic support.
Work begins on enhancements to the Live Well | Learn Well website, development of well-being dimensions, digital display screens across campus, a robust social media campaign and student-led events to spread the word.
Within Medical Services, two new case manager positions are created, in order to oversee the Health History program moving forward. Both will begin during the Spring 2019 semester.
Work begins to identify and train staff members to serve as school-based and departmental representatives for postvention response group.
A survey and questions are developed to quantitatively measure student awareness of the existing life-skills programs identified in the Fall 2018 as well as to gauge student experiences in developing life skills at Columbia.
Gatekeeper Training continues to be provided to all faculty of the Core Curriculum.
Following the expansion of dedicated staff support for student wellness for Columbia College and Columbia Engineering undergraduates, the School of General Studies creates a new associate dean of wellness position, which will offer additional support to students on medical leave and during the readmission process.
Alice! Health Promotion begins work to host monthly puppy study breaks in Spring 2019 to enhance stress management, lower levels of stress and increase feelings of connectedness among students.
Work begins on a new pilot program to encourage gathering and community-building that will begin in Spring 2019 and will include open times for students to informally gather in Lerner Central.
As part of Columbia Health's new awareness campaign, posters are posted monthly in residence halls and academic buildings aimed at addressing the barriers to seeking care and myths about Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS).
In Fall 2019, twelve students who served as CU Well Peer Leaders were recruited to participate in the Peer Ambassador Network Pilot Phase 1. These students received training about the services offered through Columbia Health and an update on the strategic planning process. The ambassadors are advised by a Senior Health Promotion Specialist, who is also working with campus partners to build a long-term structure for the initiative.
Leading into the 2019-20 Academic Year, 6,227 Health History Forms were submitted and reviewed by Columbia Health. A full-time Medical Services Case Manager and Associate Director of Nursing were responsible for screening all forms and connecting incoming students to resources within Columbia Health as indicated and needed.
Group continues to refine protocol, with increased collaboration & transparency with University partners.
As part of the opioid research and naloxone training program, 630 members of the Columbia community now carry life-saving naloxone. The program has identified and trained members of the campus community — both students and staff — to recognize signs of an opioid overdose and administer lifesaving medication. The program met its year-one training goal in just 9 weeks. Research continues as part of the phase 2 funding received through the Irving Institute CTSA at Columbia University pilot Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Pilot Research Awards (CaMPR).