by Dr. John Achter, Student Behavioral Health Coordinator, University of Wisconsin System
When senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) in the University of Wisconsin System convened with system leadership in the summer of 2018 to brainstorm collective initiatives to enhance student success, one common topic kept emerging—behavioral health. SSAOs had long been trying to address the rising influence of behavioral health issues on the personal and academic success of students—a national trend that has been well-documented over the past few decades.
Drawing on their collective experiences, data from both population-level and counseling center surveys, and expertise from campus mental health professionals, the SSAOs went before the Board of Regents in April 2019 to propose a systemwide response.
As a result of this meeting and with support from the UW System President and Office of Student Success, workgroups composed of professionals from all 13 campuses were established to make recommendations in three tiers that comprise a public health framework for addressing student behavioral health: 1) Providing critical treatment and crisis response resources; 2) Reaching targeted/vulnerable populations; 3) Creating healthy campus environments and improving overall well-being.
Since recommendations were put forth in Spring 2020, this effort has led to several key achievements, many of them implemented at scale across the UW System:
- The implementation of SilverCloud—an online mental health platform available 24/7 to students, faculty, and staff;
- The printing of local and national crisis phone lines and texting services on the back of all UW student ID cards;
- The approval of a systemwide medical withdrawal policy aimed at minimizing the academic and financial impacts of unexpected leaves of absence and easing the return to school;
- Annual cultural competency training for UW counseling, health, and student affairs professionals;
- Biannual training for Behavioral Intervention/Campus Assessment Response and Education teams;
- Ongoing funding for population-level assessment (i.e., National College Health Assessment) and a UW System counseling impact assessment project; and, finally,
- Hiring a student behavioral health coordinator in the system office to coordinate ongoing efforts across all 13 institutions—one of only a handful of such positions around the country.
We still have much work to do. A recommendation to achieve equitable levels of counseling and psychiatry staffing across the system will take more time and effort to achieve, as will other goals. The global pandemic has underscored the influence of student behavioral health on retention, persistence, graduation, and post-graduate success. The University of Wisconsin System is now better poised to address evolving behavioral health needs in a comprehensive, collaborative, and ongoing manner.
This initiative is a great example of engaging university stakeholders systemwide at all levels to address a critical student success challenge. Here are some lessons learned from our efforts thus far:
- The expertise and lived experiences of campus professionals can lead the way to define what is needed. The role of system has been to convene the experts, listen to their needs, and provide support to carry forward their recommendations.
- Hiring a system position to coordinate efforts has elevated behavioral health as an ongoing priority and has accelerated implementation of initial workgroup recommendations.
- In these ways, systems can play a critical role in leveraging personnel, fiscal, and organizational resources in pursuit of goals that promise to produce broader impact across multiple campuses.