Wellness Center

Welcome New Faculty Members!

The Wellness Center is located in Ethel Chance Hall. We are open weekdays from 8am until 5pm. We provide healthcare appointments and consultations, counseling, and sexual assault advocacy for SMCM students.

The health and wellness of our students is important to the SMCM community. Faculty members are in a position to see students frequently and are often the first to notice changes in behavior that may indicate health or mental health concerns. Students often feel comfortable talking to faculty members when they are in stressed. You can provide timely information to ensure students can access the services they need. If you are ever unsure of what services we offer to students please reach out at 240-895-4289.

Maryland 211 and 988 are two valuable free crisis resource lines available to facility, staff, and students.

Maryland 211 connects Marylanders with unmet needs to essential health and human resources. 211, Press 1 provides immediate access to a trained specialist in suicide prevention, opioid crisis intervention and mental health assistance.

988 is a direct connection to support for anyone in mental health distress. This may include: thoughts of suicide, substance use crisis, emotional distress. This three digit number will also route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network number at (1-800-273-8255)

Now that COVID-19 appears to be hanging around to affect our work this year I'd like to share a resource with you. If you are worried about symptoms you are experiencing or fear you have been exposed to COVID-19 please use the interactive tool (linked below) from the CDC to walk through your information and make a decision about your next steps. Share this tool with students if they are worried about COVID-19 so they can be empowered to assess their health and make the best choices for themselves. If you have questions please call us at 240-895-4289.

CDC SELF-CHECKER

IMPORTANT RESOURCES AND INFORMATION

COST: The Wellness Center provides services at no cost to students and they are not required to have health insurance. Some services from off campus such as lab tests or prescriptions may incur costs and we work with students to ensure their insurance covers costs or they can obtain affordable testing and medications.

EMERGENCY: Please call Public Safety at 240-895-4911 and/or 911 in an emergency. The Wellness Center is a small, outpatient office that provides care to students for minor illnesses and injuries. We are not staffed 24/7 and do not have emergency medical personnel in the center.

URGENT HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS: Please have students call the Wellness Center at 240-895-4289 during business hours for urgent medical triage or mental health consultations. We will have same day and next day counseling appointments available. For urgent health concerns we may refer students to local urgent care centers of the hospital.

Outside of business hours direct students to contact Public Safety for immediate help. They can also contact local Urgent Care Centers for illness/injuries (a list is on our website).

MINOR ILLNESS: Call the Wellness Center for phone triage and referral to appropriate care with our staff nurse or the nurse practitioner.

OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATION: Students may access generic brands of commonly used over-the-counter medications at the Wellness Center. Items available include medications for minor illnesses as well as condoms (internal and external), dental dams, and emergency contraception all at no cost to the student.

PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION MANAGEMENT: Students can call to make an initial appointment with our psychiatric provider. All sessions will be provided via HIPAA-compliant Zoom. Students can obtain prescription refills for psychotropic medications or initiate psychiatric medication. *NOTE: These appointments fill up fast and it's imperative that students contact us before they run out of a necessary medication. If students are in crisis because of needed medication call Jess Jolly at 240-895-4289 or email at jljolly@smcm.edu

COUNSELING: We have four licensed counselors who offer traditional, ongoing counseling as well as urgent and crisis services. To set up an initial appointment students will call 240-895-4289. Regular counseling is designed for ongoing support for students adjusting to college, experiencing anxiety, or other mental health issues. If a student has an urgent counseling need they can call for a same day/next day urgent appointment. We also offer walk-in counseling every weekday from 1pm until 3pm. Walk-in and urgent appointments do not require extensive intake paperwork.

Call 911 and Public Safety (240-895-4911) if a student is experiencing a psychiatric emergency or there is immanent threat of harm to self or others.

We also offer students the opportunity to contact us anonymously through https://smcm.caresforyou.org/welcome.cfm Student sometimes feel more comfortable sharing anonymously and we provide this service to to provide access to support for students who may not seek support in other ways. Emails are answered by the next business day after they are received.

SEXUAL ASSAULT ADVOCACY: Staff members in the Wellness Center are exempt from reporting Title IX concerns. We are poised to be a confidential resource for students who would like emotional and medical support around sexual assault and sexual misconduct whether they want to file an official report or not. In partnership with Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy, a trained advocate is available upon request to respond to survivors of sexual assault. The advocate can provide transportation and support for a SAFE exam at our local hospital and follow up consultation. In addition, the advocate can provide support for Title IX cases and off campus criminal cases. Students can request in-person advocacy through Public Safety or the local sheriff's office.

Every counselor on staff approaches counseling from a trauma-informed perspective and can support people healing from unwanted sexual experiences.

COVID-19 TESTING: Students, Staff, and Faculty who experience symptoms that suggest COVID-19 can set up an appointment to be tested in the Wellness Center. We will need health insurance information to process the test. Faculty and Staff are not required to have testing done on campus and may obtain testing through their own provider.

CONSULTATIONS: Staff, faculty members, and student staff may call the Wellness Center at any time to ask questions about services or set up support for a student. You can request a phone call with the Assistant Director (Jessica Jolly LCSW-C, jljolly@smcm.edu ). We are happy to offer confidential support and help students obtain the help they need so they can focus on academics.

SUGGESTED WORDING FOR SYLLABI: Success in this course depends heavily on your personal health and wellbeing. Recognize that stress is an expected part of the college experience, and it often can be compounded by unexpected setbacks or life changes outside the classroom, your other instructors and I strongly encourage you to reframe challenges as an unavoidable pathway to success. Reflect on your role in taking care of yourself throughout the term, before the demands of exams and projects reach their peak. Please feel free to reach out to me about any difficulty you may be having that may impact your performance in this course or campus life as soon as it occurs and before it becomes too overwhelming. In addition to your academic advisor, I strongly encourage you to contact the many other support services on campus that stand ready to assist you. Thank you to the faculty members who have shared their syllabus language with me over the years. Please feel free to use any of this wording or create your own statement about health and wellbeing resources for your students.