Mental Health Initiatives

• Leadership statements: Senior leaders consistently affirm the importance of mental health and encourage help-seeking. Cornell recognizes student well-being as a foundation for academic and life success.
• Campus-wide collaboration: Cross-campus committees coordinate strategy, policy, and continuous improvement. Examples include:
  • Health Promoting Campus Community of Practice
  • Coalition on Mental Health
  • Coalition on Sexual Violence Prevention
  • Student Health Advisory Committee
• Health Promoting Campus alignment: Guided by Cornell’s Wellbeing Vision and its commitment to the Okanagan Charter, the university advances a whole-campus approach to mental health that strengthens belonging, resilience, equity, and supportive learning environments for all members of the community.
• Positive culture change: Campus initiatives promote positive culture change in key areas that intersect with mental health promotion and suicide prevention efforts (e.g., belonging, healthy relationships).
• Equal Access: Student Disability Services works to ensure all aspects of student life are accessible, equitable, and inclusive of people with disabilities, mitigating disparities that negatively impact mental health. 

• Student Code of Conduct: Establishes expectations for all students that preserve a safe and healthy campus environment.
• Cornell Office of Civil Rights: Promotes equitable access through education, data analysis, and incident response.
• Health Promoting Campus Community of Practice: Committees develop guidance to promote health and well-being in all university policies and practices. 

Means restriction places time and distance between suicidal thoughts and access to lethal means. Because most suicidal crises are brief, delaying access to methods significantly increases the likelihood that a person survives long enough to receive help: 

• Firearms: Firearms are restricted on campus. They may be stored securely with Public Safety in Barton Hall, and free gun locks are also available in the Cornell Health Pharmacy.
• Heights: Fences and steel nets are installed on high bridges, gorge overlooks, and other high-risk locations, accompanied by signage directing people in crisis to support resources. Additional physical barriers are incorporated into the built environment to limit access to other elevated locations (e.g., clock tower, roofs of tall buildings).
  • See also: Skorton Center evaluation of means restriction on preventing jumping suicides.
• Laboratories: Hazardous chemicals and laboratory equipment are securely stored and managed.
• Medications: The Cornell Health Pharmacy provides locking pill boxes, sharps containers, and safe disposal of unused medications and needles. Medications may also be disposed of at Public Safety in Bartels Hall.

Read more about suicide prevention at Cornell. 

Social connection and resilience are foundational to student well-being. Support is available to help students find community, build coping skills, and develop the tools to flourish.

• Student and Campus Life (SCL): Through residential communities, Centers for Student Equity, Empowerment, and Belonging, more than 1,000 student organizations, educational and skill-building programs on well-being, and initiatives such as NatureRx @ Cornell, Refresh, and Let’s Meditate, SCL helps students build community, resilience, and a sense of belonging.
• Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education: The Learning Strategies Center and Office of Academic Discovery and Impact provide academic coaching, advising, and targeted support to strengthen student success and resilience.
• Graduate School: The Big Red Barn and Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement create opportunities for community, mentoring, and belonging among graduate and professional students.

• Mental health communications: Posters, websites, social media, and other communications encourage help-seeking, reduce stigma, and connect students with resources. 
• Mental Health at Cornell website: Provides information about campus and local resources in support of campus health and well-being [mentalhealth.cornell.edu].   
• Parent and family education: Web resources, email communication, and programs help parents and families support their students’ mental health.   
• Well-being Coaching: Strengths-based coaching to help students set goals, build motivation, and navigate challenges. 
• Well-being in Scholarly Environments (WISE): Provides tips and resources to faculty and TAs to support student well-being through their teaching and advising practices

• Bystander education programs:  
  • Notice & Respond: This suite of programs helps faculty, staff, and students recognize signs of distress and respond appropriately.
  • Intervene: Film and workshop show how effective bystander intervention can interrupt sexual assault, harassment, bias, hazing, emotional distress, intimate partner violence, and AOD emergencies.
• Clinical screening and identification: Cornell Health provides regular screening including: 
  • Primary care mental health screening: Screens medical patients for distress at the time of visit and connects them with care.
  • Outreach to incoming students: Completion of a health history and information about campus resources before arrival. 
• Non-clinical identification:
  • Academic deans and advisors: Coordinate support for students experiencing academic or personal challenges.
  • BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students): A confidential program helps students assess their substance use. 
  • CARE Team: A multidisciplinary team that reviews students of elevated concern and coordinates support.
  • Student of Concern Form Referrals: A centralized online report tool for all members of the Cornell community.
  • Student Support and Advocacy Services (SSAS): Provides case management and support. 
  • Victim Advocacy / SHARE Office: Confidential support, advocacy, safety planning, and referrals for community members affected by harm.

Cornell Health provides collaborative medical and mental health care to address students’ physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Staff provide coordinated care for students, including those with complex health needs (e.g., gender services, eating disorders, substance use disorders, chronic illness).

Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) provides individual and group counseling, psychiatry, same-day triage, crisis care, telehealth, and referrals to community and specialty providers.

• Community Liaisons: Counselors embedded in student communities increase access to mental health support for students who may face barriers or stigma seeking care.
• Embedded Therapists: Provide counseling and psychoeducational programming for students, and consultation to others in the academic environment.
• Let’s Talk: Offers informal drop-in consultations with CAPS counselors, in person and via Zoom, to increase access to mental health support. 

Primary Care Medical Services teams work to address student mental health needs in the clinic (e.g., emotional distress related to medical problems, somatized distress, aversion to mental health care). 

• Behavioral Health Consultants (BHCs): Help students identify and make behavioral changes to improve their well-being and self-manage symptoms and concerns.
• Medication management: Prescription medications are often used to assist in the treatment of common college health concerns such as depression, anxiety, mood disorders, ADHD, and other mental health conditions.

On campus

• Cornell Health phone consultation: 24/7 phone consultation with a medical or mental health provider for students and people with concerns about a student’s well-being.
• Cornell Division of Public Safety: 24/7 emergency response from Cornell University Police and local law enforcement agencies.
• Crisis Managers: Staff members are on call at all times to coordinate the university’s response to crisis situations.  
• Community Support Team: Staff members from across the university provide support for individuals and groups in the aftermath of tragedies or other crises.

Off campus

• Cayuga Medical Center: Inpatient mental health care for individuals in crisis.
• Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services of Tompkins County. 24/7 support provided to Ithaca community through the 800-272-1616 (anywhere in the U.S. Call, text, or chat 988)