Supporting Student Mental Health
By Haley Dutmer
Our students are struggling—and since 2020, we know these struggles have been on the rise. Right now, some Notre Dame students are grieving the loss of a family member or friend; others are dealing with chronic illness; others with anxiety, depression, loneliness, academic stress, financial stress, sleep problems, homesickness, isolation, discrimination, and more. How can we as instructors best support students who are facing these hardships?
To state the obvious, instructors should not be attempting to provide professional mental health support that they are not qualified to provide. But, you don’t need to be a mental health professional to promote student mental health. You can support students by paying attention, listening, and connecting them to resources when they need it.
In this post, I’ll highlight several suggestions on, first, how to connect students with campus resources and second, ways to show students that you care about them and their mental health.
Connecting Students to Campus Resources
A first step an instructor can take to support student mental health is to keep an eye out for warning signs that a student may be struggling, such as: missing assignments, repeated absences, declining academic performance, reduced participation, excessive fatigue, worrisome content in assignments, and inappropriate or exaggerated behaviors. If something concerns you err on the side of checking in with the student and giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Once you’ve identified that a student may be struggling—how do you address your concerns with the student and connect them to campus resources? “Red Folder” is a resource that provides helpful guidance for this process with five key points for navigating the conversation:
- Say what you see: Tell the student what you are observing that is making you concerned (e.g., “Hi _____, I just wanted to check in with you because I’ve noticed _____. Would you like to talk with me about it?”).
- Show you care: Caring relationships with faculty can have a positive impact on a student’s well-being and increase a student’s likelihood of seeking help (e.g., “I care about your well-being and I want to help support you”).
- Hear them out: Be a warm and supportive listener. Provide space for the student to share, but don’t demand details. (e.g., “Thank you for sharing with me. That seems like a hard situation. Is there anything else you want me to be aware of about what you are going through? What do you think would be helpful from me at this time in terms of supporting you through the course?”).
- Know your role: Remember your role is not to solve the personal hardship the student is facing. Your role is to support them as their instructor as they find the broader support they need. Consult with the University Counseling Center (via the UCC Warm Line) or other campus resources such as Care Consultants, Sara Bea Accessibility Services, McWell, Office of Student Enrichment, and the Title IX Office when you are unsure how to proceed. Typically, these consultations will be exploratory and you won’t need to provide students’ names at this stage. However, know that you cannot guarantee confidentiality in certain circumstances due to, for example, Title IX mandatory reporting or dangerous situations. In emergency situations contact the UCC Crisis Line, Campus Police, or 911.
- Connect to help: Students in distress may need assistance connecting with the right resource. This support could range from simply providing the relevant resource information in an email or walking a student over to the UCC (e.g., “I would like to stay connected and continue to check in with you to make sure you’re getting the support you need. I think ______ might be a helpful resource for you given what you’ve told me so far. May I help connect you with them?”).
Showing Students You Care
So far, we’ve discussed how to recognize and reach out to a struggling student. But, the conversation about supporting student mental health needn’t stop there. Instructors can also support student mental health through their expressions of care. Even simple, easy-to-implement strategies can make a big difference towards helping students feel valued, supported, and part of a community. Consider the following questions and pick one you could focus on improving the next time you teach:
- Do you make an effort to get to know your students? When students feel you treat them as a human being, rather than a nameless face in the crowd, they are more likely to feel you care about them. And when students feel you care about them, they are more likely to come to you when they are struggling with the course. Learning students names is one small way to show students you care to get to know them. Consider using name tents to learn students’ names. Or in large classes, ask students to say their name before speaking and use students’ names when you can.
- Do you listen to student concerns? Asking students about what they are anxious about or struggling with in your class shows that you care and value their feedback. It also provides you with an opportunity to show students that you want to adapt your teaching practices in order to support them better. Try sending out an anonymous survey to get a gauge on how your students are doing and after the results are in, have a conversation with them about how you will adapt your practices.
- Do you respond to student needs? When students voice their concerns to you, or when you notice students are struggling in your course, consider what you can do to help. For example, perhaps you could minimize student stress by providing students with opportunities to recover from mistakes (e.g., allowing a lowest quiz score to be dropped or allowing for corrections on an essay). Also, understanding that at times life will get in the way of students’ schoolwork, consider making your course policies more flexible. For example, consider an extensions policy where students are able to use an “extension ticket” to get an extra 3 days on an assignment with no questions asked. Small changes can also make a big difference. Maybe changing a weekly assignment deadline from noon to 5pm could really help students manage their weekly schedule, without impacting your grading schedule. As another example, if you notice your students are feeling restless or tired during class, you might consider letting them have a quick stretch break.
- Do students know they can come to you if they are struggling? Consider having an explicit mental health statement on your syllabus with a warm and understanding tone that provides information about campus resources. In addition to a syllabus statement, encourage students during stressful points of the semester to reach out to you to talk if they are struggling and remind them that you are there to support them.
- Do you model and promote help-seeking behavior and share about your own academic journey? For example, you could talk about how you’ve utilized a campus writing center or counseling center as a student and explain how it helped you academically. This normalizes asking for help and shows students that asking for help is not shameful or a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.
Finally, in supporting student mental health, it is important not to neglect your own. Supporting student mental health is a process, and it’s okay to adopt new practices incrementally over time. Faculty and postdocs can receive mental health support through the Wellness Center, and graduate students can receive support through the UCC.
Resources:
Faculty Guide to Supporting Student Mental Health – the JED Foundation
Mental Health and Academic Success – ND Learning
3 Tips to Support Student Wellbeing – ND Learning
Best Practices for Faculty in Supporting Mental Health – Montclair State University