Mercy University Awarded $500,000 Four-Year SAMHSA Grant: Mercy RISE Brings Suicide Prevention to All Three Campuses
Mercy University, whose main campus is in Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County, New York, announced on November 3 that it has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to strengthen campus-wide suicide prevention, mental health education and student support. The four-year award, grant number SM-26-009, comes through SAMHSA's Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program.
The funding supports Mercy RISE (Resilience, Intervention, Support and Empowerment), an initiative covering the university's three campuses that expands early identification, increases access to behavioral health services, implements evidence-based prevention strategies and builds sustainable infrastructure for student well-being. Its four goals are to strengthen institutional capacity for suicide prevention, improve early identification and referral of students with behavioral health concerns, increase help-seeking and awareness of services, and establish sustainable policies, partnerships and prevention infrastructure beyond the grant period.
The 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that 33.2% of 18- to 25-year-olds experience mental illness, with 9.4% experiencing serious mental illness. At Mercy, the 2024-2025 Healthy Minds Study found that 62% of students experience symptoms of at least one significant mental health concern, and an estimated 3,000 students with identified needs are not receiving treatment.
"This award represents a significant investment in the health and well-being of our students," said Colleen Powers, executive director of Health and Wellness at Mercy University, adding that the funding builds on work already under way through JED Campus toward a comprehensive, proactive approach. Mercy joined JED Campus, the Jed Foundation's nationwide initiative, in 2025.
Partners include JED Campus, BetterMynd, Lavender Psychiatry, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, NAMI Westchester, the Jordan Porco Foundation and other regional providers. The university will train faculty, staff, student leaders and students to recognize warning signs and connect peers to help, and will conduct annual needs assessments, voluntary screening and referrals, integrated crisis response and stigma-reduction work. Mercy serves more than 9,000 students and is the largest private Hispanic Serving Institution in New York state.
(Source: Mercy University)
Source: Mercy University
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Mercy大学主楼（资料图）。Znegron 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Main Hall at Mercy University (file photo). Photo by Znegron, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
