MTVU AND THE JED FOUNDATION EXPLORE COLLEGE STUDENTS’ EMOTIONAL HEALTH DURING HISTORIC ECONOMIC CRISIS
As the economic downturn in the U.S. continues, mtvU and The Jed Foundation’s Peabody Award-winning “Half of Us” campaign is shifting this spring to explore how students are being impacted by increasing financial pressures, address the serious mental health concerns associated with stressful times, and highlight ways students are coping.
Tuition costs and student debt continue to steadily increase, and the job market continues to recede, with a rising unemployment rate of 8.5 percent. As the economy has worsened, more students are raising issues related to funding their education, paying off debt and finding a job after college. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 1.6 million college degrees will be awarded this year. Yet, companies are expected to hire 22 percent fewer recent college graduates this year, as compared to 2008.
mtvU and The Jed Foundation will launch the following on-air and online content as part of this next phase of the “Half of Us” campaign:
•The Economics of Stress – College students from around the country speak candidly about how the bleak economy is affecting their mental health. One student, Karen from Temple University, reveals how financial woes ultimately led to thoughts of suicide, and takes the cameras with her as she seeks out help for the first time at her campus counseling center.
•La Di Da - Rising superstar and college favorite Asher Roth lends his track, “La Di Da,” to create a music video in which college students showcase how they cope and deal with stress - - from exercise to artistic expression to counseling.
•Stress Check – “Half of Us” goes on tour with mtvU as part of the mtvU Movies and Music Festival to ask students what’s stressing them out and how they’re coping. Video clips of their answers, appearing on http://www.HalfOfUs.com, show that students are dealing with a range of stressors, including the economy and academics, during this difficult time. Students also reveal creative ways to manage stress from exercise and music to writing and socializing. The video receiving the greatest viewer response will appear on-air on mtvU.
In the coming weeks, the “Half of Us” campaign will take a deeper look into how economic stress is impacting the emotional health of students across the country. This will create a better understanding of the issue so students are more likely to identify and address mental health issues in themselves or others during these difficult times.
mtvU and The Jed Foundation launched the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated “Half of Us” campaign in November 2006 to fight the stigma around mental health and encourage help-seeking among college students across the country. The campaign includes on-air, online and on campus elements. The backbone of the campaign is http://www.HalfofUs.com where students can access a variety of programming and resources, including videos featuring a diverse group of students and artists like Mary J. Blige, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and Brittany Snow, speaking candidly about their personal struggles with serious mental health issues. The centerpiece of the site is an anonymous self-evaluator screening tool – developed by the Duke University Medical Center – which helps users understand more about their state of mind and access campus-specific resources. The site also features an action center where students can become advocates on issues related to college mental health and suicide prevention.
The “Half of Us” campaign takes its name from a national survey that showed nearly half of all college students have been so depressed they couldn’t function, and was built on original research that showed most students would not seek help for emotional issues due to embarrassment or a lack of information about available resources (visit http://www.HalfofUs.com/press.aspx to view the findings of the “mtvU College Mental Health Study: Stress, Depression, Stigma & Students).
For more information on the “Half of Us” campaign please check out http://www.halfofus.com.
About mtvU
Broadcast to more than 750 college campuses and via top cable distributors in 700 college communities nationwide, mtvU reaches upwards of 9 million U.S. college students – making it the largest, most comprehensive television network just for college students. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mtvU can be seen in the dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms of campuses throughout the U.S., as well as on cable systems from Charter Communications, Verizon FiOS TV, Suddenlink Communications, AT&T u-Verse and nearly 70 others. mtvU is dedicated to every aspect of college life, reaching students everywhere they are: on-air, online and on campus. mtvU programs music videos from emerging artists that can’t be seen anywhere else, news, student life features and initiatives that give college students the tools to advance positive social change. mtvU is always on campus, with more than 500 events per year, including exclusive concerts, giveaways, shooting mtvU series and more. For more information about mtvU, and a complete programming schedule, visit http://www.mtvU.com.
mtvU also owns and operates the College Media Network, the largest interactive network of online college newspapers in the US, and RateMyProfessors.com, the Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings. The College Media Network comprises 550 campus publications that serve institutions including Brown University, the University of Illinois, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University, with a combined enrollment of over 5.5 million students, reaching an average of 5 million unique users each month. RateMyProfessors.com reaches approximately 2.9 million college students each month, via the site’s more than 6.6 million student-generated ratings of over 1,000,000 college professors.
About The Jed Foundation
Since its inception in 2000, The Jed Foundation has become the nation’s leading organization working to reduce emotional distress and prevent suicide among college students. Guided by an expert board of mental health professionals, the organization is changing the way parents and students think about mental health, paving the way for more young people to get the treatment if needed, and helping colleges build safer, healthier campus communities. The Jed Foundation was founded by Phil and Donna Satow after they lost their 20-year-old son, Jed, to suicide. The Foundation’s programs include ULifeline, an anonymous, confidential, online resource center, where college students can be comfortable searching for the information they need and want on mental health and suicide prevention. Currently, more than 1,500 colleges and universities participle in the ULifeline Network.
Janice Gatti
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212.846.8852
