因为流感大流行, Maryville welcomed what amounts to two separate freshman classes for the 2021–2022 school year.

第一个, 当然, is made up of the traditional newcomers arriving to start their college careers. The other includes second-year students who never had a typical freshman experience because of the pandemic. 为他们, many parts of college life are likely to be new after a year of virtual classes and social distancing.

Learning how to spot challenges that members of either group may be facing — or any student, for that matter — is the focus of a new mental health initiative for Maryville faculty and staff. It gives new meaning and new emphasis to the Maryville slogan, “One Team, One Family.”

“We are coming in contact with much more social anxiety and grief this year,詹妮弗·亨利说, MA, LPC的, 民政事务总署署长 咨询中心. “现在上课了, the 咨询中心 staff participates in counseling sessions from when we arrive to when we leave.” Students can also reach a licensed counselor anytime, 24/7 by calling the 咨询中心支持线. All Support Line calls are reviewed and followed up on by the main campus Counseling Center staff.

To help deal with reactions to the pandemic as well as other stresses, ranging from political discord to racial strife to foreign crises, the Counseling Center produced a series of digital resources. 其中包括最近的 video giving tips on how to regain mental and emotional balance. 咨询中心的 虚拟休闲室 offers resources including meditation and relaxation exercises, 平和的音乐和四部分压力管理研讨会.

Additionally, new training in Mental Health First Aid was made available to faculty and staff. Fifty individuals took advantage of the course, and are now certified for three years. There is also a waiting list of faculty and staff members interested in obtaining the training, 更多的会议正在计划中.

Ashlyn坎宁安, 定单计划, 工程/ L, 职业治疗副教授, 是心理健康急救认证讲师吗. She obtained a small grant from the Missouri Institute of Mental Health to offer the training this past August. The goal of the training was to equip faculty and staff to become better observers and responders to students in order to be able to spot problems before they become a serious mental health challenge.

坎宁安说:“亚洲体育博彩平台的工作是询问他们做得怎么样。. “We talk in the training about how you look for early signs of mental health challenges and crisis situations. The earlier you can intervene, the more effective the help will be.

“At Maryville, we don’t teach classes of hundreds of students. 亚洲体育博彩平台了解亚洲体育博彩平台的学生，所以亚洲体育博彩平台能注意到变化. 如果亚洲体育博彩平台不让一个人参与进来，直到他们陷入危机, 这是一个很难回头的地方,”她说。.

帮助传播信息和培训, 凯特•克莱恩, 博士学位, LPC的, 儿童权利公约, 康复咨询副教授, is leading a group of volunteer faculty members in ongoing training in what is known as The Pedagogy of Compassion.

There is a great deal of preliminary evidence demonstrating student (and faculty) mental health suffered during the pandemic. This group exists to acknowledge and accept this information, 分享和解决学年的问题, and develop active ways to support students (and each other) during the 2021-2022 academic year. 教师将被要求进行自我评估, 学生的调查, or other modalities that they can incorporate into classes to support student mental health, express care and concern for student well-being and model compassion for these unique times.

作为一名有执照的专业咨询师, 克莱恩州, “You don’t need to be a therapist or have formal training in counseling to support students. The human soul wants to be witnessed, seen and companioned. Each faculty member brings remarkable assets and experiences that will enable them to connect and reconnect to students. 通过这样做，教师可以利用治愈能力.”

克莱恩指出，因为太多的玛丽维尔学生, faculty and staff have gone through such a wide variety of experiences over the past 18 months, 亚洲体育博彩平台不能期望每个人都在同样的水平上开始. “You can’t use phrases like ‘Let’s catch up’ or ‘Let’s start where we left off,’”她说。, because this creates added anxiety for students that we must be aware of and sensitive to. 和, 她补充说, faculty members can’t be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings as classes work through academic material.

“亚洲体育博彩平台不仅在应对一场大流行,克莱恩说。, 而且还伴随着社会正义的重大转变, so we’re encouraging faculty to consider other ways they can have these discussions with students and express to them ‘we’re also going through this’ and having a shared experience.

“作为咨询师，亚洲体育博彩平台经常被告知不要分享. 亚洲体育博彩平台现在不能这么做. It’s very important that faculty know to let the guard down and acknowledge that we’re all going through something. 学生需要亚洲体育博彩平台这样做. We’re encouraging faculty to exercise humanity with academics, 来证明他们也有感觉, 而不是牺牲严谨. We don’t sacrifice rigor, we practice compassion,”她说。.

Henry agreed that the virus and its resurgence with the delta variant has given Maryville the chance to enhance its focus on ensuring everyone on campus is mentally healthy. She emphasizes that while it’s always a student’s choice to become involved in remedial efforts, “the most important thing is to give students access to talk to somebody, 此时此刻.”

“Training faculty on how to talk to students about mental health is always a focus for us, but the pandemic has increased the level of awareness on campus and across the nation,亨利说. “每个人都渴望知道该做什么以及如何提供帮助. It’s encouraging to see the enthusiasm and commitment across campus for caring for the mental health of our students. 亚洲体育博彩平台要一起经历这一切.”