By Shannan Hearne, Summit Technologies Marketing Specialist
Mental health and wellbeing have become a pressing concern among college students, as evidenced by a study by the Healthy Minds Network and the American College Health Association, which found that student anxiety rose from 17% to 31% in just six years. From preschool to post-graduate studies, students are facing higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than ever before.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only made matters worse, with 60% of students reporting difficulty accessing mental health care. This situation has also worsened the equity gap in higher education, particularly among Black and Latino students, with a 20% drop in college applications from disadvantaged students.
One only has to turn on any news channel to see that bullying, suicide, depression, anxiety, and more are all on the rise in all levels of education and with our youth.
Faculty and staff are not immune to these challenges either, as hiring freezes, furloughs, staff shortages, increased workloads, and layoffs have caused added stress, leading some to consider early retirement or leaving teaching altogether. To mitigate these issues, higher education leaders must prioritize individual wellness and create a campus culture that values and promotes wellbeing for everyone.
This can be achieved through various means, such as providing wellness spaces, hiring coaches, offering online tools and noncredit courses, and being proactive in addressing students' and employees' needs. For example, Cornell University has created a Health Leaves Coordinator position to support students taking a leave of absence, while Wake Forest University's Office of Wellbeing leads the campus in making wellness a part of every experience for students, faculty, and staff. Indiana University created a Wellness Story sharing tool so students and faculty could encourage each other to seek wellness in one or more of 8 dimensions of wellness with actions big and small. Classroom wellness initiatives are supported byTeachThought.com. Today everyone is focusing attention on keeping students and staff happy and healthy.
Creating a culture of wellness and having a comprehensive approach to addressing mental health and wellbeing issues is crucial. By doing so, universities can enhance academic performance, retention, satisfaction, enjoyment and graduation rates and support the overall success of their students.
The Salesforce Education Cloud can help in creating a culture of wellness on campuses and Summit Technologies LLC can assist you in creating a healthy learning and working environment using the Salesforce infrastructure.
As a Columbus, Ohio-based Salesforce Consulting Partner, Summit Technologies consists of a talented team of Salesforce certified consultants, developers, analysts, and project managers, who specialize in building innovative solutions using Salesforce products including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, CPQ, Experience Cloud, Nonprofit Cloud, Education Cloud, Pardot, Field Services, and Salesforce Communities. Summit Technologies has worked with multiple higher education entities developing custom Salesforce solutions that bridge the gaps not only in student wellness but campus engagement for everyone.
Let Summit Technologies help bring custom Salesforce technology to work for your university.