FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University is launching YOU@SHU, a web-based platform, designed to foster mental health wellness among students. SHU also is expanding its counseling center to ensure students have all the emotional support and resources they may need.
The University acquired the new personalized digital platform with a grant from the Connecticut Campus Mental Health Program, which Gov. Ned Lamont announced last year to help colleges and universities address students’ mental health challenges driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mental health is finally on the front page of every news source for higher education,” said James Geisler, director of counseling at Sacred Heart and grant co-director. “Students’ mental health is a priority at Sacred Heart and every other college and university.”
YOU@SHU focuses on early intervention. “Counseling is a very reactive approach when you think about it,” said Geisler. “Students are struggling; they come to us, and we provide a service. However, what if we were able to help students much sooner? Once students reach out to the counseling center, they’ve often accumulated symptoms that have grown worse and are now affecting their ability to function.”
“The digital resource was a great fit for our campus,” said Jessica Samuolis, associate professor of psychology and co-director of the grant funded by the Connecticut Campus Mental Health Program. The purpose of the project is to “increase mental health education and awareness by providing psychoeducational information and wellness tools, increase access to and availability of care by connecting students with a range of existing resources, and provide support to students with emerging issues to mitigate the need for treatment.”
Samuolis said, “YOU@SHU will enable us to accomplish these goals and expand efforts at SHU to build a thriving community of support.”
YOU@SHU will enable students to assess different aspects of their well-being, including social wellness, nutrition, sleep, relationships and more. The digital platform also will give students access to more than 2,500 evidence-based resources related to topics such as stress, sleep habits and time management, as well as SHU-specific resources. When students turn to the tool because they are struggling, they will be guided to the best resources on campus to help them.
“It’s imperative that every one of us as professional staff and faculty on campus accept responsibility for the well-being of our community,” said Karen Flanagan, peer education coordinator at the counseling center. “This platform fosters campus connections to many resources available at Sacred Heart. We need students to understand that accessing resources for support is a strategy for success, not a sign of failure.”
Flanagan uses the analogy of pulling person after person from a river to keep them from drowning, when the most effective rescue is to determine what is pushing everyone into the water and stop it. “This platform focuses on primary prevention, helping to catch people upriver, before they land in the water,” she said. “Students can use YOU@SHU to navigate stressors and keep them from growing to the point of affecting the student’s ability to function.”
The entire SHU community will have access to helpful wellness resources. “We’re really taking this digital tool and saying, ‘Wellness is part of our culture here,’” Geisler explained. “We all have mental health, and we all need to take care of it.”
Counseling center expansion
In addition to YOU@SHU, mental health counselors will be available for students at the expanded counseling area in the Maureen Hamilton Wellness Center.
The center will house four full-time counselors and one part-timer, and there will still be one full-time counselor dedicated to athletics in the William H. Pitt Health & Recreation Center. Students can schedule appointments by calling the center, and counselors will accommodate same-day appointments for walk-ins and emergencies.
Visit the counseling center webpage or visit the You@SHU webpage for more information.
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About Sacred Heart University
As the second-largest independent Catholic university in New England, and one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., Sacred Heart University is a national leader in shaping higher education for the 21st century. SHU offers nearly 90 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs on its Fairfield, Conn., campus. Sacred Heart also has satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland and offers online programs. More than 9,000 students attend the University’s nine colleges and schools: Arts & Sciences; Communication, Media & the Arts; Social Work; Computer Science & Engineering; Health Professions; the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development; the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology; the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing; and St. Vincent’s College. Sacred Heart 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 387 Colleges–2022 Edition, “Best Northeastern” and Best Business Schools–2022 Edition. Sacred Heart is home to the award-winning, NPR-affiliated radio station, WSHU, a Division I athletics program and an impressive performing arts program that includes choir, band, dance and theatre. www.sacredheart.edu