All for NarWELL

Background

The New School has been awarded the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to help prevent suicide and raise awareness at The New School.

This 3-year grant will help provide consistent mental health and suicide screening, training, and programming. The goal is to have a cohort of students, faculty, and staff trained specifically to recognize signs related to mental health issues and empowered to reach out to help others to strengthen mental health services and suicide prevention programming at The New School.

All for NarWELL Initiative

We’ve created the All for NarWELL Initiative for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention as a result of the GLS SAMHSA Grant. The All for NarWELL Initiative is a collaborative, empirical, and unified approach to improving student mental health and wellness across The New School’s campus. This initiative includes evidence-based training, mental health screenings, wellness programs, and educational campaigns. Each component is designed for a diverse group of students, including those most at-risk.

The key services offered by the All for NarWELL Initiative include:

• Providing general and tailored training to students, faculty, and staff: Psychological First Aid, Kognito, SafeTALK, QPR, Togetherall Trained Peers Program
• Offering online and in-person mental and substance abuse screenings through Student Health Services, MindWise Innovations, and on the Togetherall platform. These screenings distribute mental health and substance use educational materials for both online and in-person screenings.
• Creating an expanded culture of caring across the entire university. Creating a cohesive educational and crisis intervention plan that identifies and addresses the risk factors for suicide and suicide prevention, including alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, and sexual violence.
• Strengthening The New School’s ability to identify and fill existing behavioral health service gaps through developing a Stepped Model of Care for The New School. Campus and community stakeholders have come together to support a comprehensive and coordinated infrastructure to expand and enhance mental health services and programming, increase help-seeking behavior, and reduce negative attitudes related to mental illness among New School students.
• Awareness of Mental Health Services. This initiative is the product of close collaboration between Student Health Services, Student Support and Advocacy, and The New School for Social Research’s Psychology department. It is meant to unify the promotion of mental health services provided to students.
• Mental Health Awareness Events throughout campus. The initiative hosts multiple mental health awareness events.