Vice President Explores Students’ Mental Health and Wellness with Emmy Award-Winning Broadcaster

Monica Burnette, Ph.D., vice president, Division of Student Services, recently discussed the importance of fostering a caring community and helping students who are experiencing mental health struggles with Steve Adubato, author, speaker and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster of Lessons in Leadership, along with co-host Mary Gamba. The episode can be viewed here.

Burnette, Adubato and Gamba explored the ways that today’s crisis in mental health for young people, particularly college-age students, has changed the role of universities and looked at what universities can do to better meet the needs of students.

“There has been a growing trend of college students who are really showing higher levels of anxiety, depression and stress than in previous years. We're also seeing across college campuses a higher demand for mental health support, including increased utilization, and really need to offer more robust services,” noted Burnette.

The three reflected on post-pandemic stressors – feelings of greater isolation and loneliness, and trends identified, especially in the K-12 sector, of significant academic-learning gaps. College students are using more social media and technology; there's also financial stress with the rising cost of education; and how all these factors impact not only students, but also their parents, who together with their students often share these stressors.

Ever Evolving Efforts

Burnette discussed Seton Hall University’s commitment to students and faculty.

One of the things that we really focus on at Seton Hall is care for the community. We've been fortunate to not only look at best practices within our counseling and psychological services program (CAPS), but also collaborations with external partners. I think institutions have to move forward with innovative ideas and not just remain in the status quo. We must keep evolving. Every new cohort of students presents different challenges. I think that as the mental health crisis continues, we really do need to be able to partner and collaborate with other institutions, with our state, and legislators as well. 

A significant partner at the forefront of these efforts is the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services. It has provided grant funding through the Great Minds Dare to Care initiative to enable the University to work with its institutional partners and launch a revamped and easily accessible web platform and enhanced services, including “The Well” Mental Health Toolkit, to support mental health and wellness for the well-being of students and faculty.

“The Division recognized the need to assist colleges and they have generously provided grant funding for our Great Mind Dare to Care program,” explained Burnette. “This allows us to provide all our community members with opportunities to engage in things like training, resources and activities that really promote tools and strategies for managing mental health and helping others. So, it's really a community-wide effort. So not just students are being trained, but also faculty and staff members as well. It really takes a village.”

To learn more about the Great Minds Dare to Care programs and initiatives, visit here.

To watch the entire episode of Lessons in Leadership with Monica Burnette, visit here.

Categories: Campus Life