Dr. Vic
When Successful People End Their Lives: Cheslie Kryst, happiness and suicide
My op-ed recently appeared in the NY Daily News In recent memory we’ve witnessed the death by suicide of numerous celebrities and...
top of page
ABOUT
About Dr. Schwartz
Before establishing Mind Strategies, Dr. Schwartz served for eight years as chief medical officer of The Jed Foundation, a leading non-profit focused on youth and young adult suicide prevention and mental health promotion. While there, Dr. Schwartz was a highly sought-after advisor and consultant and was a leader in developing approaches to messaging to young people about mental health and helping organizations develop their mental health activities and programming. Previously, he was university dean of students at Yeshiva University for six years after establishing and serving as director of that institution's Counseling Center. He is currently Senior Associate Dean for Wellness and Student Life at CUNY School of Medicine and clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Prior to his time at Yeshiva, Dr. Schwartz was medical director and chief psychiatrist at the NYU Student Counseling Service. He also served as assistant director of residency training in psychiatry at NYU Medical Center.
He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and was a member of the APA's Presidential Task Force on College Mental Health, and co-chaired its working group on law and college mental health. He was also a co-chair of the Committee on the College Student of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He has written and lectured extensively on college mental health and suicide prevention; particularly concerning the management of mental health crises and suicide in colleges and legal issues in college mental health. He has provided guidance and consultation to many universities including Columbia, U of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Tulane, USC, Carnegie Mellon, Hamilton, Rutgers Medical Center, Washington State, GW, Johns Hopkins, Manhattan School of Music and Truman State University. In the higher education and youth mental health education spaces, Dr. Schwartz has advised on development of trainings by Kognito, Everfi, Get Inclusive, has developed his own psychoeducation and gatekeeper training programs, and is a founding member of the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance.
Outside of the higher education area, he has served as an advisor to the NFL, NBA, NCAA, US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, American Ballet Theater, Harpo Productions, the Ad Council, HBO, Facebook/Instagram, Gun Free Kids, Brady Campaign, Dear Evan Hansen, MTV, and numerous other movies and media outlets. He is a member of the NYS Suicide Prevention Coalition and the National Council for Suicide Prevention and a core team member of the Media and Mental Health Initiative hosted by Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Schwartz is quoted regularly in the NY Times, Wall St Journal, Washington Post, Huffington Post (where he also blogged for several years), NPR, the Atlantic, PBS, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and many other newspapers, print and online publications. Dr. Schwartz co-edited (with Dr. Jerald Kay) the text, Mental Health Care in the College Community (Wiley, 2010).
About Mind Strategies
Over the last twenty years, we have witnessed a tragic increase in suicide rates (most dramatically among young people) and a concomitant erosion in availability and in many cases effectiveness of mental health services in the US. At the same time, there is increasing appreciation that suicide prevention efforts and mental health programs and activities need to be viewed through a community and public health lens. Dr. Victor Schwartz established Mind Strategies to help address these challenges. In the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, these problems have become ever more urgent and many entities (schools, colleges and universities, media groups, youth facing companies, and sports teams and leagues, among others) are faced with considering how they can enhance their efforts in supporting their community members' mental health and wellbeing. Oftentimes, these groups need guidance around how this can be accomplished.
Through his Mind Strategies program, Dr. Schwartz, can provide specialized advising for your school, college, organization, or company. Whether you need help establishing a mental health support structure, evaluating current services and programming efforts, solving a specific and targeted problem or managing a postvention in the aftermath of a suicide or other tragic event, Mind Strategies can provide nimble and customized support and advice. He can also provide educational programming for community groups or companies who are seeking trainings and information about mental health and suicide prevention and is available for media interviews as well.
Dr. Schwartz is establishing a group of national and international leaders in their respective fields who will be Mind Strategies advisors and will be supporting his efforts and partnering with him on projects when appropriate.
GUIDING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION EFFORTS
DR. VIC IN THE NEWS
Dr. Vic in the Media
Articles published in:
SERVICES
Available services
Higher education health & mental health systems
Dr. Schwartz has worked in higher education mental health and administration for the past 30 years. As an internationally recognized leader in helping institutions of higher education and schools to develop and manage their mental health efforts, he (and his colleagues) can help you build, assess and problem solve around mental health and suicide prevention efforts at your institution. Mind Strategies can support postvention efforts in the aftermath of a campus suicide and help to assess and support crisis management and suicide prevention efforts on campus and at schools. He and his colleagues are recognized experts in the structuring and management of campus mental health programming and systems. Mind Strategies can also consult with medical schools and hospital systems around their mental health support of and programming for students and staff. Click here for testimonials.
Corporate or community advising & presentations
The Mind Strategies team can provide guidance to your company or community about how to structure mental health services, activities, and programming. Additionally, they can help your community or company provide training and education about numerous mental health topics including: 1) how to identify an employee or a child who might be in need of mental health care or at risk for suicide, 2) how to intervene (gatekeeper training) 3) guidance about what can be done to promote self-care at work or at home and 4) how companies, communities and families can support mental health.
Elite sports-mental health systems & trainings
Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues have extensive experience in assisting elite athletic leagues and teams in building mental health systems, providing psychoeducational services and resources to elite athletic systems and teams and providing direct clinical services in athletic settings. Click here for testimonials.
Media
Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues have advised numerous documentaries, feature films, and TV shows around their content and portrayals of mental health problems and suicide. Mind Strategies can support your production in safe and accurate messaging around mental health. Further, the Mind Strategies team have been featured in many news and media interviews and are available to provide expert opinions in news and other reporting. Click here for testimonials.
Mental health apps & technology
Dr. Schwartz has advised numerous online and technology-based mental health training, education, and clinically focused products. These efforts have focused on gatekeeper training/identifying people at risk for mental health problems, screening tools, psychoeducation, and communication about mental health and the development of healthy life, resilience, and relationship skills. He and his colleagues can provide guidance around content, structure, messaging and marketing strategies for web-based mental health programs and apps targeted at adults and youth audiences.
Virtual supervision, forensic consultations, mediation & 2nd opinions
Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues are highly experienced clinicians and teachers both in the general mental health space and in suicide prevention. Mind Strategies can provide clinicians or clinics with advice and supervision around difficult administrative or clinical challenges. Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues can be available for select mediation and forensic work as well in the areas of college mental health, crisis management, disabilities accommodations and suicide prevention.
Guiding non-profits & grant giving
With their deep expertise and experience in mental health and suicide prevention strategies and programs, Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues are well positioned to help your non-profit, agency or company assess and manage grant applications in this space.
Mind Strategies Advisors
Mind Strategies has assembled a group of internationally respected advisors in a range of relevant domains. While these professionals will have no day-to-day involvement with (or responsibility for) the efforts of Mind Strategies LLC, they can be called on to support any project or program when their participation would be additive. The specific details and structure of each Mind Strategies activity will be customized to the needs of every client and situation.
Derrick Anderson PsyD
Advising elite athletic teams and leagues on mental health efforts, training law enforcement on managing mental health crises. Read more about Derrick here.
Eugene Beresin, MD
Messaging to youth about mental health, med student education and mental health, community training, programming, media. Read more about Eugene here.
Alan (Lanny) Berman PhD
International leader in suicide prevention science and efforts, suicide prevention consulting, forensic advising. Read more about Lanny here.
Leah Goodman, OTD, OTR/L
Mental health curriculum development and delivery, inclusive pedagogy, supporting college students with disabilities, inclusive education on sexuality and identity (LGBTQIA+ health), faculty training Read more about Leah here.
Scott MacLeod
Suicide prevention efforts in colleges and communities, media reporting on suicide and mental health. Read more about Scott here.
Eran Magen PhD
Medical School and Clinician Mental Health Monitoring and Early Intervention, K-12 Mental Health Training, Parenting Training, Social and Emotional Learning. Read more about Eran here.
Sheila Nevins
Mental health and suicide in the media. Read more about Sheila here.
Paul Pomerantz MD
Adult/child/adolescent psychiatry training, school mental health programs, mental health in child and teen inpatient services, social service agencies and foster care settings. Read more about Paul here.
Dan Reidenberg PsyD
Suicide prevention consultant, trainer, program development, media and social media expert. Read more about Dan here.
Michelle Riba MD
Mental health care systems in communities, workplaces and colleges, mental health in medical schools. Read more about Michelle here.
Harry Rockland-Miller, Ph.D.
College student mental health and suicide prevention, campus health and mental health systems, suicide prevention and postvention in diverse setting. Read more about Harry here.
Anthony L. Rostain MD, MA
Educating youth about mental health, college mental health systems, parent and community education. Read more about Anthony here.
ADVISORS
Testimonials
Dr. Schwartz has provided invaluable guidance to the Dear Evan Hansen community, supporting both our company members and our audiences. He has consistently made himself available “on call” to lend professional guidance, ensuring that any Dear Evan Hansen fan who is in distress and reaches out to the production is heard, and receives the support and resources they need to care for their emotional wellness.
The Dear Evan Hansen Team
Across a professional relationship spanning 22 years, I can say that Dr. Schwartz is an established leader in the field of college mental health. Vic is an incredible resource in the vital areas of emergency response, suicide prevention and postvention. His guidance is informed through on-ground experience and best practice. Vic has always been my first call when my campus has faced community tragedies that require effective and science-driven response and support.
William Martino
Director of Student Affairs
School of Visual Arts, NYC
Victor Schwartz' insight, perspective, and experience were instrumental both to our ability to understand the magnitude of the issues we were dealing with and to our prospects for moving forward effectively. He is serious, committed, and tireless. Our work would have been nowhere as effective without him.
Professor Mario Luis Small
Chair of the Steering Committee
Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology
Harvard University
When I decided to take on the topics of bullying, child suicide and childhood depression in a legal thriller, I was nervous about making mistakes in writing about such serious topics. I will forever be grateful to Dr. Schwartz for his insightful guidance throughout my project. Dr. Schwartz’s erudition and experience in the areas of suicide and mental health are unequaled. He is without a doubt the expert you want on your team.
Pamela Samuels Young,
Award-Winning Author of Failure to Protect
Dr. Schwartz has worked with the best athletes in the world and does so with a humble and approachable manner that makes individuals feel comfortable to share and seek support, which is so critical and rare in this field. Anyone who gets to work with Dr. Schwartz will be better from it!
Amber Donaldson
DPT, M Physio (Manip), SCS, CSCS,
Senior Director Sports Medicine Clinics
US Olympic and Paralympic Committee
TESTIMONALS
Blog
In this new Mind Strategies blog, Dr. Vic will be discussing suicide prevention, mental health, public health, health policy and other health related topics-with a focus on youth and media. From time to time, we will also feature guest posts from colleagues and friends.
Blog
CONTACT
bottom of page