Special Campus Memo: Student Mental Health Initiatives and Task Force Report

Dear Grinnellians,

In 2016, I appointed a Student Mental Health Task Force to suggest near-term steps to help address student mental health needs, while also researching and developing more comprehensive long-range recommendations. It is important to note that even as the task force sought to better understand student mental health, available services, and cultural and environmental factors on campus, it was collaborating with College leadership to work on more immediate initiatives.

Several actions taken over the past three years already are having positive impact, resulting in enhanced mental health services and increased investment in mental health resources. In recent years, College expenditures toward mental health services and wellness programming have almost tripled, primarily to support more clinical services. Additional funding also has gone toward increasing staff, developing new partnerships with University of Iowa, purchasing software to facilitate scheduling and communication, and expanding employee services.

In addition, Student Health and Counseling Services has been renamed Student Health and Wellness (SHAW) to better reflect the mission of the office and its staff. The creation of a new Dean for Health and Wellness position was another significant development, and I want to acknowledge the contributions that Dr. Eric Wood made in that role prior to his decision to return to Texas Christian University. We are taking steps to find a new health and wellness professional to assume these important leadership responsibilities.

While progress made to-date is considerable, we now are ready to consider the important work yet to be done. Following surveys of Grinnell students, an analysis of the College’s mental health service practices, evaluation of national and local data, engagement with evidence-based research and resources, and an external review by professionals from other colleges, the task force has developed a final report of its findings and recommendations as well as actions taken to date.

The recommendations center on the need for the College to make a renewed, sustained, and broad commitment to student mental health. This goal will be best pursued through an integrated, student-centered approach that encompasses available professional treatment services, health promotion programming, and promotion of a campus culture and environment supportive of positive health and wellness behaviors.

Top-level task force recommendations for future action include:

• continued enhancement of counseling and treatment services suited to the needs of the Grinnell student body,
• strategic outreach and educational programming,
• promotion of mental health and wellness using a public health approach that addresses environmental and cultural factors,
• continued research and assessment to better define and meet student needs over time and use Grinnell’s resources most effectively,
• inventories of current programming and initiatives to identify Grinnell’s strengths, resources, and challenges,
• ongoing assessment of student needs and evaluation of services, programming, and environment.

These efforts outline a strategy through which we will be able to take responsible and sustainable steps to meet the needs of Grinnell’s talented, high-achieving, and diverse student population.

As the formal work of the Student Mental Health Task Force winds down, the complete task force report is being made available to the campus community as both a record of the task force’s work and also as a source for community discussion and action.

In September, task force members will host community discussion meetings seeking insights, questions, and comments from campus members. Details about those sessions will be forthcoming.

I encourage you to take time now to read the complete report of the Student Mental Health Task Force. You are welcome to share any immediate comments about the report or the task force’s work via a Student Mental Health Task Force Qualtrics form.

A special thank you to the task force co-chairs, Angela Voos, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Chief of Staff, and Michael Latham, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, for their service. I am appreciative of all the community members who helped support the work of the task force. Thank you to everyone who participated in this endeavor to improve our students' health and well-being.

I want to express my gratitude to all of the students, staff, faculty, and alumni who continue to work so diligently to explore and address student mental health issues, and to all who will help us build upon the task force’s recommendations to better serve our students.

Sincerely,

Raynard S. Kington
President