College is often seen as a place of excitement, anxiety and growth. It’s a place where students prepare themselves for the future, a place of networking, environmental changes and adaptation. However, as time progresses, college can either prepare a student to become a successful productive citizen or a place where students learn habits that can negatively affect them for the rest of their lives. Universities are in a prime position to make a positive impression on each student’s mental health both inside and outside of the classroom.
Our students spend roughly two-thirds of their time in a non-academic setting. Therefore, it’s vital they dwell in an environment that is healthy and supportive of their growth and development and builds lifestyle skills beyond the classroom.
Over the last few years, this hasn’t been an easy task. A growing body of evidence suggests students in this generation deal with more complex health issues, resulting in them struggling to maintain academic success and personal health.
Specifically, data shows a significant increase in mental health issues and disorders across the nation. According to the Healthy Minds Study, during the 2020-21 school year more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem. Statistics like that undergird the importance of student services such as campus recreation and wellness to provide holistic programming catering to the whole student.
Campus recreation and wellness departments are in a unique position within an institution of higher education to positively influence mental health and well-being on campus. Research has shown that individuals who are physically active and socially engaged tend to have better mental health. As a department, a large percentage of services and events are modified to address and target mental health and wellbeing. For example, we offer:
Mental Health First Aid Training
Mental Health First Aid is an eight-hour training course designed to give members of the public key skills to help someone who is developing a problem or experiencing a crisis mentally. This training is offered several times throughout the semester to student, faculty and staff. It provides a comprehensive overview of the issue personalized with on-campus resources available to the university community.
Rise Above Resilience Online Resource
The University of North Florida (UNF) Rise Above Resilience program is a 24/7 online toolkit that provides UNF students with the resources to normalize failure and adapt to challenging situations to improve their wellness and success.
Mental Health Monthly Education and Awareness Theme
The Healthy Osprey (campus-wide wellness initiative) hosts monthly health themes that mirror the priority health risk behaviors identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. These behaviors have been shown to contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults.
In November we focus on mental health which includes a variety of activities such as:
- Mindful meditation.
- World Kindness Day.
- Mental Health Jeopardy.
- Random acts of kindness.
- Mental health workshops on resilience, meditation, happiness, etc.
Healthy Campus Week
In conjunction with Partnership for a Healthier America, the university hosts Healthy Campus Week every September. The purpose of Healthy Campus Week is to highlight and promote UNF’s health and wellness resources and services. Events provide a holistic view of UNF’s wellness offerings hosting events such as mindful meditation, glow yoga even “pick your own salad” at the Ogier Gardens.
Overall, there is a plethora of challenges associated with providing the student body with adequate effective health programming and services including budgetary and resource constraints. However, through campus collaboration and the pinpointing of student needs, targeted programming and services for topics such as mental health that can be valuable to the student body can be developed and implemented.
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