Lipscomb University partners with JED Foundation for mental health initiative

Lipscomb University has formed a partnership with the JED Foundation to advance mental health services for students on campus. The JED Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with schools and universities to strengthen mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs for students. The University Counseling Center is leading the partnership with the JED Foundation, but the initiative will touch many university departments and areas of campus.

According to an article on Lipscomb University’s website, Ashley Dumas, who serves as the director of the University Counseling Center, was quoted as saying of the partnership, “Student mental health is everybody's responsibility. It's far too big of an issue to be confined within the Counseling Center. We all play different roles in supporting our students and their mental health, and that role just looks a little different depending on our specific function at the university. JED provides feedback regarding campus strengths as well as areas of need. Then Lipscomb and JED work hand-in-hand to create an individualized strategic plan and JED provides support to implement that plan.”

The partnership between Lipscomb University and the JED Foundation is already underway. In February 2025, the first step of the program was to create a JED Campus Team that brought together representatives from the university’s Office of Student Life, Risk Management, the Learning Commons, Health Services, Security and Safety, Athletics, Office of the President, Office of Strategic Planning, Communications/Marketing, and faculty. Another early step in the process was to have students complete the JED Foundation’s Healthy Minds Survey to identify campus needs.

The JED Campus Team assessed the campus on eight key areas: strategic planning, life skills, social connectedness, identifying students at risk, help-seeking, clinical services, substance misuse, and crisis and means. More specifically, the team has assessed the training that faculty members receive to handle crises with students they interact with every day, the access students have to rooftops or chemicals in science labs, and leave policies.

As the partnership progresses, the university will develop a comprehensive mental health strategy as informed by the JED Campus Team. The university’s Counseling Center already  provides many resources to students, including preventative mental health services and crisis intervention, free of charge.

Lipscomb University was able to participate in the JED Foundation’s program through donor funding.
The JED Foundation was established in 2000 in memory of a family’s son Jed, who passed away by suicide in 1998. Since its creation, the foundation has partnered with more than 500 universities and colleges to implement mental health support strategies.

For more information about Lipscomb University, visit the school’s website.