Wellness Initiatives Fund

Academic Year 2023-2024 Annual Report

During the 2023-2024 academic year, 14 proposals were awarded support from Wellness Initiatives Fund, for a total of $5,019. In addition, the Wellness Initiatives Fund continues to support ProtoCall, our 24/7 urgent support line. The generous commitment of our donors has enabled us to continue with many effective educational programs, as well as incentivize community members to become more creative in their programmatic offerings. Those who received funding were extremely grateful for the opportunity to implement projects in support of the Student Wellness Office; we continue to vigorously advertise this fund to students and campus colleagues to promote this vital resource.

An overview of the year’s activity can be found below.

ProtoCall 24/7 Support Line

The JED Campus team collaborates with ProtoCall, a 24/7 Support Line, to provide students with the ability to reach a crisis clinician for urgent counseling needs any time of the day from any location, 365 days/year. This service is promoted heavily to students, faculty, and staff via email, social media, campus signage, and outreach/training (to faculty, staff, and student leader groups). During AY23-24, the Support Line received 121 calls from members of the Stonehill community. The breakdown by class year for students calling for their own needs is as follows: 35% first year, 29% second year, 14% third year, 20% fourth year, 2% grad/other. The top five primary concerns were suicidality (19%), anxiety (19%), situational stressors (14%), marital/romantic relationship concerns (13%), and depression (10%). The trend of more males accessing the support line compared to females continues.

Fresh Check Day

In September we held our annual Fresh Check Day, a large-scale mental health awareness fair. A dozen student organizations along with multiple campus offices/departments (Athletics, Campus Ministry, Campus Police, Counseling Services, Health Services, Health & Wellness, and Sodexo Dietitian) participated again this year by hosting interactive booths on wellness topics, including anxiety, depression, and suicide; substance abuse; counseling and mental health check-ins; stress relief and relaxation; sexual assault prevention; nutrition; and more. One big draw to this event was a mobile farm visit pet therapy service, which brought baby farm animals to campus. In addition, our on-campus radio station WSHL provided music to add to a festive atmosphere. The event drew an estimated 250 attendees, and the survey feedback we received from students was very positive. Multiple students noted that it was a great way to help decrease mental health stigma and communicate information regarding wellness resources.

Living with Loss Peer Support Group

The Living with Loss Peer Support Group for students hosted an open house in early October and provided refreshments and copies of the book We Get It, Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults. This collaboration between Counseling Services and Campus Ministry was established in 2019. They recognize that balancing grief, support, and the many demands of college life can at times be challenging reason why they offered supportive programming to students who have recently experienced the death of someone close. The program involved sharing about losses and learning about the process of grief, the importance of self-care, and available campus resources. The students were also given the opportunity to discuss what types of resources or programs they may be interested in moving forward for grief support.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

In October, Resident Assistant Sabina Sams ’24 provided educational goodie bags to her residents to promote overall awareness and share with them information regarding domestic violence. The program was offered on October 19, 2023, which is known as #PurpleThursday. We are inspired by this example of programming offered in the residence halls by our student leaders.

Meditation Practices–Guest Speaker Gurdeep Bhogal

Associate Professor of Communication Monique Myers, Ph.D. invited Gurdeep Bhogal to speak on campus to two of her classes about various meditation practices from both Eastern and Western traditions. These practices included mindfulness and breathing techniques to reduce stress (both daily, as well as stress-specific times, such as midterm/final exams). Following the lecture, students were assigned to apply the practices learned for a week and write a journal reflection to assess how beneficial they were for them.

Giving Back to the Community

Happiness & Communication Term Project:

Once again, Dr. Myers’ Happiness class partnered with a local farm this year to pick pumpkins to donate to three local homeless shelters in the Brockton area. Students found this to be a very rewarding experience, and they were grateful for the opportunity to bring some happiness to those living in the shelters.

Green Bandana Project

The Green Bandana Project, implemented on campus by our student group Hope Happens Here, empowers students to become resources for each other to help with suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) completed a mental health/suicide prevention training and planned a marketing event to officially launch the initiative in fall 2024. Following training, students received a green bandana to place on their backpacks so that other students could identify them as peers educated in mental health and provide them with campus resource information.

First Gen Refresh

The Offices of Academic Advising, Intercultural Affairs, and Health and Wellness partnered for First Gen Week to host a wellness fair-style event with campus resources, stress-relieving crafts, activities, and refreshments for First Gen students. This event created a space for First Gen students to come together, take a break from the stress of the season, and make time for wellness. Multiple student groups, such as Hope Happens Here and the SGA Wellness Committee, collaborated on this event.

The Impact of Eating Disorders on Athletes

The JED Campus Team, Health & Wellness Office, SGA, and Hope Happens Here partnered to host a panel in mid-November on the intersection of eating disorders and athletics. Dr. Russ Kennedy from Walden GOALS Program, an expert in eating disorder treatment for athletes, was invited to serve as the keynote speaker. Panelists included: Prof. Jessica Shaw, Health Science; Maria Sullivan, Director of Health Services; Maria Kavanaugh, Director of Counseling Services; and Kim Pierce, Sodexo Dietitian.

The panelists spoke about trends in eating disorders, defining types of diagnoses, and the overall continuum of disordered eating. Specific trends and characteristics impacting athletes were explored. As well as ways in which they can access resources and support peers. The forum was attended by approximately 30 students.

Mandalas for Mindfulness

Counseling Services graduate interns Jordan Ellis and Kaitlin Carson hosted a program as part of the Library's Finals Stress Relief series. In mid-December, they offered Mandalas for Mindfulness. Students had the opportunity to color a mandala, grab to-go coloring supplies and snacks, and receive psychoeducational resources. They also learned how coloring mandalas can support mindfulness and relaxation, interacted with Jordan and Kaitlin to build rapport with the Counseling Services team, and were provided with resources for at-home meditations and grounding.

Mind Spa Pop-Up

Counseling Services graduate interns Marita Nevins and Jordan Ellis hosted three Mind Spa 'pop-ups' for the spring 2024 semester to provide psychoeducation along with support and coping strategies for students as they navigate various challenges.

Kindness Notes: This was an opportunity for students to write an encouraging note to a fellow student to help them kick off their semester.
Mindful Brain Break-Making Bracelets: In collaboration with the Office of Intercultural Affairs, students practiced utilizing mindfulness as a coping mechanism while making bracelets.
Affirmations to Power Through the Semester: Students collaborated on creating a puzzle with supportive and affirming phrases, which were then publicly displayed.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month Consent Event

In April, in collaboration with the Student Government Association, the Coordinator of Health and Wellness Promotion hosted a consent awareness event as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming. The event included a French fry food truck, stickers designed by Stonehill students explaining the acronym FRIES (used to describe consent - Freely given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic, and Specific), and resources to educate students on the importance of consent and how to normalize conversations around consent and sexual assault prevention. The event was very well attended, and positive feedback was received from those in attendance.

Express Yourself: Art Therapy Group

Staff Clinician Lauren Dougherty and Graduate Intern Kaitlin Carson offered a series entitled Express Yourself, which was an art therapy group where students were given the opportunity to connect with others in a creative way and through a therapeutic lens to reflect and set intentions in the new year. Topics discussed included self-esteem, self-care, and strengths students already have and can continue to grow. Activities ranged from creating a vision board to writing their own story, to creating a strengths tree. Five sessions were hosted throughout the spring semester. Following one activity that focused on strengths and creating a "strengths tree,”; one student stated,

"It was nice to take the time to think about what I do well when too often I focus so much on what I can't do."

"Disfluency" Film Screening and Panel Discussion

As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, the Health and Wellness Office hosted a screening of the film “Disfluency.” The film presents a raw portrayal of a college student’s experience with trauma without the need for graphic scenes of assault, which is a welcome shift from previous films. The writer/director of the film partnered with the community organization SafeBAE, which provides consent education to secondary schools/Universities. “Disfluency” covers topics such as PTSD, depression, trauma, language, self-doubt, the reporting process, and more. We showed the film, engaged in a presentation using the provided discussion guide, and distributed printed resources. Hosting this screening was a great addition to our Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming curriculum.

Finals Self-Care Packages

care package table assembly — Students select items for self-care packages.

The Health and Wellness Office offered a Finals Self-Care Packages event in early May in the Library.

Students were able to take a much-needed break from studying to make themselves a self-care package for finals week focused on stress management, motivation, and joy.

The self-care packages contained stress balls, encouraging pens, motivational stickers, ChapStick, and stress relief fidgets.

The College community continues to be grateful for the generous support of Robin McQueen-Lynch '80, Bob Flynn '87, and other donors in best ensuring the overall health and wellness of our students.

Support the Wellness Initiatives Fund

The College is truly grateful for the generosity of those who are assisting us in our efforts to support the overall health and wellbeing of our students, which remains our top priority.

Make Your Gift