Community Mindset Program
The Office of the Executive Vice President/Vice President of Academic Affairs has provided sponsorship funds, supplemented in many cases by speakers waiving their symposium speaker honorariums, to support student well-being initiatives. Each of the five university student mental health subgroups (UIUC, UIS, UIC, UICCOM, and the System Office [SO- included for the first time in fall 2023]) received additional funding from the EVP to implement a student-focused well-being initiative.
Each initiative should:
- Promote mindsets and behaviors that are conducive to positive student mental well-being.
- Deliver messages that counter or help deconstruct toxic norms that contribute to stress and distress.
- Encourage a greater sense of support and authentic connection among members of the university community.
Descriptions of the approved initiatives each year are below.
Spring and Fall 2022
UIUC | Supporting Wellness Spaces
Wellness Spaces is a prevention program concept using a community approach. All members of the university community benefit when we establish dedicated wellness spaces. This benefit is not limited to the direct outcomes from engaging in the space, but also in the demonstrating a commitment to student mental health and well-being. The benefits of having dedicated spaces that integrate a health and wellness approach are obvious and the goal of the program is to enhance and increase wellness spaces across campus.
Currently, there are several offices and places on campus that offer wellness programming and related services. For example, Campus Recreation has a student wellness program, which includes recreation facilities ranging from cardio equipment to an ice arena, and offers recreation-based wellness programming, cooking classes, and wellness incentives. The Illini Union has a Rec Room with bowling lanes and arcade games. The Counseling Center offers myriad outreach and prevention programs that all have wellness at the core. Many students mention Japan House as a wellness space with its gardens and pond. Some students visit the University Library when they need a quiet space or to clear their mind. Student members on the campus student mental health committee strongly encouraged an enhancement to and an increase in spaces dedicated to wellness.
UIC | Take Care of Our Flames (TCOF)
(Combined effort between UIC West/College of Medicine sub-group and UIC East & College of Law sub-group)
Visit the TCOF webpage
This holistic theme uses UIC school spirit, to remind students to manage and care for every aspect of their mental and overall health (i.e., healthy eating, exercise, sleep, hydration, meditation, and more). Research shows that self-care activities help students to feel better which in turn supports their mental health. The theme is in keeping with Dr. Gary Glass's call to normalize what is otherwise currently seen as a disorder.
Student organizations, colleges, departments, units, and systems within the UIC community will be asked to host one (or more) TCOF program(s) to raise awareness, educate, and promote student mental health and well-being. TCOF plans to develop and implement programming and community interventions that will provide a broad menu of offerings meeting the unique needs of UIC students.
This "Call for Programs" will include a Media Kit which provides Student Mental Health Community Mindset focused text (slogans, tag lines, positive messages) and images to ensure a cohesive message is being shared with students, regardlass of which department, college, or student organization is hosting the program. A "Take Care of Our Flames" website will be created to house events created by campus partners and offerings will be advertised through UIC Today and UIC Life. TCOF images will be shared throughout the campus on websites, monitors, posters, and giveaways such as the key chains or Microfiber wipes.
UIS | Mental Health First Aid
UIS will focus on training as many people as necessary in Mental Health First Aid, continuing the community-based approach to mental health at UIS. Mental Health First Aid is a nationally recognized training program that aims to give people the necessary skills to respond appropriately to a person experiencing a mental health crisis. UIS will utilize this program to help train individuals from all departments on campus.
UIS' goal is to have trained at least one individual from all departments by the end of 2022. With the secondary goal of training all individuals that work in Residence Life, Police Department, Academic Advising, Health Services, Athletic Department, and any other departments considered to have high engagement with students.
Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
UIUC
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign implemented Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), a nationally recognized mental health bystander intervention training. Participants complete eight hours of training to earn a three-year MHFA certification designed to identify and disrupt unhealth behaviors and expand the support network among members of the campus community.
Training facilitators on the Urbana campus allows for more flexibility to provide MHFA certifications to all required constituents and lower the overall cost of providing these training opportunities. By using internal facilitators, travel costs are eliminated thus lowering the cost per person to attend MHFA training. Internal facilitators increase flexibility to offer multiple training opportunities.
In total, sixteen individuals were trained as MHFA instructors in FY24 at a cost of $1,625 each. The Community Mindset Program funding contributed to covering this cost. These instructors were deployed to facilitate Mental Health First Aid training to University Housing employees before student arrival in Fall 2024 and will allow for the ongoing training of employees and students throughout the year.
UIC East & West
The University of Illinois Chicago implemented a Flames Flourish program to support student and employee well-being. Flames Flourish is based on the constructs of Human Flourishing, specifically the evidence-based practice of PERMA (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, and Accomplishments). A web-based toolkit includes two self-paced mental health trainings (for students and faculty), a faculty guide on how to help students and promote positive health behaviors in the classroom, a campus mental health and basic needs resource sheet, a panel on well-being, an accompanying video, and an opportunity for students and employees to take the University of Berkley’s “Happiness Course”, which is also web-based, self-paced, and evidence-based. Participants learned about mindfulness, compassion, gratitude, the link between happiness and kindness, and more. The Community Mindset Program funding was combined with grant monies to cover the cost of the program.
UIS
The University of Illinois Springfield implemented a mental health training program with marketing materials. The goal was to have as many people as possible prepared to meet the increasing mental health needs. This included students, faculty, and staff having knowledge of potential signs and symptoms of mental health struggles as well as how to best respond to someone in need. The marketing materials were geared toward helping the campus community learn how to engage in supportive services on and off campus with a goal of increasing awareness and access and reducing stigma. The Community Mindset Program funding was used to purchase the online training program and marketing materials.
System Office
System Office Wellness began a new initiative called Elevate in Spring 2024. This comprehensive initiative features physical activity tracking, access to healthy recipes, daily tips, goal-setting tools, well-being articles and resources, and an interactive message board. Participants also set achievable targets, receive badges for milestone accomplishments, and engage in peer-to-peer challenges to foster a sense of community and motivation.
Elevate empowers participants to continue focusing on healthy behaviors and engage with other participants for support. Research has consistently shown numerous benefits of physical activity, including a reduction in symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression; improved cognitive functioning and better memory; and enhanced self-esteem and positive body image. Elevate has an interactive platform offering opportunities for social interaction through group sharing activities, which helps combat loneliness and improve mood regulation and sleep.
The System Office Wellness used the Community Mindset Program funding to cover the expenses of a kick-off event to promote the Elevate platform. The event took place in person with a keynote speaker, information about the platform and spring campaign, “table-talk” wellbeing discussion activities and a Q&A. There was also a remote option.
Spring 2025
The fall 2024 event speaker, Dr. Rebecca Kennedy, waived her speaker fee, which will be supplemented by funds from the Office of the Executive Vice President once again to continue Community Mindset Programming. Stay tuned for more information!