JED Foundation Strategic Recommendations for UWC-USA Student Wellbeing

Strengthening Suicide Prevention and Postvention Systems at United World College-USA

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The Jed Foundation (JED)

The Jed Foundation (JED) was founded in 2000 by Donna and Phil Satow, who lost their youngest son, Jed, to suicide. JED is now the nation’s leading nonprofit working to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for teens and young adults.

JED advances its mission by partnering with schools, universities, municipalities, community-based organizations, and specialized or high-pressure cohorts to build and strengthen comprehensive mental health and suicide prevention programs and systems. Our technical assistance program is designed to be comprehensive and multi-layered. JED’s Comprehensive Approach is adapted from a model first developed and tested in the U.S. Air Force in 1997 (Knox et al., 2003).

JED’s lead program, JED Campus, is implemented at more than 550 colleges and universities collectively attended by over 7 million students. A Decade of Improving College Mental Health Systems: JED Campus Impact Report analyzes ten years of data (2013 to 2023) from JED Campus schools and the Healthy Minds Network survey. Among the findings, the report documents a significant decline in suicidal ideation, suicidal planning, and attempts among students attending colleges and universities who participated in the JED Campus program. Schools participating in and completing the JED Campus program made improvements and significant changes across all seven domains of JED’s Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention.

Purpose and Methodology

During the spring of 2025, JED was engaged with United World College-USA (UWC-USA) to conduct a comprehensive review of the school’s mental health climate, including its suicide prevention and postvention practices. The review process included document analysis; two site visits (May 2025 and February 2026); and key informant interviews conducted both in person and remotely with administrators, deans, mental health providers, teachers, residential staff, security personnel, and facilities management. In June 2025, JED staff also met with members of the UWC-USA Board in Princeton to present preliminary recommendations based on the information gathered up to that date.

Following the initial review during the spring and summer of 2025, JED conducted several ad hoc implementation support sessions during the fall of 2025 as UWC-USA began adopting certain key recommendations, including expanding on-site full-time mental health staffing and implementing evidence-based suicide-focused assessment practices. Additional remote listening sessions with faculty and staff were conducted in December 2025, followed by two in-person student focus groups in February 2026. After completing informed consent procedures, ten students representing both first- and second-year cohorts participated. Participants also provided verbal permission for JED to share overarching themes and recommendations with school leadership without identifying individual participants. Additional follow-up interviews with administrative, medical, and academic staff were conducted during and after the February 2026 site visit.

Across these activities, the primary goal was to strengthen existing prevention and postvention systems while identifying protective factors and opportunities to enhance the safety, well-being, and resilience of the broader school community. The most consistently identified themes were synthesized into the following strategic recommendations.

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JED’s Strategic Recommendations for UWC-USA Student Wellbeing

The following recommendations have been developed by The Jed Foundation (JED) based on the specific information, data and materials provided by UWC-USA during the course of JED’s engagement by UWC-USA pursuant the terms of a professional services agreement and based on the JED team’s professional judgment and expertise.

These recommendations: are specific to the UWC-USA campus and the circumstances described and under which JED was engaged by UWC-USA; are not intended for use at any other UWC location or any school or organization outside of the UWC organization; are based on information supplied by UWC-USA, which has not been independently verified and JED accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies or inconsistencies arising from any such inaccurate, incomplete or outdated information; reflect the professional opinion of JED professionals based on the information provided; and are not a substitute for independent advice on matters outside the scope of JED’s engagement by UWC-USA. Individuals are encouraged to seek separate specialist advice, including personalized medical, other mental health or other advice or treatment where appropriate. JED disclaims all liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on these recommendations by any party other than the intended recipient, or from reliance on materially incomplete or inaccurate information supplied to JED.

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Recommendations for Applying JED’s Comprehensive Approach Framework at UWC-USA

The Comprehensive Approach is a public health framework developed by JED to promote mental health and prevent suicide by guiding organizations in building supportive, connected, and resilient communities. It emphasizes seven interconnected domains that reinforce one another — from developing life skills and promoting social connectedness to identifying youth at risk, increasing help-seeking behavior, and ensuring access to care and support. Together, these domains create a coordinated system that enhances protective factors, strengthens community response to crises, and fosters environments where young people feel safe, supported, and empowered to thrive.

1. Increase Help-Seeking Behaviors: Obstacles to help-seeking can include fear of misunderstanding, discomfort with emotional conversations, and concerns about hospitalization and/or being sent home. Students might also worry about parent involvement, how help-seeking might affect their future, or losing time they need to attend to competing demands.

2. Establish and Follow Crisis Management Procedures: A school’s processes for responding to youth in crisis are critical to a comprehensive suicide prevention approach — and to saving lives. A comprehensive crisis management procedure should include protocols for responding to any incident that impacts safety and mental health on campus and in school programs.

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3. Identify Young People at Risk: Many young people with mental health conditions go unnoticed. Schools can offer programming and practices that promote early recognition of those challenges through regular staff training on recognizing signs of distress, properly planned and implemented screenings, and strong referral practices.

4. Promote Social Connectedness: Loneliness and isolation — including experiences of being bullied or marginalized — are significant risk factors for mental health concerns and suicidal behavior. A strong organizational climate and culture foster a deep sense of community, safety, and connectedness among both staff and students.

5. Develop Life Skills: Through targeted skill-building, schools can help boost protective factors and behaviors for all students — including those who may have an unidentified mental health need. Programs that support the development of life skills have been shown to decrease emotional distress, reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms, and build coping and decision-making skills. JED focuses on identifying developmentally appropriate programming and strategies to weave life skills into the school’s work.

6. Reduction of Lethal Means: Means safety — reducing access to lethal means — is a key part of suicide prevention. Schools should educate staff about the most common methods of suicide and attempts (e.g., firearms and medications) and how to reduce access to them, promoting safer environments and informed awareness.

7. Ensure Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Services: Schools can build trusting relationships with local low-cost mental health providers to strengthen referral systems. These connections can help increase well-being, prevent and treat depression and substance misuse, and reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

1. Adopt a Comprehensive, Systems Approach to School Mental Health

Embed mental health into all aspects of the school environment through a systems-driven model (e.g., The JED Boarding School Model).

Strengthen admissions and vetting process to include appropriate mental health and wellness assessments to better anticipate the needs and supports of students prior to arrival.
Promote a holistic view of health that includes emotional, social, and physical wellbeing.
Integrate mental health literacy into the curriculum to equip students with practical, protective skills (e.g., time management, stress management, and sleep prioritization)
Promote stigma reducing and help-seeking behaviors.
Train teachers and staff to recognize and respond to the connection between mental health and academic performance:

○ You can Help a Student
○ It’s Okay to Say Suicide

Promote a culture of caring approach through cross collaboration that centers a “whole student” approach to learning and thriving.
Create regular opportunities for informal, meaningful, and trusting interactions between students and staff.

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At the beginning of the year, the medical and mental health staff should host an informational session with the students to discuss the supports offered to the students, including how to access care, make referrals, and to generally establish a good rapport with the students immediately upon their arrival.
Clearly define mental health roles, resources, and support pathways, including the promotion of no-cost, 24/7 national resources, including 988 and Crisis Text Line.
Utilize a digital approach for ease of scheduling mental health appointments (QR Codes to a signup link).
Launch and sustain initiatives that reduce stigma and promote psychological safety across the community and involve the students directly in the creation and implementation of the initiatives.
Prioritize opportunities for collective healing and reflection within the school community.

2. Strengthen Policies and Procedures

Establish and maintain a clear, consistent framework of policies and procedures that support student wellbeing and expectations.

Implement a comprehensive crisis management protocol and postvention plan and provide at a minimum, annual training on these processes.
Have clear and transparent policies and practices when a student discloses information that indicates a heightened risk of suicide, including the steps necessary to reduce risk, including notification of parents and guardians, the creation of a safety plan, referrals for emergency crisis assessment outside of UWC-USA, and more restrictive treatment options, such as hospitalization and follow-up care.
Ensure that the students are fully informed about the limits of confidentiality when undergoing any type of medical or mental health treatment.
Establish and communicate a transparent justification regarding the institutional limits of clinical care. Explicitly notify families that certain medical or psychological conditions—even those identified post-enrollment—may surpass the school’s internal support capacity. In these instances, following a multidisciplinary administrative and clinical review, a “change of placement” or enrollment termination may be necessary. It is essential that parents, guardians, and caregivers are informed of these potential outcomes beforehand to safeguard the primary educational mission and scope of the institution.
Define and communicate expectations for curfew, attendance, tardiness, transfers, and study hall.
Implement policy for sleep guardrails in combination with ongoing sleep hygiene education.
Ensure that medication management policies align with established best practices for independent schools and/or state regulations, including the prohibition of having unfettered or unmonitored access to potentially dangerous medications (prescription and over-the-counter) in the dorms.

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Address the gaps in the substance misuse policies and practices, balancing the need for accountability and autonomy.
Implement a bullying and cyberbullying prevention policy that includes clear definitions and pathways for anonymous reporting.
Provide ongoing training to ensure staff and students understand and apply these policies effectively.

3. Increase Access to Mental Health Support

Expand the school’s capacity to meet students’ current or expected mental health needs.

Increase mental health staffing to a level equal to 3.5 full time licensed or licensed-eligible professionals to serve at a minimum, one-third to forty percent of the students at UWC-USA over the course of an academic year with a reasonable dosage (i.e., 3-10 sessions) of outpatient embedded school mental healthcare. This recommendation is designed to account for the expected 12-month prevalence rates of diagnosable mental health conditions (depression, anxiety) among teens along with the added stressors of attending a rural boarding school with minimal mental health support in the local area coupled with the intense demands of an international baccalaureate program.
Implement a targeted recruitment strategy to attract and retain high-quality mental health professionals, with specific competencies in school mental health paradigms and suicide-focused interventions.
Implement a targeted recruitment strategy to attract and retain culturally competent and language diverse mental health staff members to effectively support a diverse and international student population.
Ensure timely, accessible, and diverse support services for students, including an expanded role of residence life staff and peers to provide scaffolded support during non-crisis events.
Consider adopting a Check-in/Check-Out system to be utilized by non-mental health staff (teachers, residence life), explicitly designed for non-emergencies.
Consider additional digital therapy platforms designed for schools to meet the mental health needs of the population.
Provide annual training, to include trauma-informed and culturally competent care, to equip mental health staff with the tools they need to help a diverse student body.

4. Implement a Sustainable School Mental Health Therapy Model

Develop a structured, flexible approach to student mental health care.

Develop a brief and targeted outpatient school mental health treatment model (3–10 sessions) that flexibly accommodates a demanding academic schedule.

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Each session should be limited to 30 minutes and if weekly sessions are indicated, they should be staggered so that a particular class is not disproportionately impacted in terms of instruction time.
Create individualized treatment plans with clear goals and methods of effective progress monitoring (e.g., Youth Outcome Questionnaire) to inform care decisions.
Consider adopting a school-based, brief cognitive behavioral framework which has been shown to reduce general stress in the majority of students served after a brief dosage provided in a school setting.
Center students need/voice in all treatment planning.
Establish step-down plans and offer booster sessions as needed.

5. Utilization of Evidence-Informed Suicide Focused Protocols

Implement the use of suicide-focused assessments and interventions such as, the Ask Suicide Questionnaire (ASQ), the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (CSSRS), the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) framework and Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) to strength the student support system and support informed decision-making for students who exhibit heightened risk of suicide, both of which have been listed on the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s Best Practice Registry and are included in the list of recommended practices published by the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

As listed above, it is recommended that UWC-USA establish clear and transparent policies and practices when a student discloses information that indicates a heightened risk of suicide, including the steps necessary to reduce risk, including notification of parents and guardians, the creation of a safety plan, referrals for emergency crisis assessment outside of UWC-USA, and more restrictive treatment options, such as hospitalization and follow-up care.
Implement well-established assessments, including the ASQ and the Columbia when there is an indication or concern that a student is at risk for suicide.
Train all mental health staff in CAMS and in the use of the Stabilization Support Plan (SSP).
Train all mental health staff and administrators in CALM and in the Stanley and Brown Safety Plan intervention to help staff reduce access to lethal means during periods of elevated risk.
It is recommended that the priority of suicide focused assessments is centered on the reduction of risk, not on the prediction of whether an attempt is likely.
Integrate these approaches into existing mental health services and crisis response procedures.

6. Establish a Set of Postvention Guidelines and Practices

The impact of losing a loved one to suicide often entails heightened vulnerability to psychological health challenges, complicated grief, interpersonal strain, and an elevated risk of subsequent suicide within the survivor network (Jordan, 2017). While postvention strategies are tailored to specific school community requirements and utilized interventions, the core objective remains constant: to provide a compassionate and efficient response to sudden, unanticipated death.

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In accordance with the Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force (2015), the primary objectives of a comprehensive postvention framework include:

Facilitating community healing and addressing the trauma associated with suicide-related bereavement.
Helping to stabilize the school environment.
Mitigating adverse outcomes following exposure, such as substance misuse, clinical distress, and persistent grief reactions.
Proactively preventing suicide among high-risk individuals exposed to loss, with a particular focus on families and intimate social circles.

Consistent with these guidelines, it is recommended that UWC-USA:

Establish a rapid communication protocol (remote, in-person) including a small core group of administrators, medical and mental health staff, residence life, facilities, teachers, and board members immediately following a serious event to discuss the details and circumstances.
Immediately contact the family and caregivers of the student(s) involved in a medical or mental health emergency.
Once the core group has convened and the parents/guardians have been notified, a decision to activate a postvention response should be made.
The first priority in a postvention response is to provide grief support and seek to stabilize the community via compassionate, and non-demand support for all those impacted, including the family and close associates of the deceased.
UWC-USA should also review well-established and published guidelines regarding postvention in the creation of its customized guidelines. JED is able to provide customized guidance as part of UWC-USA’s engagement with JED Boarding School.

7. Strengthen Measures Designed to Improve Environmental Safety

Implement systemic approaches to improve environmental safety and security within and across the UWC-USA Campus.

Given that UWC-USA is an open campus, staff should conduct regular environmental scans with the goal of reducing access to the potentially lethal means of suicide, including but not limited to:

Rooftop doors;
Windows;
Firearms;
Unsecured, toxic chemicals in science labs;

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Sharp objects;
Dangerous medications, including OTCs in the dorms;
Unsupervised access to water and elevated positions around campus;
Stairwells and hallways without surveillance or regular supervision.

Systemic/environmental approaches to suicide prevention are consistent with the principles of individual CALM interventions described above. Environmental safety interventions are designed to be implemented in tandem with other known interventions that reduce the risk of suicide (locks on rooftop doors, increased supervision, surveillance, proper clinical care, hopeful messaging in the community about the benefits of help-seeking).
Whereas clinicians at UWC-USA should be trained in the individual delivery of CALM, non-clinical staff at UWC-USA should take part in the training as well, in part, to be exposed to the systemic value of these interventions for boarding school communities.

JED Foundation Strategic Recommendations for UWC-USA Student Wellbeing

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