Phase II of ’s Mental Health Strategy implements university-wide efforts to promote a healthy and well campus community.
On World Mental Health Day, October 10, a kickoff event launched the univerisity-wide Mental Health Campaign. The event featured a moderated discussion and Q&A with Kier Gaines, licensed therapist and mental health advocate. The campaign promotes a website with mental health resources and support and aims to reduce the stigma around mental health, increase help-seeking behaviors, and inform the university community about how to refer a Flash to the appropriate resources.
The website and campaign were developed by the Phase II (Mental Health) Strategy Workgroup.
Taléa R. Drummer-Ferrell, Ph.D., Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, had a leadership position during phases I and II of the mental health strategy.
“Phase I was to create the infrastructure we needed,” Drummer-Ferrell said. “[Find ways to] support our students who are having challenges related to their basic needs, but also thinking about how that impacts their mental health and well-being.”
Phase I included enhancing and restructuring Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), connecting the Recreation and Wellness Services to their work, and creating the CARES Center, which opened in the spring of 2021.
“The phase II workgroup started with the foundation of what was done and what were the gaps,” she said. “That’s where the mental health website and the campaign [came into place].”
The Mental Health Resources and Support website officially launched in March 2023.
The group used information collected in phase I, data from surveys, students’ feedback, and what they noticed was happening at and nationally. After analyzing the findings, each committee member contributed with recommendations about what steps they could take next.
“[This process] gives everyone a voice,” Drummer-Ferrell said. “There were over 60 recommendations.”
The members talked through each one of them and provided feedback and insight.
“That’s when we narrowed it down to the final recommendations that were presented to our Division Leadership,” Drummer-Ferrell said.
The final recommendations were Step Up and Speak Out realignment (a collaborative effort of the university facilitated by the CARES Center), the creation of the mental health and wellness website, the embedding of a resource section within the mental health website, enhancement of mental health awareness week programming and recognition, and development of a communication plan to promote the offerings across all eight campuses.
Along with the website and campaign, the group created a PowerPoint slide for faculty and staff to include and worked with the Faculty Senate on a syllabus statement to ensure everyone knows where the mental health resources are.
“[The phase II group] were able to expand, create, and offer all of these great things that we had done and focus on how we communicate that out and advocate for the resources necessary,” Drummer-Ferrell said. “I’m thankful to them.”
Lamar R. Hylton, Ph.D., former senior vice president for student life, and Drummer-Ferrell worked together to build a cross-functional workgroup in the phase II mental health strategy.
“Some of them were people who served in phase I because that consistency would be helpful for folks to have context and a background, but we wanted to make sure that some of our thought partners across the institution were represented,” Drummer-Ferrell said. “Make sure we had a diversity of thought from multiple areas.”
The phase II group had staff on the administrative and academic side and graduate and undergraduate student representation.
The members of the phase II workgroup include:
- Drummer-Ferrell as co-chair;
- Deric Kenne, Ph.D., associate professor and interim director of the Center for Public Policy and Health, as co-chair;
- Angelique Daniels, director of marketing strategy and research;
- Marquis Davis, project coordinator of equity and diversity training;
- Alexis Dubensky, senator for the College of Nursing in the Undergraduate Student Government;
- Meghan Factor-Page, assistant director of the of Well-being;
- Pamela Farer-Singleton, Ph.D., director of the Counseling and Psychological Services;
- Kelsey Kalgreen, counseling specialist for the Counseling Services at Stark Campus;
- Kayla Marker, graduate research assistant for the Division of Mental Health and Substance Use;
- Barbra Ozimek, counseling specialist at Trumbull Campus;
- Joshua Perkins, Ph.D., assistant Dean of Students and director of the CARES Center;
- Kimberly Rufra, associate Dean of Students for the Recreation and Wellness Services;
- Michelle Rura, associate Athletics director for Sports Medicine.
“Now, we’re going into phase III,” Drummer-Ferrell said. “It’s [focused on] how we can move our message even further.”