WASHINGTON — Today, Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Don Bacon (R-NE), alongside Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would require colleges and universities to provide contact information for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and a campus mental health center on newly printed student identification cards.
Every year in the United States, approximately 1,100 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 commit suicide, and nearly 24,000 attempt it. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students and approximately 25% of college students know someone who has died as a result of suicide.
“Too many of our young people are taking their own lives, and we’ve got to push forward to address this worsening mental health crisis,” Correa said. “Adding crucial suicide prevention information to Student IDs and college websites will ensure that at-risk students have options. I’m grateful to my colleagues for stepping up, joining together, and working across the aisle to address this growing youth suicide epidemic—to give every young person a shot at the future they deserve.”
“Our college students are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, and we need to ensure they have immediate access to life-saving resources,” Bacon said. “By requiring universities to include crisis hotline information on student ID cards, we're taking a straightforward but critical step to protect our young people and show them they're never alone during difficult times.”
The Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act would increase awareness of critical mental health resources by ensuring college students have contact information for national and local resources on their student identification cards.
“Young Americans are dealing with historic mental health challenges and often aren’t sure where they can turn for help. My Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act would add important hotline numbers to their student ID cards, making sure our young people always have the resources they need at their fingertips,” said Kennedy.
“As someone who worked at a peer counseling center in college, I saw firsthand how many students suffer from feelings of hopelessness and depression,” Booker said. “This bill will make mental health resources more accessible by placing critical support lines directly into students' hands. We must ensure that young people have the resources they need to know they’re not alone and where to get help if they need it.”
Specifically, the bill would:
- Require colleges and universities to provide the contact information for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and a campus mental health center, if applicable, on newly printed student identification cards.
- Require colleges and universities to list the information on their websites if the school does not offer identification cards to students.
This legislation has also endorsed by: Active Minds, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Crisis Text Line, Mental Health America, and National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“As suicide continues to be a leading cause of death among young people, far too many college students are struggling with their mental health in silence,” said Laurel Stine, J.D., M.A., Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “The Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act is a simple yet powerful step toward connecting students with lifesaving resources like the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. By ensuring this critical information is visible on student ID cards and school websites, we can reduce stigma, promote help-seeking, and make it easier for students to access support when they need it most. AFSP is proud to support this bipartisan legislation and urges Congress to act swiftly to pass it.”
"Young people today are navigating a mental health crisis that can deeply affect their well-being, education, and sense of safety," said Courtney Hunter, VP of Public Policy at Crisis Text Line. "We’re proud to support the Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act because every student deserves to know that help is always within reach. Adding the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and campus mental health resources on the back of new student ID cards is a simple, compassionate step that can make a life-changing difference in a moment of need."
"Mental Health America (MHA) applauds Representatives Correa and Bacon for their leadership in introducing the Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act, which is an important step forward in addressing the growing mental health needs of college students,” said Mary Giliberti, Chief Public Policy Officer at Mental Health America. “Roughly one in five people taking an online mental health screen on MHA’s website are college-aged, and they have expressed a need for resources and tools to manage their mental health. This bill ensures that students have quick access to potentially life-saving information for crisis and suicide help.”
"Active Minds is thrilled to see the reintroduction of the Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act by Senators Kennedy and Booker and Representatives Correa and Bacon,” said Alison Malmon, Founder and Executive Director at Active Minds. “This bipartisan legislation represents the power of student voices driving real policy change. For over a decade, Active Minds chapters across the country have been advocating for exactly this solution – putting life-saving mental health resources directly into students' hands through their ID cards. This bill embodies Active Minds' core belief that young people are not just the beneficiaries of mental health policy, but the architects of solutions that work. What started as grassroots advocacy from our student leaders has passed the Senate twice by unanimous consent – it is up to Congress now to pass it into law."
You can read the text of the legislation HERE.
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ABOUT LOU: Congressman Lou Correa is a longtime Orange County resident, with deep local roots. To this day, he lives only three miles from his childhood neighborhood in Anaheim. He is the son of working-class parents whose hard work gave him a chance at success, and has spent his career fighting to protect the American Dream, and ensure anyone can reach the middle class, just as he did. In 2016, Lou was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to continue his work by representing the community he has spent the past 20 years serving, fighting to give everyone access to the same opportunity he had. Congressman Correa is committed to working across party lines to strengthen the middle class and give everyone a shot at the American Dream by investing in education, healthcare, and our fading infrastructure, and has introduced legislation to protect the legal rights of immigrants, care for veterans, and fight against the wasteful spending of taxpayer money.