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Given the increase in college students accessing mental health services, it is important to consider the ways in which colleges have adapted to meet this rising demand. Approaches have included increasing the number of health and wellness staff and prevention efforts as well as adapting more inclusive policies and payment models for long-term counseling.
However, all of these initiatives are just pieces within a larger framework of the college campus culture on mental health. It is important to recognize that beyond the mental health programming added, awareness events hosted, and policies published, the institutional response from faculty and administrators is also important in shaping the campus culture on mental health.
Many schools, including The College of New Jersey, have moved to recognize the impact peers have on one another in creating a safer campus community where students support one another to improve mental health. This is witnessed by the creation of Peer Education programs on mental health as well as clubs, such as Active Minds at TCNJ. However, the human element of the institutional response to campus mental health is often left unexplored. Faculty, staff, and administrators themselves are framed as unattached actors facilitating these programs from a distance devoid of their own connection to this work as opposed to students who are framed as engaging at the forefront because of our personal connection to this issue. This view strips the “institution” of its connection to and stake in students’ mental health. Despite its name, students’ mental health is not only a students’ issue.
To better organize our efforts towards improving students’ mental health, it is important to engage all stakeholders: students, administrators, faculty, staff (i.e. student and academic affairs), and community members.
The recommendations compiled here are based on research focused on institutional action on college campuses related to mental health and faculty involvement.
It is important to recognize that, as the first and primary "institutional point of contact" for students, faculty/staff serve an essential role in supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing.
It is important to recognize that, as the first and primary "institutional point of contact" for students, faculty/staff serve an essential role in supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Consequently, they must be provided with actionable and reasonable steps to engage, such as accessible trainings, incentives to participate, and clear support from administration to truly improve students’ mental health.
Faculty (dis)engagement
Faculty (dis)engagement
If we aim to provide a robust array of mental health services to our students, it is important that students use these services and faculty feel prepared to support students in doing so (i.e. to provide referrals or at least point students in the right direction). The research demonstrates that faculty are interested in engaging, but pathways to do so must be set up. In one study, the majority of professors expressed willingness to participate in mental health training, but do not currently participate due to lack of time (Perez 2019). A national survey found 87% of faculty believed supporting college student mental health was part of their role, but 63% were not actively engaged in recognizing and referring students to mental health services (Kalkbrenner 2019). Furthermore, studies focused specifically on academic accommodations produces varied findings. A key factor that must be considered related to faculty engagement is the disconnect between support and action as it relates to improving students’ mental health. Students “universally acknowledged” the value of academic support such as extra time for assignments and assignment extensions coming from faculty (Kain et al. 2019) and this must be legitimized to faculty. This disconnect must be addressed possibly through sensitivity trainings involving students such as peer educators and clarification on policies such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). One study found that faculty were more likely to hold negative attitudes towards students with mental health or learning disabilities as compared to students with physical disabilities (Sniatecki et al. 2015). This study was also able to identify multiple gaps in knowledge about offices providing disability services and accommodations among faulty members which may negatively impact students. Just like students, faculty should not be blamed for lack of engagement or understanding of mental health. It is important to go beyond identifying this problem to finding ways to support faculty so that all stakeholders can engage with this work. Our institution must facilitate faculty involvement to help bridge the gaps between students and faculty when it comes to students' mental health. Consequently, actionable recommendations for stakeholders that shape our institution should be made instead.
Recommendations to administration, explained
Recommendations to administration, explained
Establish the following as long-term institutional goals for the College: centering students’ voices on mental health improvement initiatives, engaging all community stakeholders in these initiatives, and creating sustained faculty/staff engagement in these initiatives. Within TCNJ’s Faculty Handbook, the Faculty Duties and Responsibilities page is linked to the 2015-2019 Agreement between the State of New Jersey and the Council of New Jersey State College Locals, a part of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Established within this agreement is a letter of agreement on institutional goals. This agreement makes clear that each State College/University must put forth short-term and long-term institutional goals that are made known to faculty, librarians, and professional staff so that they are aware of areas of “high programmatic need and growth potential.” Faculty can then pursue these goals through retraining and professional development. Although it may not be possible to mandate faculty to attend trainings on topics such as mental health allyship (as discussed in The Expo page), it is important that TCNJ as an institution makes clear their commitment to student-informed, inclusive mental health promotion. This commitment could be expressed by establishing that centering students’ voices on initiatives for improving mental health is a long-term institutional goal through statements written by members of the administration.
A clear, concerted effort should be made to market all preexisting mental health and wellness resources to full- and part-time faculty/staff. Different offices within Students Affairs have made trainings and other resources available to all/most campus community members. These resources include Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) training, a referral database for community mental health providers, a guide for faculty/staff to support students in distress, a master list of mental health and wellness resources at TCNJ, and an online TCNJ Cares Report form.
Incentivize mental health trainings for faculty. Those in Student Affairs focused on student mental health recognize that barriers that hold back faculty from partnering in this work include lack of time, the extra work involved, and a lack of value in the tenure/promotion process (Forest and Gibson). To encourage faculty to engage with efforts focused on improving mental health on campus, this non-academic work must be recognized as valuable by the College in a concrete way. Building upon the role student evaluations play in the tenure/promotion process, administration should consider including qualitative and quantitative measures of community engagement/student support into this process to incentivize faculty engagement with this issue. For example, faculty can be asked whether they have referred any students to mental health services/filed a CARE report and/or how they have accommodated students experiencing mental health crises in their classes. Of course, this involvement would benefit faculty members as well. Benefits recognized by those in Student Affairs include addressing faculty members’ desire to know students better, have a positive impact on student learning, and have opportunities for professional development (Forest and Gibson).
Form a committee to assess and discuss current mental health policies/programs. This committee should be made up of representatives from all stakeholder groups (students, faculty, staff, other community members). For example, this group could assess our current ADA policy and contribute to developing policies to support students without a mental health-related diagnosis who are experiencing challenges. Furthermore, if faculty feel they need more resources to be prepared to support students, the Faculty Senate could serve as a natural place for members to come together to craft recommendations for this committee on their needs (i.e. training on specific areas of concern). In this way, we can avoid creating more initiatives focused on mental health that are meant for faculty, but are not widely used. It does not benefit TCNJ as an institution to continue to create resources (such as those mentioned in recommendation 2) without addressing potential “breaks” in the pipeline that allow those resources to be used. More mental health services are needed, but they will be lost to the void unless we connect students/faculty to the resources currently being offered and then build these programs further based on feedback from their users.
Demonstrate your commitment to improving students’ mental health by purposefully participating in experiences that engage your empathy for students (campus engagement) and by offering increased emotional/academic support. For example, all faculty and staff should make an effort to attend student events (when and where appropriate) such as awareness/prevention events, student monologues, and other support events to increase their sensitivity to and knowledge of this subject. Additionally, faculty/staff can provide expanded academic support/accommodations as well as flexibility for students experiencing mental health challenges (including students who do not have accommodations through the Accessibility Resource Center formerly known as Disability Support Services). It is important that all members of administration and the faculty actually and consistently act on their commitment to improving students’ mental health in ways that are impactful for students to go beyond paying lip service to this commitment.
Resources for faculty/staff
Resources for faculty/staff
works cited
works cited
Forest, Mark J., and Sandy Gibson. “Developing Partnerships Between Student Affairs and Graduate Programs in Mental Health Fields to Promote Campus-Wide Wellness.” The Ohio State University, The Ohio State University, kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/80910/BHAC_Forest_2017.pdf.
Kain, Suanne, et al. “‘It's All in Your Head:" Students with Psychiatric Disability Navigating the University Environment.” Education Resources Information Center, Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 2019, eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1247131.
Kalkbrenner, Michael T. “Faculty Views on College Student Mental Health: Implications for Retention and Student Success.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 05 Aug. 2019, doi:10.1177/1521025119867639.
Perez, Kendall. “Assessing the mental health awareness and training needs of college professors.” James Madison University, JMU Scholarly Commons, May 2019, https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/601/?utm_source=commons.lib.jmu.edu%2Fmaster201019%2F601&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.
Sniatecki, Jessica L., et al. “Faculty Attitudes and Knowledge Regarding College Students with Disabilities.” Education Resources Information Center, Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 2015, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083837.
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