James Madison University (JMU), a public university situated in the rolling hills of Harrisonburg, Virginia, boasts an enrollment of over 21,000 students.
Like many colleges and universities, JMU feels the impact of the pandemic on its students’ mental health. As a result of growing needs, JMU seeks to implement a new co-response program for responding to those in mental health crisis. The program intends to dispatch mental health professionals alongside sworn law enforcement officers to calls for those in crisis. The program includes crisis response training to assist with de-escalation and positive outcomes. Ultimately, JMU hopes to reduce the number of mental health crisis calls that escalate during the response.
JMU finds a higher call volume during evenings and weekends, and the co-response program provides a unique opportunity for students to receive in-person mental health support outside of regular school hours. As JMU maps out their implementation program, they plan to research other area response teams. Active Minds, a campus-based club whose mission is to provide information about JMU’s mental health services, strives to assist with making students aware of this new crisis response program. Cohort 2022.
Program Goals
With grant funding, JMU aims to employ one full-time mental health professional and one part-time mental health professional to assist the police department as it responds to campus calls for service and to assist in follow-up care.