The Jed Foundation

The Jed Foundation is proud to announce that the 2009 Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award will be presented to Adam Taylor, a junior at Western Michigan University, for his work to prevent suicide in the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) community through his organization Project Light. Zach Cohn, Craig Durham, and Melanie Cohn of University of Colorado, Boulder, and Melissa Hopely of Immaculata University received honorable mentions for their activism.

This annual award and scholarship program recognizes students who are using their time, talents and voices to raise awareness of mental health problems and suicide, decrease the stigma around these issues, and encourage help-seeking among their peers. In 2009, applicants were asked to submit a video about their work. Adam's video, Lighting the Way, details his commitment to suicide prevention in the GLBT community.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among GLBT teens, and transgendered teens are 20 times more likely to contemplate, attempt or complete suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. Adam’s organization, Project Light, works to promote mental health and reduce suicide by providing information, funds, and referrals on issues related to suicide prevention among GLBT youth of southwest Michigan.

The Student Voice of Mental Health Award includes a $2,000 scholarship. It will be presented at The Jed Foundation’s annual gala on June 11, 2009, in New York City.

“The scholarship will allow me to get involved in the community full-time, because I'll be able to take more classes and graduate a semester earlier” Taylor said of the award.

The Jed Foundation is also recognizing two other student advocates with honorable mentions and $500 scholarships for their outstanding work.

Buffsecret, a web project by Zach Cohn, Craig Durham, and Melanie Cohn, offers University of Colorado, Boulder students an anonymous place to post their deepest secrets. The website promotes non-violent freedom of expression and is a place for students to interact without threatening their reputation or privacy. Zach, Craig and Melanie are working on ways to address students’ secrets about their struggles with mental health, addictions, and thoughts of suicide.

Melissa Hopely, a senior at Immaculata and an Active Minds member, has been very active in promoting mental health awareness by speaking publicly about her own struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and coordinating fundraisers and other campus events.

The Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award was established in 2008 by The Jed Foundation and the family of Jerry Greenspan, a college student who died by suicide. This year’s applicants were asked to submit videos that highlighted their work around mental health and suicide prevention.