Since 2020, Active Minds has been conducting research and meeting with the Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) to investigate how Northeastern's Wellness Checks are conducted. These checks are intended to de-esculate students' mental health crises and connect students with necessary mental health resources to prioritize their safety and wellbeing. However, students receiving wellness checks are oftentimes met by NUPD officers who have insufficient crisis management experience, and may come off as hostile or dismissive. Further, NUPD officers are required to put students in contact with University Health and Counseling Serices (UHCS), for proper follow up treatment. By talking to Northeastern students we have learned that this is not always the case, and these referrals frequently do not actually ensure contact between struggling students and professionals at UHCS.

Currently, only 60% of NUPD officers have recieved Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), and there is no requirement that the officers responding to mental health crises are CIT certified. The NUPD has told us that, in the past, 85% of officers were certified, which showcases a dramatic decrease in training participation over recent years. Active Minds believes the number of CIT certified officers must be 100% in order for NUPD to adequately protect the diverse Northeastern student body. 

By Massachusets Law (M.G.L. c. 123, § 12), NUPD officers have the authority to enact the involuntarily hospitalization of an individual for up to 3 days, in response to a mental health crisis. We have no doubt that this can be a necessary action, however, we do believe that adequate training in crisis intervention, trauma informed care, and the consultion of a mental health professional must be prerequisites to weilding this authority on a college campus. 

By signing this petition you are supporting Active Minds in our efforts to reform the Wellness Check process. Our priorities are to implement and mandate improved mental health and CIT training, increase collaboration between UHCS, NUPD and the student body, and work toward eventually implementing an on-call mental health professional to be present at all NUPD responses to mental health crisis calls. 

If you would like to share your experiences with NUPD or talk to us more about this initiative please email us at activemindsatnu@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram @activemindsatnu