FAIRFIELD, Conn.—For James Geisler, executive director of wellness services at Sacred Heart University, mental health counseling isn’t just a career but a lifelong passion. It’s this underlying passion that is on display in his first book, Thrive Year One: The Essential Mental Health Workbook for First-Year College Students.
The book begins by reminding students of their resilience, challenging them to reflect on how they’ve navigated past challenges. This notion is incredibly important to Geisler, who believes that speaking about fear and desensitizing some of the angst students face is essential to helping them thrive as they begin their college experience.
“For some students, this is the first time they’ll deal with failure, personal expectations or new fears. This book is a guide to learning how to live and work through these issues,” Geisler said.
The book is filled with prompts and questions to challenge young adults on the precipice of a new, life-changing experience like going away to college. Geisler has expertly tailored the questions, reflecting the issues he has seen most often in his career. Prompts such as, “How do we deal with failure?” “How do we define our fears?” and “How can we give ourselves positive affirmations?” help students start their journey of self-discovery on the right foot.
For Geisler, publishing Thrive was not a pet project but a genuine response to the issues he has faced in the four years since taking over as executive director. “When I came to SHU in 2020, there was a nationwide mental health crisis on college campuses; this crisis was further expedited by the pandemic. While we were doing the right thing by talking about it and recognizing that there was a problem, I noticed that no one was taking any action to combat the crisis. The answer is proactiveness, not reactiveness,” he said.
With Thrive, Geisler becomes a strong voice in the ongoing conversation about mental health struggles, providing tangible resources for the students he said have been overlooked in discussions on combatting the issue.
“In the effort to decipher and fix the problem at hand, counselors, parents and teachers at both high school and college levels have tried to find solutions, but in all the discourse, it’s the student who is left caught in the crossfire,” Geisler said. He hopes the book will provide a foundation for collegiate mental health and become a resource for all students plagued by negative thoughts in their day-to-day lives.
Thrive is available to purchase on Amazon. Parents of students who have worked with the book believe it is an invaluable resource. One mother who posted a review on Amazon said, “Helping college-bound kids manage their expectations, anticipate the hardships that await and learn adaptive ways to work through them is so important. There are so many mental health challenges on college campuses right now, and college kids will benefit so much from this workbook.”
About Sacred Heart University
As the second-largest Catholic university in New England, and one of the fastest-growing private doctoral institutions in the U.S., Sacred Heart University is a national leader in shaping higher education for the 21st century. SHU offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs on its Fairfield, Conn., campus. Sacred Heart also has a campus in Dingle, Ireland, and offers online programs. More than 10,000 students attend the University’s eight colleges and schools: College of Arts & Sciences; School of Communication, Media & the Arts; School of Social Work; School of Computer Science & Engineering; College of Health Professions; the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development; the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology and the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing. Sacred Heart, a Laudato Si’ campus, stands out from other Catholic institutions as it was established and led by laity. The contemporary Catholic university is rooted in the rich Catholic intellectual tradition and the liberal arts, and at the same time cultivates students to be forward thinkers who enact change—in their own lives, professions and in their communities. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition, and Best Business Schools: 2024 Edition. Sacred Heart is home to the award-winning, NPR-affiliate station, WSHU Public Radio, a Division I athletics program and an impressive performing arts program that includes choir, band, dance and theatre. www.sacredheart.edu