Last Updated: September 2026
Dr. Sara Abelson, along with her colleagues and collaborators from the Healthy Minds Network, leads work on understanding and sharing what works for improving student mental health in higher education.
She conducted a review, “Mental Health in College Populations: A Multidisciplinary Review of What Works, Evidence Gaps, and Paths Forward” which was published in the Handbook of Higher Education: Theory and Practice. The work is summarized in this research brief, developed in collaboration with the American Council on Education: “What Works for Improving Mental Health in Higher Education?”
The team has since published a series of reports and research briefs that further synthesize the evidence base for supporting student mental health in higher education. These include:
- Digital Mental Health Interventions at Colleges and Universities (a report funded by the Ruderman Family Foundation white paper series);
- Mindfulness-Based Interventions for College Student Populations, a report funded by the Lumina Foundation;
- Peer Support Programs in Higher Education, a report funded by the Lumina Foundation
Visit https://healthymindsnetwork.org/best-practices-repository/ to learn more about the team’s plans to continue developing tools, resources, and a “best practices repository” to guide college leaders, decision-makers, policymakers and practitioners in understanding evidence about the effectiveness of public health, preventive interventions that address student mental health.