The University of California, Irvine offers support initiatives to teach faculty how to engage with students about mental health issues.
Steve Zilius/University of California, Irvine
As concerns about student mental health grow, faculty members are under pressure to provide support.
A January survey by TimelyCare found that 76 percent of educators believe that maintaining student mental health is a job expectation. This reflects student expectations, with 45 percent of respondents to a 2023 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse, saying they believe educators have a responsibility to help students struggling with their mental health.
Three out of four faculty members surveyed by TimelyCare say they feel confident in helping students navigate mental health resources on campus, but the same number would like more training or support in this area.
The University of California, Irvine established the Office of Faculty and Staff Support Services in 2016 to provide additional resources for faculty members regarding behavioral health issues, crisis intervention, case management, and wellness education trainings.
Faculty Aid: The office was originally created to provide one-on-one assistance and consultation to faculty and staff members on their own issues, but it became apparent that staff also wanted resources and education on how to better support their students.
“I think we’ve definitely realized through the pandemic, much more than ever before, that faculty wellness and student wellness are no longer at odds with each other; there’s a lot of synergy that if our faculty isn’t doing well, our students probably aren’t going to do well,” says program director Negar Shekarabi.
Most often, however, educators will be dealing with a troubled student who is struggling in various aspects of life. “It’s not always obvious that they’re necessarily struggling with their mental health — they might be struggling academically because they’re experiencing housing insecurity or food insecurity, and all kinds of things flare up,” Shekarabi says.
Create resources: The goal is for faculty members to feel comfortable engaging in a difficult conversation with a struggling student to understand their greatest need and provide a helpful referral.
“Not every struggling student needs to go to the counseling center,” Shekarabi says. “I still help faculty feel more competent by engaging in these conversations with students to ask a few more questions to better understand the situation.”
Much of the training and resources Shekarabi provides offer educators a space to practice interacting with a student, thinking about what they might say and building their comfort and competence.
UCI currently offers training in suicide prevention, helping students in distress and integrating wellness concepts into the learning environment.
Strategies for talking about mental health
Five creative ways for faculty members to facilitate conversations about student health and stress include:
- Mental health days and reflection exercises create built-in breaks for learners to invest in self-care.
- The mindfulness writing exercise helps students who struggle with negative self-talk think critically about their interests and how they can invest in themselves.
- Academic courses focused on student health and flourishing provide a natural forum for discussions about mental health resources.
- Short surveys offered at the beginning of class give faculty insight into the mental health of their students throughout the semester and create a space to address concerns.
- A course syllabus can function as a resource guide and show the professor’s care and respect for his students.
Zoom in: Newer to the institution is mental health first aid training, which is offered exclusively to faculty and staff to help them identify and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders. UCI has trained 21 mental health first aid instructors since 2021; instructors offer virtual training twice a month to up to 30 community members who want to be certified.
About 700 faculty and staff members from UCI units and departments have completed the training, and even more have completed a shorter, one-hour review that provides practical takeaways for those unable to devote a full day to certification.
The University’s Teaching Excellence and Innovation Division hired Pedagogical Wellness Specialist Teresa Duong in 2022 to train faculty and instructors in creating classroom environments that prioritize wellness.
“Often these types of questions about pedagogical health may have been directed to my office by default; she’s really only focused on that for educators,” Shekarabi says. “It creates a new channel, a new source of referrals for my office … I can send them to Teresa to help them work on some solutions in the classroom.”
The university will also launch the Institute for Pedagogical Health this spring to help instructors and graduate students infuse elements of wellness into the curriculum.
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