Check out this opportunity from the Jed Foundation, which works nationally to reduce the rate of suicide and the prevalence of emotional distress among college and university students.

Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award

The Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award was established to honor a student who is reducing stigma around mental illness, raising awareness of mental health problems on campus, or encouraging help-seeking among his or her peers.

The student selected for this award will receive:

• $2,000 cash scholarship
• Recognition through The Jed Foundation’s website and events
• Trip to New York to attend The Jed Foundation’s annual gala in June 2009
• An opportunity to appear on MTVU**

This award is designed to encourage dialogue about mental health on campuses and reduction of stigma around emotional disorders, and to raise visibility of the amazing people who are tackling these issues at schools across the country. This year, award applicants are asked to submit a video about their work. The winning video and other notable video submissions will be shared across our social networking platforms to further encourage action and dialogue around mental health awareness.

REQUIREMENTS
We are accepting video submissions that highlight a student’s efforts and activities in raising awareness around mental health. The videos can focus on a range of topics including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, self-injury, eating disorders, suicide or other mental health issues.

The video should demonstrate how the applicant is:

• Creating and/or leading campus programs or events that decrease stigma or encourage help-seeking,
• Sharing a personal story about dealing with a mental health issue or helping a friend with an emotional problem, or
• Working to improve campus policies, programs and services

Entries will be judged on the merits of the student’s efforts, and on the creative use of the video format. Videos can be submitted electronically or by mail in a DVD format and should be no longer than 5 minutes in length.

The judging panel will include a mental health expert, a television/film professional, a campus professional and individuals with a personal connection to mental health or suicide.

Click here for more info about the application process.

There is no health without brain health. A healthy functioning brain is the foundation for all successful learning, social, civic and economic development. The school environment is an important component of healthy brain development. Just as schools are locations in which physical health can be encouraged and improved, so are they locations in which brain health can be encouraged and improved.

How and when a young person’s brain develops affects how they learn. An understanding of how a young person’s brain functions may help us better create brain-healthy environments and educational approaches that can enhance learning outcomes.

The human brain is the most complex entity in the universe. It has more connections than there are stars in the Milky Way. It is the organ of adaptation and of civilization. What we are, what we think and what we do, as individuals and as a human species are the outcomes of how our brains work. That in turn is influenced by a variety of other factors including our genetic endowment, the way our brains naturally develop over time, and the impact of the environment on the way our brains develop and on how they work.

The adolescent years (puberty to about age 25) are characterized by a second major period of brain development (the first is during the early years of development). New brain connections are developed, old connections are pruned, and complex systems that guide emotional integration, motivation, craving-induced behaviors and the capacity for good executive functioning (impulse control; problem solving; empathic/cognitive integration; etc.) come online.

(more…)