Treating mental health by beginning with resident advisors

When students, especially freshmen, struggle with mental health, it’s often their Residential Advisors who are the first line of help.

By training RAs on how to identify students who may be suffering from a psychological crisis, the Universityhopes to broaden access to mental and physical health care.

RAs undergo a day-long training program before the beginning of each semester, consisting of back-to-back presentations organized by Counseling and Psychological Services on issues related to eating disorders, depression and other common mental and physical conditions that afflict college-aged students. The purpose of this roughly eight-hour day of presentations is to inform RAs on the issues that their residents may be suffering from and to help them identify a student in need.

CAPS created the I CARE program in the spring of 2014 to provide students and faculty with the training necessary to identify a student who may be suffering from a mental illness. The program, which designates certain faculty members as mental wellness counselors, also seeks to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness and inform students of the resources at their disposal. The ultimate goal of I CARE training is to get rid of the cultural and informational barriers that may come between students and CAPS. For the full article click here 

from health IT caucus http://ift.tt/20oqhpW
via IFTTT