Project Lighthouse
Launched by Benjamin Johnson (NHS ’17) in 2016, Project Lighthouse provides an online confidential, anonymous chat platform in which college students can speak freely but privately to trained peer supporters. With increasing rates of mental health struggles being reported by college students, Project Lighthouse meets an important need in the Georgetown community. Project Lighthouse serves as the “first line” of mental health treatment and works alongside campus departments such as Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) and Health Education Services. This organization’s name represents its mission of helping students navigate mental health resources and ending stigma by promoting conversation about mental health on campus. Peer supporters volunteering with the program undergo forty hours of training to ensure that they are able to assist students through active listening and referral to available services.