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Arizona State University seeks to remove any obstacles in its students’ way by providing free, round-the-clock mental health support.

Mental Health Services

Per ASU, "Same day availability is our commitment to students; you will always have a clinician available to speak to when you need us." Per the school, the campus clinical staff “includes psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and substance abuse professionals.” Counselors receive specialized training in suicide prevention, alcohol abuse prevention, domestic abuse prevention, and grief counseling.

Depending on the need, students have two different 24/7 responders:

Open Call and Open Chat, which provides text, call, video, or in-person options with counselors dedicated to ASU.

EMPACT Crisis Line, which, while intended for crisis support, has “highly qualified, helpful professionals” on call for general “guidance on how to handle a concern.”

All counselors are trained to assess and respond to any immediate health risks, arrange for follow-up or long-term support, and share resources with students in need. Students have access to “brief individual therapy,” where they work with a counselor toward a specific goal. Some opt for group therapy. “Groups are led by master and doctorate level clinicians and trainees who possess a vast range of skills, expertise, and experience.” Further, ASU’s online mental health resources are easily accessible, offering students a variety of ways to get started and organizing content by demographics as well as issues of concern.

Wellness Quality of Life

Wellness at ASU is centered around four pillars: physical health, mental health, educational development, and community engagement. In addition to formal counseling services, ASU students have access to mental health, physical health, fitness, and domestic violence prevention resources. The ASU wellness website houses instructional and informational videos as well as articles on topics including body image, grief, stress management, and depression. Students also have the option to enroll in credit-earning courses on stress management and critical incident stress management. Access to applications such as Headspace and Calm provide meditation instruction as well as relaxation and sleep tools.

The campus hosts a number of mental health-specific events throughout the year, including a fundraiser for additional support through the Out of the Darkness campus walk that partners with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The marquee peer-to-peer resource at ASU is Devils 4 Devils. Their meetings facilitate “open, supportive discussions about mental health,” and “[help students] gain valuable coping strategies and connect with a community that fosters understanding and resilience.” Students who participate as Devils-4-Devils ambassadors conduct outreach on campus through tabling and facilitating on-campus trainings. Committee members also host Community Circles, which provide students an environment where they can “come together to describe their experiences with learning, relationships, changes and challenges and receive suggestions and support from other students.” Students also produce a podcast, Inside ASU, that seeks to help students transition from having their parents taking care of them to taking responsibility for their own health.

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Boston University offers hundreds of well-being “programs, services, events, and learning opportunities” to its students.

Mental Health Services

Mental health and wellness are ingrained in the BU experience. For first-year students, BU aims to “collaboratively provide resources and experiences that foster a smooth transition for students and bolster their sense of support and integration into the BU community.” At orientation, students receive information about counseling and health services on campus, and all students take two online trainings geared toward supporting campus well-being:

AlcoholEdu for College seeks to “prevent risky drinking and other drug use on campus.”

Sexual Misconduct Prevention “teaches students information and skills to safely intervene in situations that may lead to sexual violence, and it discusses students’ rights and responsibilities related to sexual misconduct.”

All full-time students have access to the suite of mental health resources available through Student Health Services (SHS). This features an online screening process that directs students to the appropriate resources, such as therapy, psychiatry, support groups and workshops, 24/7 on-call services for mental health emergencies, and community referrals for long-term care. Individual therapy, available by telehealth or in person, is results-oriented and short-term. The number of therapy sessions is not limited; however, BU provides “referrals to local clinicians when longer-term or more extensive treatment is recommended.” Group therapy sessions are organized around cultural identities, gender identity and sexual orientation, and specific issues students might be navigating, such as chronic medical conditions, grief, and developing personal resilience.

Wellness Quality of Life

In addition to providing formal mental health services, SHS promotes wellness through four-week online wellness challenges customized to fit specific student needs. Participants “receive an email with tips and suggestions about how to look after their wellbeing.” Recent wellness topics include sleep, stress, gratitude, mindfulness, nutrition, community-building, physical activity, and resiliency. The Dean of Students’ office also hosts “a number of social events and activities to help students build connections.”

Because “research shows that mindfulness techniques can help many people better manage stress and enhance the ability to recover from challenges,” BU offers Mindful Movement Yoga in person or over Zoom and a month-long mindfulness series intended to help students “manage stress, promote relaxation, increase focus, [and] connect with other students.” Student Health Services also offers physical kits for student groups to provide to their members, such as the “Create a Good Night’s Sleep” kit: a sleep mask, ear plugs, tea, lavender lip balm, and information about sleep strategies.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The Terriers Connect Program forms the core of BU’s peer-to-peer resources and teaches faculty, staff, and student participant “to identify signs of distress, develop effective skills for communicating with and supporting students, and provide accurate information about referrals to mental health professionals.” Graduates of the program help to form a “robust network within the BU community of people students in distress can turn to.”

Through the SHS, students can access Togetherall, a free, anonymous, online, 24/7 peer support community. This online forum allows students to share and read others' stories, join groups, consult with a mental health professional, and access informational materials privately and at their convenience. While participation is anonymous and student-directed, Togetherall is monitored by mental health professionals to ensure the safety of all participants.

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Coastal Carolina University offers a “collective approach” toward mental health care and student well-being by providing individual counseling, group support, and peer-to-peer outreach.

Mental Health Services

The Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is the nexus of mental health care on campus. Students seeking mental health support can call or go to the office to schedule a consultation or receive emergency care. CAPS regularly provides “individual, couples, and group counseling; psychiatric services; crisis intervention; assessment; workshops; [and] referrals.” CAPS “offers brief, time-limited therapy to enrolled students,” including interventions such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CAPS also offers “evidence-based experiential therapies and interventions such as Hypnosis, Reiki, Sandtray, Expressive Arts Therapy Skills, Sound Healing, and Mindful Psychotherapy.” CCU students needing emergency care outside of CAPS office hours can call the Public Safety office and speak with an on-call counselor. Students seeking long-term counseling, psychiatric care, or help with eating disorders, PTSD, or other specialized care are referred to caregivers in the greater Conway community.

While CCU offers individual therapy, for many students, group therapy is their “treatment of choice.” Common group therapy offerings include anger management, substance abuse recovery, and eating disorder groups. Support groups are also available for experiential challenges, such as grief, homesickness, or parenting. CCU students can also access the TimelyCare virtual health platform for free 24/7 on-demand and scheduled mental health support.

Wellness Quality of Life

CCU approaches student well-being by considering nine distinct dimensions of wellness that comprise a holistic individual: physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, cultural, intellectual, social, and financial. To address emotional wellness, the LiveWell Office acts as “a resource for the campus community to promote societal, community, relationship, and individual wellness,” fulfilling its mission by providing “campus-wide wellness initiatives, educational events, presentations, internship opportunities, and services promoting well-being.” These include campus events such as World Mental Health Day, National Coming Out Day, Depression and Mental Health Screening, and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

As part of the required First-Year Experience course, students are matched with a peer leader to help them transition to college life. As one student noted, “I enjoyed being able to talk with someone who is older than me but has the same major so I can be more aware as to what is to come.” In addition to these peer mentors, other peer resources are available at Coastal Community. The LiveWell office runs its network of programs thanks in large part to its robust network of Students Helping Others Reach Excellence (SHORE) Peer Educators. SHORE educators provide an invaluable service to their community—educating their peers and supporting LiveWell staff—while gaining valuable skills themselves, such as presentation skills, leadership skills, teamwork, and identifying ways to serve their community. SHORE educators instruct students on topics ranging from stress management and sleep hygiene to building self-worth, healthy relationships, and depression awareness.

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The mental health resources at Colorado State University are thoughtfully designed to cover a wide range of events and circumstances, including adjusting to life at college, accessing support in times of crisis, and building skills to help prioritize health and well-being.

Mental Health Services

The CSU Health Network offers a variety of services and programming tailored for both individuals and groups. At the heart of that is the school’s digital YOU@CSU platform, which puts a personalized menu of easily accessible tools—hundreds of them—in front of students who may need anything from on-campus resources to educational content.

For students facing mental health issues, the school offers a variety of ways to access therapy:

• Individual therapy
• Students can meet one-on-one with a therapist through a program called Brief Individual Counseling. These sessions help build skills around acute needs, like anxiety, coping with trauma, or academic stressors. CSU also has immediate help available through daytime drop-in hours at the Counseling Services and after-hours support for emergencies.
• Group therapy
• Students looking for longer-term support can join one of the CSU’s many support groups, which the school describes as one of the largest group therapy programs in the country, from identity-specific and skill-building groups to ones for students working through issues like trauma and anxiety.

The school also emphasizes the importance of tailoring these initiatives to individual student needs. That includes offering identity-specific services through the Multicultural Counseling Program, an embedding of counselors alongside student athletes, and dedicated staff to support veterans.

Incoming students are required to take two online trainings covering substance use and sexual assault prevention. In addition, mental health and well-being skill building is part of the required first-year orientation and the optional 1-credit, 8-week New Student Seminar course.

Wellness Quality of Life

CSU hosts a variety of programming to help foster belonging and ease the transition to student life, including “First 50 Days.” Highlights of this campus-wide, eight-week-long event include:

• “BBQueer,” which brings together the school’s Queer and Trans community.
• “Safety on the Plaza,” which helps inform students about available health, safety, and well-being programs.

The CSU Health Network offers educational workshops to help support mental health and well-being, with sample classes including:

• Mindfully Managing Stress
• Self-Exploration and Strengths
• Exploring Substance Use

The school’s Center for Mindfulness hosts meditation and mindfulness sessions, and the Health and Medical Center offers a designated space for students looking for a quiet place to pray, reflect, or meditate.

Peer-to-Peer Resources The Ram Recovery Community, a student organization, gives peer support for students experiencing mental health disorders, including substance misuse disorders and disordered eating. The group connects students with shared experiences through weekly meetings and social events like sober tailgates.

Another peer resource is Creating Respect, Educating Wellness (by and for) Students (CREWS). Their well trained members aim to empower students through educational activities that support informed decisions about sexual health and alcohol and cannabis use.

The HDFS Peer Mentoring Program provides a year-long support system for incoming first-generation college students and students who have faced barriers to access and success in education. New students are paired with HDFS juniors or seniors who share these identities and experiences. The program builds community, eases the transition to college, and offers personalized guidance from mentors who understand the challenges firsthand.

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Columbia University staffs its mental health and well-being services with experts in various specialties, ranging from therapists and nutritionists to disability specialists and peer leaders, to help students access high-quality care wherever they are.

Mental Health Services

Columbia helps students access the mental health care they need at every step.

Treatment planning: The school initially uses remote meetings to ensure students do not have to wait to see someone; continued care can be either telehealth or in-person.

On-campus therapy sessions: Therapy sessions are “oriented toward brief, solution-focused treatment,” and there are no set limits on the number of sessions.

Off-campus referrals: Students who “want or require more specialized or open-ended services may benefit from an off-campus referral.” Columbia has a team of social workers who coordinate referrals. By focusing on practitioners and clinics that accept student health insurance, “the first ten off-campus visits are free” to those on the plan, and subsequent visits require a co-pay of $20.

Crisis support: Students needing urgent support can attend counseling drop-in hours until 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Outside of these hours, crisis support is available by phone, including weekends and holidays.

Columbia’s commitment to having individually tailored student care can be seen in various ways, such as:

Staff trainings: All of Columbia’s care providers undergo training in working with diverse groups of students.

Specific expertise: Columbia has several staff members whose professional focus is working with underrepresented groups and specific populations, including a transgender and gender-expansive health team that offers counseling, support groups, and gender-affirming surgery consultations.

Specialized teams: The school has an eating disorders team made up of both medical providers and mental health practitioners.

For additional services, the school has several online resources, like the helpful Live Well Learn Well website, which can help students access either virtual support, online training and workshops, or in-person therapy groups.

Wellness Quality of Life

Here are just a handful of Columbia’s fully embedded offerings:

The popular Wellness Coaching program matches students with a certified Well-being Advocate to help define what “living well” means to them and design a plan to put that vision into action. There are no limits on the number of coaching sessions, and sessions are both confidential and HIPAA-compliant.

The website Go Ask Alice!, which provides accurate answers to a variety of health and mental health questions, was created by Columbia University and is now used both by students and people worldwide.

Columbia Health provides trainings to students in the residence halls on topics including reducing and managing stress, time management, and sleep hygiene. In addition, RAs are trained to spot the signs of student distress and make appropriate referrals.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Students who join the CU Well Peer Leader education program help first-years transition to life at college and offer outreach initiatives on topics like healthy ways to manage stress and drug and alcohol use.

Columbia also offers the Friend2Friend training, which equips students with the tools to spot signs of distress in their peers and refer them to mental health resources both on- and off-campus.

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Dartmouth College’s Counseling Center places an emphasis on no-cost counseling and proactively screens patients for signs of “depression, anxiety, substance use, loneliness, intimate partner violence, and food insecurity.” The school also spent the last four years participating in the Jed Campus program and has come up with a Commitment to Care that has already completed 27 calls to action and is working toward at least another 36, including work with the Hazing Prevention Consortium.

Mental Health Services

Through the Counseling Center, Dartmouth College’s full-time students have access to “the highest quality psychological services,” helping them meet their professional and personal goals without negative impacts on their health. Students can call during business hours and speak with a counseling professional to establish individual or group counseling (on- or off-line), get outpatient referrals, and learn coping skills. There are also 24/7 crisis intervention hotlines (such as Uhelp, which may include in-person responses from on-call counselors), and all services are free.

Awareness of these offerings is embedded across all of the school’s operations, with campus tours prominently pointing to the Student Wellness Center and orientation and pre-matriculation activities opening stigma-free dialogues about counseling services and overall mental health. To that end, the school has also trained almost 100 employees in “nurturing a healthy, supportive communication environment,” and staff have also been trained to speak directly to the needs of specific groups, from those attending college for the first time in their family to those from out of the country. Some of the continuing education topics counselors have focused on include:

• Healthcare for Transgender and Gender Diverse Patient Populations
• Supporting Mental Health Among College Athletes
• Jewish Identity and Antisemitism
• Decolonized Approaches to Trauma Recovery

The school notes that about 25% of students utilize the Counseling Center, and even more are screened for mental health concerns through primary care visits. Given that “about 25% of Dartmouth undergraduates are varsity student-athletes,” the school’s Sports Medicine Athletic Trainers are also at the ready, whether that’s addressing depression or anxiety or identifying REDS (relative energy deficiency syndrome). Between these activities, randomized surveys, and other outreach, the school estimates “most students are screened every 6 months,” if not more often.

Wellness Quality of Life

A student’s dormitory is more than just a residence: it is an active House Community. The school intends for these to be “environments for learning” and consequently provides supportive programming that embraces mindfulness and meditation, on- and off-campus retreats, yoga, and other activities designed to focus on one’s well-being. Mental health is also prioritized, as all Dartmouth Undergraduate Assistants (UGAs) “receive mandatory mental health training,” which they in turn use to share and aid their fellow residents during mandatory House Community sessions.

Students must also complete three Wellness Education courses, which expose students to stress-management techniques, physical activities that can release anxiety, general education about stressors like alcohol or safety, and overall “success coaching.” Some other departments have their own offerings as well, whether that’s Mindful Physiology for Biology majors or mindfulness practices for Sociology students. Additional trainings are offered, some of which are requirements, like the Sexual Violence Prevention Project.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The student-led Dartmouth Student Mental Health Union “promotes mental health advocacy” in conjunction with advisement from the Counseling Center. Additionally, the Student Wellness Center sometimes trains and hires “peer facilitators to educate students on healthy relationships, resources, and other topics,” ensuring that at-risk areas are covered from as many angles as possible, as in the way the Sexual Assault Peer Alliance (SAPA) provides direct peer-to-peer support, and the Sexual Violence Prevention Project teaches other skills, such as how to intervene. There are also peer mentoring programs that help students to connect with those sharing certain experiences, whether that’s navigating undergraduate concerns with peers in the Native American Program or attending the Tucker Center for Spiritual Life’s grief support group.

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FIT isn’t just the abbreviation for the Florida Institute of Technology—it’s also the apt way in which the school provides resources to registered main-campus students, finding the services that fit their mental health and overall wellness needs.

Mental Health Services

Florida Institute of Technology understands that every student has their own unique needs, and that’s why it supports well-being in a variety of forms, from proactive and preventative to responsive and empathetic. The Student Counseling Center provides free clinical services (both individual and in group), while Wolzer Health Psychiatry includes counseling and psychiatric care. There are programs “designed to forestall mental health distress” via Student Outreach and Support and the Evans Library, and dozens of apps freely available and sorted by topic:

• Mindfulness
• Anxiety/OCD
• Focus and Attention
• Sleep
• Self-Care Habits
• Mood Trackers

Orientation is the first opportunity to discuss accessibility resources and to evaluate accommodations, but far from the last stop. Among the school’s archives and tools are mental-health related tips from the school paper, The Crimson (e,g., “Tis the Season to Share Compassion,” “Looking Back to Move Forward”), as well as activities to practice across categories from Assertiveness to Stress Management.

The school also features a CARE Team for non-emergency responses, which the school says takes anonymous reports in order to intervene, if necessary, with “a compassionate, individualized approach” that also promotes “student accountability and development.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Wellness is incorporated into just about everything students do, whether that’s on a day-to-day basis through dorm life or in yearly events like orientation and the Health Fair, which provide a strong emphasis on mental health and the various offerings that support it. A mental health task force and annual surveys also help the school ensure that they’re properly adjusting to meet students where they are, which is why residential directors seek out programming that reinforces self-care and connection.

Student-athletes in particular are given mandatory mental health education with a contracted consultant, but optional educational programming is available to all, like a first-year seminar that introduces students to wellness services (among FIT’s other offerings). The health and wellness program provides training in topics such as “appropriate coping skills” and “how to ground yourself in times of stress.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Florida Tech has a number of registered student organizations: they and their events can be found through FIT’s Engage/Corq platform, whether that’s the national Active Minds (which has an active presence on campus), which works to “reduce the mental health stigma” or the local Rainbow Alliance, which works to create “a welcoming and positive atmosphere for discussion.” Participation in some of these organizations also counts toward completion of the school’s Cultural Competency Certificate, ensuring that students develop both socially and academically, and in a way that helps to embrace and include their fellow students.

The school also has more direct support options, be it the global master-level clinician support provided by TalkCampus (which provides a peer to speak with 24/7) or the campus-specific Panther Peer Mentor Program (PPMP), which matches new students with upper-level ones.

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Whether it’s through dedicated wellness spaces, embedding wellness topics into the required curriculum, or offering ongoing classes and workshops, Massachusetts Institute of Technology proactively supports student mental health and wellness.

Mental Health Services

MIT offers both on-campus and telehealth therapy, as well as a 24/7 crisis number that immediately connects students with a clinician. The school also provides a dedicated coordinator to assist with off-campus referrals, which are covered by the student health insurance for up to 52 therapy sessions a year (and just a $5 co-pay for extra sessions).

Counseling staff undergo a variety of trainings, including multicultural competency, assessing for neurodiversity and ASD, and treating eating disorders and eating concerns. The school also offers a number of therapy groups and workshops that are identity-specific, as well as groups for students working through similar issues. Previous examples include groups for first-generation and low-income students, students who are survivors of sexual violence, Latinx students, and students with ADHD. Each semester, MIT also provides a support group for students returning from Medical Leave.

Incoming students are required to take four quarters of PE and Wellness Courses. Wellness classes that count toward the requirement include Nutrition, Stress Management, Healthy Relationships, and Meditation.

Wellness Quality of Life

MIT provides additional noncredit workshops and events, many of which can be found through the MIT Health website. Other initiatives include:

DoingWell is MIT’s initiative to help students prioritize wellness. DoingWell hosts a wide range of community events, from one-off events like Cookie Decorating Night to ongoing series like “Tomorrow Time,” which provides a supportive space for students who feel overwhelmed and struggle to start tasks.

The Wellbeing Lab is a dedicated space in which students can relax and decompress. It also hosts various programs and events, including workshops on sleep and self-care, therapy dogs to engage with, and regular weekend social events.

Wellbeing Ambassadors and Wellbeing Lab Assistants “help students prioritize their wellbeing by building healthy habits and encouraging peers to seek support when needed.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

MIT has a number of peer resources to support mental health and wellbeing, such as:

MIT Active Minds, a student-led initiative that conducts an annual wellness screening for the student body and promotes mental health education and advocacy through peer-to-peer outreach and campus events

Weekly support lunch, which brings together students and members of the CARE team staff to discuss any challenges that students may face

PLEASURE educators, a peer group that provides resources to help students learn about “healthy relationships, sex positivity, and sexual violence prevention”

Medlinks Peer Program, a peer health program for students living in dorms that helps spread awareness about available campus resources and hosts wellness-related programming

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There’s a broad framework of support at Mercer University, ranging from clinical services at the Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) office to holistic wellness tools for use in residences and classes and a fully trained cohort of Peer Advisors to help “advocate for healthy behavior.” In recent years, the school has even developed mental health projects in conjunction with students for those outside the school, such as a telehealth initiative designed to support farmers, which won a 2023 American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) grant. “We are committed to serving our students’ physical, mental, and emotional health and wellness.”

Mental Health Services

Should the need arise, all students at Mercer University are encouraged to call Counseling and Psychological Services to make a free appointment. (Crisis resources are available outside of business hours.) The initial session, with a fully licensed counselor, will help to determine an appropriate action plan, whether that’s for one-on-one counseling (usually weekly), group services, or a referral. There are also a limited number of daily Same Day Solution Sessions, available in-person and online, for those who need urgent attention. The therapists are trained to cover a wide range of concerns, from sports performance issues and socialization problems to abuse/assaut and depressive disorders.

The Counseling Center also proactively reaches out to both students and parents during orientation to destigmatize services and provides, per the school, “a variety of trainings, presentations, and opportunities” for students and faculty to learn more about mental health. It additionally offers training to organizations, such as the Peer Advisors and Minority Mentors, in the interests of connecting with specific student needs.

Their overall goal is to provide “opportunities for healthy emotional and social development,” and in fact, one of the earliest interactions all students will have with CAPS is through a four-week program that, in conjunction with the national program RADical Health, is "built into the class curriculum to empower and equip students with tools to stay well and stay resilient.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Mercer students will also encounter CAPS on the campus, through outdoor events like Fresh Check Day, which educates about mental health and suicide prevention in an interactive and engaging way; stress-relieving activities like “coloring on the lawn”; and awareness-raising giveaways, like the Safe Spring Break bags. Other initiatives include weekly Wellness Wednesday activities, and CAPS has sought to find students in novel ways, as with one “experiential engagement event” that involved improv.

Other campus facilities also help to raise awareness. For one, Resident Assistants provide in-person health and safety checks in each dorm, along with providing bulletin board postings and programs on wellness topics throughout the year. In addition, a relatively new “outdoor functional fitness area” that’s part of the Recreational Sports and Wellness department yields new fitness programs and resources for those who relax and reduce stress through physical activities. The overall goals are to foster community connection as a foundation for wellness.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Students “who wish to advocate for health behavior” can intern for the AWARE Peer Health Educator program, learning peer-counseling techniques directly from CAPS, helping to reach those with “problems that may not rise to the level of requiring professional counseling.”

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Because “everyone’s idyllic well-being is unique and different,” Michigan Technological University is driven to provide many different avenues of support, hoping to meet students where their needs lie. This means, for instance, that students can just as easily access a free AI-driven course like Overcome Social Anxiety as they can get direct feedback about substance use through eCHECKUP TO GO, or speak with a certified counselor. The school proudly points to places where it has expanded its outreach and programming, including “utilization of psychoeducational materials in first-year courses to assist in supporting transition/adjustment to colleges.”

Mental Health Services

Michigan Tech’s Center for Student Mental Health and Well-being provides free mental health services to all its students. It does so through based on individual need, or as the school puts it, “the most effective, least intensive form of mental health support.” This means that in-person individual counseling is “only one of many potential beneficial options,” along with referrals to long-term providers in the community, group therapy, and 24/7 telehealth support through the fully licensed clinicians at TELUS Health. The center also allows students to make appointments by phone, in person, with email, or through online forms; the office also has walk-in hours for those urgently needing to talk.

Wellness Quality of Life

Across the Michigan Technological University campus, students are consistently encouraged to Be Well: “Connect Well, Recharge Well, Live Well, and Play Well.” Those four pillars give students the means to develop their own self-care plan, whether that’s by improving their sleeping habits, having conversations facilitated by their RAs or through community hangouts, and participating in campus events. Residents also have direct access to a mental health clinician.

The school notes that it is currently amending its General Education requirements to include for-credit mental health/well-being courses as a part of its Activities for Well-being and Success requirements; the current offerings include classes that focus on:

• Mindfulness
• Self-Compassion
• Stress Reduction
• Biofeedback
• Foundations of Well-being

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The school launched PAWS (Peer Awareness for Well-being and Support) in 2024, a program designed to make sure that all students can recognize the signs of a mental health crisis and either directly provide help or refer their classmates to a professional. The school takes its Green Bandana Project seriously, asking that students visibly show their pledge and support as a “safe person for other students struggling with mental health,” and those advocates and student employees also receive CPE (Certified Peer Education) training, to ensure that they are able to assist as effectively as possible. For students who want to be involved, but may have less time, there are also independently run initiatives like the Well-being Advocates, a club that hosts events at least once a month in order to encourage physical activity and mental health, as well as free online access to the QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) suicide prevention training.

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Molloy University’s Department of Health and Wellness places an emphasis on “empowering students to prioritize their wellness on their journey of personal growth.” This means working to ensure that “every student feels valued and respected” across the school’s four pillars of spirituality, service, community, and study, which means committing to the well-being of students “through a lens of health equity, cultural responsiveness, accessibility, and inclusivity.”

Mental Health Services

The Student Counseling Center (SCC) at Molloy University provides free counseling to all students, working within the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy model to provide short-term care that helps “students to resolve or effectively manage a specific issue or challenge.” This also means providing self-help tools, from online self-screening programs like information-providing ULifeline or the drug and alcohol risk-assessment of Partnership to End Addiction to orientation guides, like Set To Go, which help students adjust to the responsibilities of college and adulthood. For those seeking longer-term or more intense care, the school partners with ThrivingCampus to help identify the right community providers.

The school also actively provides mental health training to the community, has hired another clinical counselor to ensure more students are heard and seen at a professional level, and makes sure that all clinical staff get proper professional development to stay in touch with the evolving needs of their students.

Wellness Quality of Life

As of September 2025, Molloy will be adding an in-person Wellness Climate Survey to its annual mental health and wellness fair, helping to ensure that the school remains on top of what its students need. This will also help to inform the training provided to RAs, who already twice-annually review crisis response protocols and the best ways to respond to students in the dorms. It will also supplement the currently weekly psychoeducational workshops run by the Student Counseling Center.

The school also has several partnerships, as with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which works with Molloy Athletics on an Annual Suicide Prevention Walk. Molloy University has also twice since 2016 received a three-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) grant, which they have used to support initiatves like:

• THRIVE, “a weekly workshop designed to help you succeed,” in which students can discuss and interact with the community to improve overall mental health and wellness
• The Crisis Response Protocol, to call out risk factors and warning signs of suicidal ideation
• Campaigns and trainings to raise awareness of mental health concerns and to work toward their prevention, helping the community “recognize the importance of promoting positive awareness and begin to end mental health stigma.”

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Aided in part by a rare three-year federal grant, Nazareth University has expanded its 2023 campus-wide Mental Health Awareness Across Campus project to include new hires and training related to suicide prevention. Its Well-Being Collective has also partnered with the Jed Foundation’s strategic planning, and the school’s associate VP notes that that they’ve created “interdisciplinary teams and initiatives to prioritize and promote student wellness, mental health, and safety.”

Mental Health Services

From the moment you enroll at Nazareth University, the school is proactively working to collect health histories, track mental health trends, work with Student Accessibilities to provide adequate accommodations and address special needs, and “adding to, or expanding, mental health group offerings throughout the year.” A “multidisciplinary team” called Naz Cares provides case management services for any in-crisis students.

Health & Counseling Services additionally works along a seven-step “continuum of care model” that provides space for students to learn and practice self-care while also making sure that they’re fully supported by the community, whether in residences, with teachers, speaking to Peer Mentors and Educators, or attending counseling. The school leans toward “short-term, solution-focused, on-campus mental health treatment” with a staff of five licensed clinicians (and a part-time graduate intern) who can provide counseling, pyscho-pharmacological evaluation, and outreach. Additionally, off-campus referrals are available for those who need weekly (or more frequent) counseling sessions.

Ultimately, Nazareth seeks to provide expert care to all types of students (including those with chronic illnesses or on the spectrum) and for all types of disorders. Though the school does not currently offer teletherapy options, they are reviewing offerings, particularly for students who study abroad.

Wellness Quality of Life

Programming begins with the first-year Academic Achievement and Success seminar, a requirement for all students that foregrounds mental health and well-being education and directly addresses “suicide prevention, mental health conditions, loneliness, substance use, healthy eating, sleep hygiene, physical fitness, and infection control.”

An easy-to-navigate YOU platform further helps students personalize their approach, as well as to help discover more of what the school offers, like the following group workshops:

• Anxiety Toolbox, which seeks to “develop alternative responses to anxiety”
• Trauma-informed self-defense classes that build empowerment and safety
• SMART Recovery that pairs two behavioral therapies to help “cope with urges and cravings”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Nazareth lists various trainings that it offers to student leaders (RAs, Peer Mentors, etc.) so that they can better “provide wellness programming and education on campus.” This cohort is specifically trained to intervene in a suicide crisis through QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer), although the school also lists various other preventative treatments, such as Narcan, first aid, or the like.

Students can also search through various student-run groups for best-fit activities, such as:

• Active Minds, which provides a “safe space” for those with mental illnesses.
• Meditation & Mindfulness, which gives first-hand experience with contemplation and its “positive effects on the mind, body, and spirit.”
• Psychology Club, which seeks “to bring knowledge and understanding about issues of mental health” through service opportunities, faculty engagement, and other activities.

There are also specific associations for those who are just seeking out peers with similar backgrounds with whom to discuss experiences, as in the Atlas Center, an inclusive and welcoming resource for students across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, or the various organizations that make up the Diversity Council.

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As well as offering academic excellence, New York University provides students with high-quality wellness and mental-health services at all stages of a student’s potential need.

Mental Health and Wellness Services

NYU’s Counseling Services and Wellness Exchange serves as the hub for NYU students seeking mental health help and support. CWS offers free and immediate counseling in both individual and group settings, both in-person and online. This is further bolstered by a Wellness Exchange app that ensures there’s always a person on the other end to talk to, whether that’s by phone hotline, chat, scheduled same-day Urgent Counseling sessions, or email. Access is also available to psychiatric care and recovery programs, with referrals available as needed for off-campus services. The school states that students are able to see a mental health counselor within 24 hours.

NYU doesn’t just support students in the midst of or after stressful events; it also provides services designed to pre-empt them by improving general mental well-being and addressing stressors from dating to eating to identity.

Here are just some of the services offered:

• MindfulNYU is a setting for those who want to practice yoga and/or meditation in groups. Calming Corner is a repository of MP3s, stress relief tips, and poses for students who prefer to work privately and at their own pace.
• Podcasts on healthy relationships and social media feeds that offer “practice health and wellbeing resources through vibrant, award-winning designs.”
• Virtual Wellness Workshops on everything from “ADHD Coaching: Intro to Executive Functioning Skills” to the self-image of “The EVERYbody Project.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Students can opt into SMS-driven “Texts to Inspire” for the “resilience and connection” that comes from their peers, or they can step into Listening Labs, in which they can formally work on their sharing and listening skills, seeking connection as opposed to judgment. There is also RADical Health, a four-session, peer-facilitated in-person program that focuses on “Strengthening Emotional Intelligence,” “Principles and Priorities,” “Building Resilience,” and “Creating Positive Outcomes for Yourself & Others.” One student notes that the RADical Health program was “so helpful I took it twice.”

Though students generally need to take the initiative in requesting help, mental-health programming (which is in some cases required) is hard to miss and is baked into all aspects of student life, from the residential to the social to the academic. As NYU puts it, their communication is “holistic and dynamic,” and their network encourages peers to constantly support one another.

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Northern Michigan University reports that they’ve seen a positive response from the implementation of Outcomes Focused Sessions, one-day appointments with a licensed counselor that take direct action on mental health concerns. Between that and other free, proactive approaches, NMU is a place where students in need “don’t get in trouble, they get help,” whether that’s at the counseling center, the health center, or through various programming. As the school puts it, “opportunity and empowerment ensure wellbeing for all.”

Mental Health Services

Students at Northern Michigan University have multiple avenues when it comes to “individualized support for becoming their whole, authentic selves.” Some of those include:

• Counseling and Consultation Services (CCS) provides traditional telehealth or in-person psychotherapy appointments, and makes every attempt to accommodate the specific needs of each student. Group counseling of up to eight students is also sometimes recommended, and after-hours counseling is provided by HelpNow.
• CARE (Case Administration and Resource Education) provides non-clinical support for dealing with stressful situations and finding community support.
• The Wildcat Support Network, which provides contacts for each of the eight dimensions of support: intellectual, career, physical, social, spiritual, emotional, environmental, and financial.

The school also provides a wide range of general resources, compiling and sharing information from national organizations, from NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) to the National Women’s Health Information Center, always with the goal of destigmatizing the idea of asking for help.

Wellness Quality of Life

Classrooms and residential halls are visited by counselors to ensure that students have an awareness of various mental health topics and know where to turn for help. Students are also encouraged to take charge of their own progress by using apps like WellTrack Boost to track their personal mood and work through modules, videos, and self-help tools as needed.

One particularly innovative form of stress relief comes through the new Animal Assisted Intervention program: the Wildpups are registered therapy dogs that students can interact with if they’re missing their home and need to “ease the anxieties that come with being a college student.”

Other offerings that can be found around campus in the hopes of reducing stress include:

• PathwayU (career guidance and wellbeing)
• A pantry that works to address food insecurity
• The Office of Opportunity, Empowerment, and People, which seeks to ensure that “all individuals—regardless of background or circumstance—have the pathways, resources, and support needed to succeed.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The Hub is an electronic service that helps students at NMU discover and match with student organizations, events, and activities, the idea being that “you’re more likely to connect with people when you’re doing something you love.” An in-person equivalent of this would be through Resident Advisors and Directors in each housing community.

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Pace University is proud to be one of the first fifteen schools to adopt the Okanagan Charter, which the Center for Wellbeing has done to symbolize their “prioritization of health and wellness” and indicate a need to “embed health into all aspects of campus culture.” The school reports new programming to help curb loneliness, and also points to the Lubin School of Business’s new Center for Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, which offers a free six-session program that helps students learn how “to manage emotions so they no longer control your outlook and behavior.”

Mental Health Services

The Pace University Counseling Center provides students with free in-person and virtual services across several major areas:

• Alcohol and Drugs: In accordance with the school’s commitment to maintaining a healthy and safe environment, the school helps to assess, assist, and ultimately support recovering students, providing both outreach services to raise awareness (like an interactive board game that demonstrates the harm-reduction approach) and consultation for interventions and other assistance.
• Individual Counseling: Pace’s licensed counselors can “discuss any personal or emotional difficulties in complete confidentiality” and note that some of the most common topics they discuss involve family/relationships, anxiety, and depression.
• Group Counseling: As the school puts it, a group setting allows you to “try out new behaviors” in a safe space, and notes four active groups already established to (1) build social strength, (2) reduce emotional suffering, (3) manage stress, and (4) understand oneself and others.

The school’s goals are to help students “more fully direct their energies toward fulfillment of their academic, professional, and personal goals,” and for those who need longer-term care, medical monitoring, psychological assessments, and other documentation, there’s an “extensive” referral list for “high quality and affordable” care. (The school’s health plan covers mental health care, but notes that co-pays depend on whether students select in-network coverage.)

Students are also invited to spend time in the “Zen Den,” an on-site relaxation room in which students can “take a break from the demands of their busy day and calm their mind by engaging in one of many different rejuvenating activities.”

Wellness Quality of Life

The Counseling Center is always ready to collaborate with anyone on campus who is working to “promote the personal, social, and intellectual development of students.” This sort of outreach program includes trainings such as “Dealing with a Student in Crisis,” and all students receive an “Introduction to Counseling Center Services” and training in their introductory coursework. This has also led to a series of social media campaigns on mental health topics, with some of the most frequently requested topics including “Building Self-Esteem” and “Assertiveness.”

Those at Pace University are also asked to take certain trainings, like MindWise’s SOS for Higher Ed, which teaches students the ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell) framework in the hopes of recognizing and compassionately acting on the signs of suicide risk: this course is notably available to both students and faculty. There’s also a health program offered through the RADical Hope Foundation that covers “stress management, self-care, resilience, active listening, and engagement.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

One particularly engaging initiative at Pace is the awarding of badges for the completion of various forms of personal development or education. In this fashion, students can become Wellness Ambassadors, moving from modules and volunteer hours to a point where they are able to independently help their peers “live healthier, happier, more successful lives through the eight dimensions of wellness.” Students can also find more specific peer support groups for those against sexual assault, or seeking interpersonal wellness.

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Princeton University offers numerous mental health resources to promote and support students’ mental health and well-being.

Mental Health Services

Princeton’s mental health offerings are anchored by Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) and include:

Individual counseling

Specialized treatment for issues like substance abuse, disordered eating, or student-athlete stressors

Group counseling sessions for specific topics like grief and communities such as student veterans and individuals who identify as LGBTQ

Psychiatric consultations

Referrals to local mental health providers

Should an urgent need arise, students can call the CPS Cares Line and speak with a counselor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For students “dealing with and/or supporting survivors of violence and abuse, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating/domestic violence, and stalking,” the Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education (SHARE) office is a confidential resource that “provides crisis response, support, short-term counseling, advocacy, education, and referral services.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Students have the opportunity to educate and empower themselves through a number of workshops. Topics range from mindfulness meditations and sleep issues to depression screenings. Offerings include:

MindWise on Campus—a 30-minute simulation that teaches students how to recognize the warning signs of mental distress in someone, build trust, and encourage someone to seek help

Princeton Distress Awareness and Response Training (PDAR)—an interactive session that demonstrates to students how to respond to someone in a mental health crisis

Skills-Based Consultations—60-minute individual sessions with a CPS counselor where students can learn strategies for coping with imposter syndrome, social anxiety, breaking bad habits, overcoming perfectionism, and more

Peer-to-Peer Resources

There are many ways in which Princeton Tigers show support for one another:

Peer Health Advisors (PHA) identify mental health resources on campus, offer referrals to University Health Services (UHS), promote mental health programming, and destigmatize mental health challenges. These peer advisors are well-versed in topics like sleep, stress, substance abuse, nutrition, and sexual health.

The Princeton Peer Nightline, run completely by students, is an anonymous service that invites individuals to discuss their problems with trained, certified, nonjudgemental, and empathetic volunteers.

The Princeton Perspective Project (PPP) recognizes that everyone faces setbacks and challenges in their collegiate career. The group endeavors to normalize these struggles and offers a safe platform where students can share their stories through writing, video, or other creative expression.

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Rice University covers students twice over, once with the Rice Counseling Center offering free in-person and remote “short-term, solution-focused, confidential counseling, psychiatric services, and referrals” and again with the Student Wellbeing Office providing various forms of advisement and education when it comes to managing stress, sleep, relationships, and more.

Mental Health Services

Rice University is listening, and all incoming students who reach out for support meet with Wellbeing Advisors who can “connect them with relevant resources.” At any time, they can also come in for wellness screenings or assessments. Students don’t need to take the first step, either: the school provides suicide prevention and mental health training during new student orientation, and offers “ongoing psychoeducational programs on stress management, substance use prevention, and other coping skills throughout the academic year.”

On a professional level, both the clinical counselors and wellbeing advisors are fully trained, and the Consultation and Assessment Team (CAT) regularly meets to review “critical mental health cases” to make sure the school responds with the appropriate programs and policies. Rice also participates in the American College Health Association—National College Health Assessment every 3–4 years. Some trainings include:

• QPR suicide prevention, a three-step program that asks trainees to Question, Persuade, and Refer at-risk individuals
• Mental Health First Aid for early interventions and better overall responses to student challenges
• DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), a form of talk therapy for those with strong emotional responses
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), a type of psychotherapy that attempts to process trauma

Wellness Quality of Life

Students at Rice University are encouraged to use self-assessment tools to help them identify, avoid, and/or treat their most major risks. A wellbeing resource fair helps to kick off the fall semester so that students can find organizations both on- and off-campus that will be of help. In addition, the school lists “over 200 psychoeducational wellbeing programs,” and the Wellbeing and Counseling Center itself offers a variety of workshops (both regularly scheduled and by request). Past topics have included:

• Long Distance Relationships: Making It Work
• Obligation Overload (A Time Management Workshop)
• Project SAFE: Bystander Intervention

Each individual residential college also works with Wellbeing Advisors on “outreach and education,” and physical wellness sessions are a part of the school’s Rec Center offerings.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Each year, over 200 students take a three-credit-hour course that designates them as Rice Health Advisors, who in turn “provide peers with resources, social support, and health education.” In general, by learning to assess one’s own health and to identify the “major risks among their peers,” all students benefit from healthier lifestyles. Other peer initiatives include projects like the Caregiver Program, a “volunteer organization whose goal is to promote safety and accountability at registered public parties.”

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The tagline on the website of Samford University's Counseling Services is “Help Us Help You,” and that seems to be the genuine case, with the school working to address any student needs that are brought to its attention.

Mental Health Services

Samford University describes the mission of its Counseling Services as “supporting students through the changes and challenges of college life through accessible, quality therapeutic services.” The free appointments provided cover:

• individual and group psychotherapy
• crisis counseling
• referral services
• consultations
• educational programs

Some certifications carried by the counselors include:

• CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapy), a specialized mental health therapy that deals with compulsive sexual behavior
• DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), a form of talk therapy for those with strong emotional responses
• NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model), a means of dealing with developmental trauma
• ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), a psychologically flexible method for stress management

There is also a CARE (Communicate, Assess, Resource, Educate) Team of both faculty and staff that, per the school, proactively identifies “students in distress”—such as those who have been absent for a long period of time—and then “intervenes to connect them with resources and support.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Samford Wellness is aligned with the eight concepts of holistic wellness, and along those lines, points to the various well-being and self-care modules available through the residential curriculum, as well as the opportunity for students to earn convocation credits (a requirement for graduation) by joining a Wellness cadres—a small group study/service initiative with a mental health/wellness goal.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Students majoring in a health-related field (like Psychology) are encouraged to take on the leadership opportunity of becoming a Wellness Ambassador. Though the program is run through the Counseling & Wellness (C&W) department, students take on much leadership and initiative as peer mentors:

• Making students aware of existing programming and events
• Researching new educational opportunities for the school
• Collaborating with various on-campus organizations to help expand awareness of C&W offerings

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St. John’s University understands “there may be times when you might need extra support to cope more effectively with a personal or emotional issue,” and that’s where Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) comes in, a free and stigma-free program for students, faculty, and staff. Such offerings are backstopped by a Wellness Education Team that seeks to ensure that students have “the information [they] need to make healthy choices.”

Mental Health Services

Ease of access and awareness are key factors of the programming provided by St. John’s University, which is why students who visit the Health Center or Counseling Center are “screened for mental health concerns at each visit.” (Student-athletes are annually screened.) Once a student is seen, the school attempts to resolve their needs within a semester (utilizing the short-term counseling model), but remains flexible in providing other lengths of care. Additionally, it can make referrals for "longstanding or specialized support" within the community.

That screening allows CAPS to offer a range of care for whatever the student needs: some might benefit from in-person skills workshops alone, whereas others might work best in a group setting or in a virtual one-on-one counseling session. The staff is equally diverse and multidisciplinary, so students can speak with “full-time licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, licensed mental health counselors,” and more.

Wellness Quality of Life

Education, particularly of the preventative variety, is key at St. John’s University. All incoming students must complete an online course that includes “alcohol prevention strategies and information about recognizing and preventing sexual violence.” Additionally, those who work in the residences provide further programming each semester for students and simultaneously receive training on various mental health issues, so they will be prepared to perform crisis response if needed.

The Office of Wellness Education and Prevention also seeks to provide “skills and strategies to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally,” which can be through “large-scale signature events” like the yearly Wellness Fair, or with weekly outreach at tables across campus, or even in classrooms with presentations. Students can also work one-on-one with “highly trained Graduate Assistant Wellness [Coaches]” when they feel dissatisfied with their current goals, and can turn to BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) should they wish to evaluate their behavior “in a judgment-free environment.”

Overall, the mission is to “make St. John’s a safer place,” and students should feel more comfortable knowing that all of their peers have receieved suicide prevention training, or by seeing the major events and “ongoing trainings throughout the academic year” led by organizations like SOAR (Sexual violence Outreach, Awareness, and Response).

Peer-to-Peer Resources

There are several peer-mentoring groups on campus, particularly during that formative first year, and each runs multiple events each year, building an inclusive community that can help to alleviate and address some of the major stressors students may encounter. By focusing on specific groups that students are familiar with, they can lift their peers through troubling times.

• Project AIM focuses on the needs of first- and second-year international students, recognizing the additional “social and intellectual learning environment” they might benefit from.
• R.I.S.E. Network (Reach, Inspire, Succeed, Empower) pairs first-year Scholars with upper-level Network Leaders, working to help “first-year students who may need help adjusting to the academic and social demands of college.”
• E.P.I.C. (Establish Relationships, Promote Possibilities, Impact Direction, Confirm Next Steps) pairs students “based on common interests, background, academic and professional aspirations,” to build a tighter community.

Students can also work as Wellness Peer Educators, specifically supporting and educating about health topics and helping to run larger wellness workshops and events on topics ranging from stress management to financial wellness. There’s also SJUOK?, a series of interactive programming built by students to check up on one another and keep a better eye out for warning signs, and BILT (Bystander Intervention Leadership Training), which provides the tools students need to “safely intervene and interrupt harm.”

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Guided by previous partnerships with organizations like The Jed Foundation and nationally recognized best practices from leading organizations like the American College Health Association (ACHA), Stony Brook University points to the success of its “unified leadership model,” which places Student Health, Wellness, and Prevention Services in constant collaboration, promoting “a culture of well-being.” The school emphasizes that this “integrated structure ensures mental health education and skills training are embedded across multiple access points,” from a first-semester curriculum that “deepens” awareness of available resources to voluntary education that focuses on both prevention and outreach. The end result, per the school, is “consistently accessible, inclusive, and responsive—building a well-informed, compassionate, and supportive campus community.”

Mental Health Services

Stony Brook University highlights seven integrated areas of care:

• Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), which offers counseling, psychiatric services, and “specialized programming for diverse student needs”
• Student Health Services (SHS), which, in addition to providing “comprehensive medical care,” also conducts screenings for anxiety and depression
• Student Support Team (SST), which works for those students with emergency situations, like food insecurity
• Center for Prevention & Outreach (CPO), which presents workshops and training to advocate for mental health, warn about substance use, and prevent violence.
• CARE Team, which intervenes in the event of reported behavior that might jeopardize campus safety
• Recreation & Wellness, which works toward every student’s physical health and stress relief with both fitness programs and mindfulness activities
• Student Accessibility Support Center, which provides “access and equity through accommodations” for neurodiverse students.

Under this umbrella of services, students are more likely to be seen and to have their needs met, whether they’re in crisis, need to talk, or simply want to blow off steam. This allows students to find the level of support they’re most comfortable with, whether that’s through in-person counseling or with virtual teleconferencing through TimelyCare or the 24/7 “Talk Now” support. Staff, too, have more opportunities to be trained to respond and intervene, from the “comprehensive, easy-to-navigate” Stony Brook Red Book, to information about QPR and Mental Health First Aid via the Healthier U platform. As for the counseling staff itself (and its trainees), they get “comprehensive, evidence-based training” each year that’s tailored to the school’s diverse population. Some examples include:

• Stress Management & Resiliency Training (SMART)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

In short, when one department benefits, all of the others do as well; CAPS collaborating with the LGBTQ Center, Interfaith Center, and the Uniti Cultural Center helps to address a wider range of students, and the constant “rigorous training initiatives ensure that Stony Brook’s counseling professionals remain highly skilled, culturally responsive, and prepared to meet the evolving mental health needs of the university community.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Just as the counselors receive up-to-date training at Stony Brook University, so do the professional staff and assistants in the residences, who in turn “frequently collaborate to offer mental health awareness and educational events for their residents.” In fact, Stony Brook offers training and education in various forms, including for-credit peer education and experiential mental health education, as well as non-credit weekly workshops. A few notable programs include:

• PALS (Pet Away Life Stress), where students can “participate in animal-assisted interactions designed to promote coping, connection, and relaxation.”
• Upstander Program, an extension of the Center for Prevention and Outreach, where students learn how to intervene as bystanders, be it for suicide prevention (QPR), violence (Green Dot), or alcohol overdose (Red Watch Band).
• Sensory Space, various calming, supportive environments that can be found on campus for when students need “a peaceful retreat to recharge during the day.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Stony Brook students help fill in any remaining gaps not already covered and reach those who might not feel comfortable going to an organization. The school notes the volume of workshops and events offered by these mental health peer educators: “at least twice a week,” you can find some sort of activity or mindfulness, coping, the healing arts, etc. “In-person discussion spaces” offer opportunities for direct connection, and these can be especially useful for certain groups of students, such as international students, who might feel as if their needs are not fully understood. These services aren’t limited to the campus either: the online TimelyCare community provides virtual spaces for such discussions and support.

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The State University of New York–University at Albany works hard to ensure that mental health is a priority, guaranteeing that it is constantly available for students.

Mental Health Services

The backbone of SUNY Albany’s mental health services is the Counseling & Psychological Services office (CAPS). After a brief consultation, a clinician will recommend services, which may include:

• individual, couples, and group counseling sessions
• recovery programs and related services
• psychiatric services (and, if necessary, medications)
• a Trauma and Resilience Specialist for individuals struggling to work through a difficult event
• the STEPS programs, designed to help students confront issues stemming from alcohol and cannabis use

Mental health professionals at CAPS are available 24/7 for students with urgent mental health concerns.

Wellness Quality of Life

SUNY Albany sponsors numerous events and one-off courses centered around health and wellness. These allow students to develop the necessary tools to help improve their mood. Options include:

• Mindful Mondays—a weekly virtual event that offers guided mindfulness meditations and activities.
• Stress Less—an hour-long workshop that addresses how stress affects health and provides strategies for stress management.
• Better Sleep, Better Lives—a one-hour course that examines the importance of a good night’s rest and helps participants improve their sleep hygiene.
• Recovery Ally—a two-hour class devoted to the recovery process and aimed at teaching students how to recognize substance abuse issues, provide support, and destigmatize addiction.

Beyond posted offerings, students may also request additional programming based around topics like body image, relationship communication, and more. Events depend on demand and staffing capabilities.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

For those who feel more comfortable turning to their classmates for support, Albany has developed the robust Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program. Here, student volunteers are trained by mental health professionals to address issues ranging from relationship struggles and gender identity to addiction and academic stressors. Students can access this help via two primary avenues. The first is a peer assistance hotline available seven days a week, 1p.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday, and from 1 p.m. Friday until Sunday at midnight. The second is through peer wellness coaching. These coaching sessions allow students to discuss their well-being, develop mental health goals, and receive support to realize said goals. Individuals can schedule up to three sessions per coach. After their third meeting, they can request a new session with a different coach.

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At the Stevens Institute of Technology, “mental health is a priority, and every member of the community is empowered to play a role in student well-being.” This stems from a variety of available programs that support a student’s mental health with creative events and effective, popular counseling options. This priority is also enforced by Stevens’s constant work to stay current: they were “one of the first universities to complete the national JED Campus program,” but ran a tune-up they called “JED 2.0” in order to make sure their offerings were still strong, growing, and relevant for the future.

Mental Health Services

Stevens’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has been “highly utilized,” providing licensed, experienced outpatient care to students each year through individual, group, and crisis services. That approximately 10% of students seek out CAPS resources speaks to their outreach: constant “workshops and trainings to help students build coping skills and reduce the stigma around seeking help.” It still may not be easy for students to ask for that assistance, but Stevens Institute of Technology doesn’t appear to make it any harder, with a lot of proactive yet optional surveys, screenings for depression, and training (like those from Vector Solutions) given to students so that they can offer customized care. There’s even a form of move-in orientation called “Less Quack While You Unpack” that’s designed for students who prefer a quieter and less bustling move-in date.

Wellness Quality of Life

Part of Stevens’s community-driven work comes from the Duck Support Network, a coalition of faculty, staff, and students who have completed specific Mental Health First Aid training and are therefore “a network of approachable, informed community members.” That’s not where Stevens leaves things, though: the school also offers a year-round multimedia campaign called Stigma-Free Stevens that actively encourages “help-seeking behaviors.” Resident Advisors also have a mandate to offer mental health programming in the residences, so students know that they’re supported wherever they go on campus. (Part of the first-year experience course involves students also getting a “basic mental health toolkit,” which also helps them to support themselves.) A few other activities include:

• Connectivity Group, a weekly gathering through Disability Support Services that helps those students “build social connections and mutual support.”
• Virtual Reality Relaxation Lab, a means of accessing “immersive, calming environments” that can reduce stress and anxiety.
• Campus Therapy Dog, a service animal that students can schedule time with for comfort, companionship, and stress release.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Stevens Institute of Technology has its own chapter of Active Minds, through which students can independently work to “raise awareness about mental health,” boost positive wellness, and help their peers spot potential signs of a mental health disorder. Students can also search for specific activities that sound appealing through the school’s DuckLink browser, such as “Mindful Eating,” or click through by topics like Self Care or Healthcare. And there’s no wrong way to get involved: students can help run a fundraiser like Neon Nights, where students “parade through campus wearing their brightest neon colors, glowing for mental health,” or they can simply participate in the dancing.

Stevens also hosts the Wellness Peer Educator initiative, “a group of student volunteers” who provide outreach not only on campus, but to the overall community, receiving and then passing along training in numerous topics. As with many mental health peer-to-peer offerings, the goal is “to bridge the gap between students and mental health,” seeking to make sure that the student body lifts itself up and succeeds.

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Syracuse University puts all of its mental health offerings under one roof—or arch, specifically the Barnes Center at the Arch. This provides students with an “integrated wellness center that incorporates counseling, health, health promotion, and recreation.” This is just one more forward-thinking initiative; the school notes that its Campus Connect Suicide Prevention Program, developed almost 20 years ago, has now been adopted at over 200 campuses. Its latest course is Together We Thrive, which teaches students resilience, thus far with “fantastic pre/post participation results.”

Mental Health Services

Syracuse’s integrated wellness model yields a mix of traditional services (counseling, crisis appointments, psychiatric care) and alternative care (dietary plans, personal trainers, meditation, pet therapy), all of which serve to promote the well-being of every student. A campus-wide health and wellness survey helps to ensure that the school is on the right track in providing that care. Likewise, a series of mandatory online trainings and introductions to services for all first-years ensures that students are on the right track for requesting them as needed.

Though this model provides plenty of options beyond therapeutic ones for students in need, Syracuse points to its “favorable staff-to-student therapist ratio” and a similar ratio for psychiatric providers, explaining that this helps to support incoming students. Counselors also appear to be well-trained in various therapies from CBT and DBT to psychological first aid, and there are several preventative trainings aimed at supporting students in distress. It’s also easier for students to get medication, if required, as there’s an on-campus pharmacy in the same location as all other health services.

Wellness Quality of Life

Students at Syracuse are, of course, supported outside of the Arch as well: resident life staff, for instance, are fully trained for general mental health needs, especially when it comes to suicide prevention. The school also offers “structured, supportive space” for roommate mediation or relationship counseling, the better to ensure that a student’s living environment does not negatively impact a student’s academic success.

There are also plenty of classes students can take to sharpen the tools in their own mental health toolbox, with the university noting that communication, marketing, and business courses “often center curriculum and projects around wellness initiatives.” Whether students are looking for help with substance abuse or meditation, there’s a broad range of wellness programming to choose from.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Peer Educators are paid undergraduates who are split across three areas of expertise, working up to 10 hours a week to engage with their peers on various health and wellness topics. Their three areas include:

• Be Wise — educational material about alcohol and drugs to ensure students make “informed decisions”
• Peer Educators Encouraging Healthy Relationships and Sexuality — information on healthy relationships, particularly consent, sexual health, and the prevention of violence
• Students Advocating for Mental Health Empowerment — work that “normalizes mental health” and provides tools for stress and time management (among other topics)

You’ll find these trained peers across campus, making presentations, setting up information tables, or running educational, interactive programs.

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Texas Christian University’s mental health services run under its very own Comprehensive Collaborative Care Model, and the program has been so successful that TCU has actually trained “over 100 other institutions on various aspects of [their] counseling.” Innovation is an important part of their approach, and that’s borne out by some of their offerings, like a peer support community that “utilizes Dungeons and Dragons and RPGs” and a therapy program that is “equine assisted,” both of which speak to the value of offering “services on campus that are traditionally beyond what most schools offer.” TCU is also happy to partner with other associations for the benefit of its students, such as the Association of Recovery in Higher Education and the Texas Suicide Prevention Collaborative.

Mental Health Services

Texas Christian University is proud of the deep and specialized support it offers for students, whether that’s from its fully APA-accredited staff therapists and their special certifications in areas like sports psychology, EMDR, or therapeutic gaming. The school also has dedicated services for veterans as well as a self-developed “cultural-based trauma training” that’s a collaborative part of the school’s Karyn Purvis Trauma Institute. That doesn’t preclude inviting and partnering with other agencies (nor hosting and sharing techniques with other school staffs), always with the goal to “bring additional training and programming on campus at no cost to students.”

TCU also points to the fact that it is resource-rich, so it doesn’t have to split therapists across independent and group counseling: it is able to field a dedicated team that can “focus [solely] on providing triage and crisis care counseling.” Similarly focused resources include a Wellness Promotion Office that works on mental health programming, a Student Success Office that offers coaching, and coordination between departments from the office of the Dean of Students to make sure that when students need something, they get it.

Wellness Quality of Life

Students don’t have to go searching for resources at Texas Christian University—a lot of information is provided to them first at orientation, and then followed up with programming that comes directly to them in the dorms. Per the school, “the counseling center, campus advocacy and resource office, and Substance Use and Recovery Services all host programs and services” there, in addition to the mental health programming that RAs must provide and which Peer Educators often bring to the residences. A 24/7 helpline is prominently promoted there as well.

In the classrooms, students have the option to take both for-credit and non-credit courses, with the CALM Studies Initiative providing both options in its focus on “reducing stress and anxiety and [fostering] belonging.” There are also Wellness Workshops multiple times throughout any given month, plus other offerings, like Safe Zone, which aims to help “provide a greater sense of safety for the LGBTQIA student community.” Students also indirectly benefit from the constant trainings the staff receive—the school mentions that “over 1,700” faculty and staff have learned “how to give trauma-informed responses to students in distress,” and because that training is available on request, the number continues to grow.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

TCU features more than 10 peer support communities, “because we know that having a community of supportive peers is a protective factor.” The school also gives students the opportunity to provide both direct and indirect support (depending on their personal comfort). Those who want to can get involved as Peer Educators, providing preventive programming to other students, or they can send virtual letters of care to their peers, encouraging them. Students don’t even have to sign up for a specific peer group: they can either visit peer support lounges in the counseling center and just hang out with other students or find GroupMe communities through the school’s digital FrogConnect program, thereby “reducing isolation and loneliness by fostering community.” TCU is listed as a national leader in such peer support services.

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UNC Greensboro promotes a “culture of care” that ensures “every member of the UNCG community plays an instrumental role in supporting students' mental health, well-being, and academic success.”

Mental Health Services

UNCG students can benefit from a wide range of resources offered by Counseling & Psychological Services. Licensed providers are available for individual and group counseling as well as crisis interventions. Psychiatric evaluations and medication management are available through the Student Health Services Medical Clinic, as are assistance and referrals for specialized treatment and assessments. The “Let’s Talk” program allows students to drop in for brief, problem-solving consultations with counselors during specific hours at various on-campus locations. Counseling & Psychological Services offers professionally led support groups for a broad range of needs, including:

ACCESS: Accessing Campus Connections and Empowering Student Success, which brings students with ADHD together to implement cognitive behavioral skills

Free Expressions and Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts, for students who seek to reduce stress and invite healing through creativity

Body Wise, for students struggling with disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image concerns

Healing Trauma through Yoga and Meditation

UNCG recognizes the academic importance of Health and Wellness, making it a core competency in Minerva’s Academic Curriculum (MAC): students must fulfill three course requirements that either teach specific skills (like Stress Management or Yoga) or cover public health and information literacy. UNCG also administers the Healthy Minds Survey biennially to evaluate and stay up to date on the trends and needs of its student body.

Wellness Quality of Life

“Be Well. Stay Well” is the motto of the Spartan Well-Being Program, which fosters wellness with signature events, workshops, campus massages, and a recharging lounge that includes a nap nook, meditation space, games, and snacks. The program’s skill-building workshops, like Healthy Boundaries and Stress Management help students develop healthy approaches to eating, sleeping, and relating to their community. For students who want to learn techniques for improving their own wellness, Counseling & Psychological Services offers workshops on:

Practicing mindfulness with Train Your Brain

Exploring shame-resilience with The Power of VulnerAbility

Using dialectical behavior therapy to understand and regulate emotions with Bend Don’t Break

Learning healthy coping strategies with Safe Coping: Self-Medication No More

Students can also find community support in professionally facilitated identity-based spaces like Latinx Connections and Sista Talk (Black women).

Peer-to-Peer Resources

The Spartan Well-Being Coaching project is the cornerstone of peer-based support, where students meet with a peer guide “to create solutions and strategies to address student-driven goals.” The areas of focus are up to each student but often include “stress management, self-care practices, and interpersonal relationship conflicts.” Students can also connect and find support through the 24/7 online platform Togetherall, which gives students a safe place online to express feelings and combat isolation.

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The Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC) at the University of Florida wants its students to know that it is there to help them get through it, “whether you are experiencing test-related stress, anxiety related to your new surroundings, or any other concern, big or small.”

Mental Health Services

Students must first attend a consultation in order to determine whether short-term individual sessions, couples counseling, one of the 30 types of longer-term groups, crisis support, or an alternative service (for substance abuse) would be the best fit.

For students reluctant to come in, the school offers other ways to potentially engage with the department:

• CWC Talks, a podcast with “honest conversations about mental health and wellness”
• Ask It!, an anonymous way to ask a clinician something, and get a response within one week

There’s also a prominent Resources page that collects various apps, brochures, off-campus referral information, suicide prevention hotlines, and a page of videos that can walk students through mindfulness techniques from progressive muscle relaxation to guided imagery (with some videos included en español).

When the CWC isn’t meeting with students, it is staying busy with continuing education topics for the counseling staff, which ensure that mental health professionals understand how to use new telehealth technology, are aware of creative new methods for communication, and are exposed to differing cultural perspectives.

Wellness Quality of Life

All incoming students begin their college journey with a CANVAS course on Mental Health, and there’s a designated counselor from CWC who comes out directly to student housing for “counseling, consultation, and outreach.” And while UF can’t provide counseling services to students who travel abroad, they do have a workshop held in advance of such travel, so that students know what to consider and expect. The school offers many other alternatives to help students during stressful times, such as:

• Playful Escape, a “series of nostalgic, joy-filled events” meant to help students relax before finals, takes them back to the days of blowing bubbles, mixing popcorn, and playing games in the yard.
• Where’s Waldo (the Gator)?, which uses the familiar act of seeking to ensure that students know “someone is looking out for them and their wellbeing.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

UF’s main peer-to-peer program is called Gator-2-Gator and seeks to pair students who are having emotional distress or could use some problem-solving help with a “trained student ambassador.” These sit-downs help “create new ways of seeing, thinking, and doing,” and there’s at least one more specialized version of this program specifically for international students who have already had to change their perspective.

For those looking for a less direct form of assistance or therapeutic care, there’s Geeky Gator Wellness—“It’s not just fun, it’s self-care!”—which uses entertaining activities as a way to demonstrate self-care and help students make connections. Some of these geeky, entertaining examples include potion-making and watching K-Pop: Demon Hunters while eating ramen.

For those looking for a more serious and straightforward approach, there are also goal-oriented peer programs, such as the Collegiate Recovery Program, where those in recovery can learn to support one another through “Sober Social” activities, and the Awareness Wellness Ambassadors Reaching Everyone (AWARE) program, which trains some students with a passion for wellness and mental health awareness to provide outreach initiatives across campus and in the nearby Gainesville area, all the while destigmatizing mental health resources and services.

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After an initial assessment, the University of North Dakota works to find the right-fit treatment for students in need of adjusting, grieving, or dealing with any mental health and wellness needs.

Mental Health Services

As per UND, a typical student attends “one or more of our unlimited Group Counseling and Workshop programs, [utilizes] the Online Self-Help Programming,…and typically [meets] with an Individual Counselor every 3–4 weeks.” Where necessary, the University Counseling Center (UCC) is available to help connect students with convenient, local community resources. During office hours, the licensed, on-campus staff is at the ready to serve students, whether that’s for an emergency crisis or general counseling for individuals, groups, or couples. Campus clinicians are well-versed in treating mood disorders and experienced with communities that have specialized needs, like LGBTQIA+ and veterans.

The UND Health Portal makes it relatively simple to schedule weekday appointments, either in person or via tele-health in 43 states. Outside of office hours, students can access FirstLink, the confidential community resource that offers support, referrals, and crisis intervention 24 hours a day. The UCC also offers psychological evaluations for ADHD, learning concerns, and personality patterns.

Wellness Quality of Life

UND is constantly promoting its wellness offerings through its social media channels and encourages all students, especially those already in counseling, to try some of its workshops and programming. The Wellness Center hosts a variety of resources, many of which can be easily accessed and enrolled in via the UND Wellness app, like:

Calm and Insight provide two different formats for meaningful meditation

Daylio introduces easy-to-use self-assessment tools for emotional wellness

Mindshift suggests therapeutic techniques for managing anxiety

Across video and text, students can:

watch live sessions and recordings of guided exercise workouts and mindfulness practices

listen to podcasts like “Workplace Stress”

find recipes and resources on cooking and nutrition

In addition, students can practice effective techniques to reduce stress and anxiety in “Managing Stress” workshops, find community in facilitated discussion groups on topics like ADHD or gender, and read the bi-monthly newsletter “The Toilet Talk,” published by The Wellness & Health Promotion department to “educate the UND community about important health-related topics.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Green Bandanas are students who have taken a four-hour suicide prevention training under licensed providers so that they can share information and resources with peers in need of help. Their green bandanas serve as a reminder to students that they can reach out for support when needed. Aerospace students and graduates help each other stay the course with Uplift, the university-endorsed peer support program that is administered through the Centre for Aviation Psychology. International students and members of the military can lean on each other with the Bridge program and MAPS (Military Affiliated Peer Support). Students, as well as faculty and staff, can also take Emotional First Aid training, which empowers trainees to recognize signs of mental health crises and implement effective responses that support their communities.

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Weber State University makes the most of its commuter campus status by ensuring that wherever students are, they have access to mental health services and resources.

Mental Health Services

Weber State’s Counseling & Psychological Services Center (CPSC) offers in-person and telehealth appointments, and same-day appointments are available for students in crisis. Its licensed staff provides a range of services, including therapy for individuals, couples, families, and groups. CPSC “provides psychiatric services to clients actively involved in counseling,” and a Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner can prescribe medications when appropriate. If it’s determined that a student’s needs fall outside of CPSC’s scope of care, staff can refer them to an appropriate community provider for treatment. CPSC’s group therapy offerings cover a wide range of topics, including grief, anxiety, ADHD, and identity-specific support. Students can also access a range of digital resources that are outlined clearly on CPSC’s website, including Therapy Assistance Online (TAO), a platform of self-help educational modules.

Wellness Quality of Life

Weber State considers wellness to be a result of eight core components, and offers resources and activities to address each one, from the physical to the environmental to the financial. Students are empowered to take better care of themselves with many opportunities for education and skill-building, including:

The Stress Relief Center, which houses different types of massage machines, a Rejuvenation Lounger, essential oils, herbal teas, and a resource library.

The Wellness Rewards Program, which incentivizes students to try a range of wellness-related activities on campus. Students can earn rewards throughout the year with qualifying activities that correspond with at least one Dimension of Wellness.

Weber Walks, which provides maps with detailed walking routes for traversing the school’s expansive campus. Students are encouraged to keep moving and walking, whether solo or by joining a Weber Walks group to make new social connections.

Student Access and Success Workshops, which educate students regarding finances, health, academic support, employment, leadership, involvement on campus, service, and safety. These workshops include Student Wellness presentations covering topics like Self-Care 101: Beyond Bubble Baths and Stress-Busters.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Students receive peer support through Trula, a free program that pairs undergraduates with certified, trained peer coaches who help them navigate the day-to-day challenges of college life. Participants register online and meet with their assigned coach once a week via phone or video call.

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William & Mary “embrace[s] an integrative wellness model” by providing services and resources that support students’ mental health and overall well-being.

Mental Health Services

William & Mary’s Counseling Center serves as students’ primary destination for mental health services on campus. During regular hours, its staff provides counseling to individuals, couples, families, and groups, as well as teletherapy and psychiatric services for students interested in medication. For urgent issues, the Counseling Center offers walk-in services, or students can call and speak with a mental health counselor 24/7. The Counseling Center’s services are free for enrolled students, and the university’s health care plan covers off-campus counseling services to which the Center refers students. Staff are trained to provide care to different groups of students with specific needs, including veterans, student-athletes, international students, and first-generation students. The Center’s website makes it easy for those seeking assistance to access the necessary information regarding policies and procedures. Undergraduates can additionally enroll in Wellness Applications, a course for credit that “incorporate[s] experiential learning on issues of mental well-being, resilience, and wellness.”

Wellness Quality of Life

Students are encouraged to explore the broad array of wellness resources at their disposal, including:

The Center for Mindfulness & Authentic Excellence (CMAX), which is housed in the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center. CMAX “offers advanced flourishing and resilience training that challenges the stress glorification culture that exists on many campuses.” CMAX’s programming includes experiential therapies like Creative Art Therapy, Yoga Therapy, and Eco Therapy.

Free Fitness & Wellness (FitWell) classes for beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercisers and those interested in guided meditation. Participants can register online or on the W&M Wellness App.

TimelyCare, a health and well-being platform designed for college students. By registering for TimelyCare online or downloading the app, students can access 24/7 on-demand mental health support, health coaching, scheduled counseling sessions, and guided self-care content.

TribeRides, a program that covers the cost of students’ transportation to and from off-campus mental health appointments. Students can sign up through the Counseling Center.

Therapeutic Modalities like acupuncture, Reiki, massage, and aromatherapy are fee-based services offered by the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center.

Peer-to-Peer Resources

W&M is home to several “peer-to-peer groups devoted to health education and outreach,” including:

Active Minds promotes mental health awareness

Wellness Ambassadors help with programming and events at the Wellness Center

Peer Health Educators provide “relevant and reliable mental health information”

Someone You Know advocates for sexual assault prevention through peer education

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) works to ensure that students feel supported, connected, and empowered as they navigate both academic and personal demands. Through a blend of professional counseling, evidence-based wellness initiatives, and highly engaged peer networks, WPI cultivates a community in which students can take meaningful steps toward emotional well-being and personal growth.

Mental Health Services

The Student Development & Counseling Center (SDCC) is WPI’s central resource for mental health care. It provides “free and confidential counseling, guidance, and support— or just someone to talk to—24/7,” ensuring that help is always available when students need it most. Students can participate in short-term individual counseling focused on skill-building and navigating challenges such as identity development, academic stress, interpersonal issues, and burnout. Group counseling is also available for topics such as anxiety and stress management, adjustment to college life, relationship issues, and identity-related experiences. When students require continued or specialized support, counselors assist with referral options for long-term therapy in the local community, helping to ensure continuity of care. Beyond scheduled appointments, WPI provides 24/7 after-hours crisis support with a trained mental health professional. This ensures that urgent concerns—whether emotional, psychological, or situational—receive immediate attention.

Wellness Quality of Life

WPI’s Center for Well-Being (CWB) leads campus-wide wellness efforts. As “a hub for cross-functional campus efforts aimed at improving student, community, and campus well-being through evidence-based practices,” its programming reflects this mission. Initiatives include guided meditation offerings and stress-relief programs during midterms and finals. Workshops on sleep, nutrition, gratitude, mindfulness, and resilience are offered regularly, providing practical tools students can integrate into daily life. In addition, First-year students encounter wellness early through WPI’s Insight Program, which offers “several mental health related programs” as part of their transition into college, further embedding well-being into the student experience. WPI also makes wellness accessible through digital tools, including online guided meditation platforms and evidence-based self-help modules that support emotional regulation, stress management, and self-reflection. The university also incorporates well-being into academic progress through its Wellness/PE requirement, with courses in yoga, mindfulness, nutrition, and physical fitness. In addition, the Center for Well-Being “coordinates four ‘Wellness Days’ each academic year,” built directly into the academic calendar to “encourage opportunities for community growth in self-care and well-being.”

Peer-to-Peer Resources

Peer leadership is a central element of WPI’s mental health ecosystem. Students can engage through the following programs.

Active Minds – Promotes mental health awareness and reduces stigma through student-led outreach and events.

Student Mental Health Committee – Supports student well-being with initiatives that strengthen mental health culture on campus.

Student Wellness Ambassadors – Trained peers who assist the Center for Well-Being in delivering wellness education and promoting healthy practices.

SMART (Student Mentoring Active Responsibility Together) – Provides peer education on alcohol and drug harm reduction and encourages responsible decision-making.

The Student Support Network (SSN) is “a six-week evidence-based mental health training course, developed at WPI, that focuses on recognizing signs/symptoms of mental health distress and what to do when concerned about students who are experiencing distress.” Each year, the university trains “six cohorts (15–18 trainees) of students and one cohort of faculty/staff,” strengthening its community-wide capacity to identify and support students in need. WPI ensures that students are surrounded not only by professional resources, but also by a peer community that understands, uplifts, and responds to those who may be struggling.

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