The University of Minnesota has long prioritized the well-being of its students and continues to build on that work through the Elevate Extraordinary 2030 strategic roadmap. With President Rebecca Cunnigham’s recent signing of the Okanagan Charter, the University continues on a path where well-being matters in all aspects of the college experience.

Pivotal to that pursuit are the counseling and mental health services on each campus, helping students through moments of challenge and growth so they can succeed in their chosen endeavors. While they share a common purpose, each campus brings its own approach and initiatives to serve its communities best. 

Meeting the need, 24/7

Well-known for its innovative academic approaches, the Crookston campus continues to meet the diverse needs of its student population. Across traditional students, commuters, student-athletes and those online, the campus ensures students can find the right care for them.

This spring completes the first year of using TimelyCare — 24/7 virtual care services for mental and physical health needs.  

Available to all degree-seeking students, TimelyCare can bridge the gap to match busy schedules and accommodate peak times for on-campus services. The platform offers health coaching, counseling, medical services, and more for on-demand and ongoing care needs. This is especially helpful to Crookston’s large student-athlete and online community. 

“The impact of accessibility is clear: Over 35% of our students’ TimelyCare sessions occur after hours or on weekends, and students have accessed care from seven states other than Minnesota,” says Jodi Ramberg, director of Counseling Services.

Getting online help doesn’t take away from the in-person experiences happening each day.

“With TimelyCare supporting so many of our students, our on-campus providers are better able to provide high-quality, focused care to the students who come to our door,” says Ramberg.  

Being seen as mental health experts 

Serving nearly 9,500 students, the seven therapists in Duluth Counseling Services are always busy tending to campus needs. As more students seek therapeutic care, S.K. Chung, counseling services director, finds it necessary to explore other ways to promote mental health support outside of therapy. As such, several counselors created a mental health summit for faculty and staff to promote mental health literacy and to become better mental health advocates.

“Students go to the trusted adult first and it may not always be the counseling team,” says Chung. “It's important to offer a diverse spectrum of services because the student body needs a diverse spectrum of experiences.” 

In line with sharing that expertise, Counseling Services also hosted a Master of Social Work student intern this academic year to give back to the profession.

“It’s great to begin building this as a place where someone can get professional experience in college mental health because it is a unique niche of mental health we can provide,” says clinical lead Sara Cedars. 

Embedded mental health

Jeanne Williamson, associate director for student counseling, health and wellness, is inspired each academic year to develop new ways to meet the needs of Morris campus students. After noticing students weren’t responding well to various wellness initiatives, Williamson and her colleagues spent a year examining other models of well-being in higher education — and Morris Let’s Thrive was born.

Based on extensive research and input from campus stakeholders, Morris Let’s Thrive is an embedded model where mental health and wellness practices are infused into students’ curricular and co-curricular life. In the classroom, that may look like offering courses on positive psychology and mindfulness or stepping in to guest lecture on wellness when faculty are taking time off. 

Outside of the classroom, Morris Let’s Thrive provides educational programming, community collaborations, welcome week presentations and sleep kits for incoming students. They work to cater to whole-person health and are consistently evaluating the needs of emerging adults. 

“It's hard to be flexible,” says Williamson. “But if we can take a step outside of ourselves and look at ways in which we can meet the end goal of learning, well-being and support, that is always going to have a place in higher education. And it’s not just for the students, but for us too, as human beings who are navigating the world.”

A new outlook

At the Rochester campus, Director of Counseling and Health Services Jessie Sorvaag Marg and her small but mighty team are working creatively to build excellent student services by strengthening relationships and establishing a strong presence across campus.

“The difficulty we've run into is that the students are just so busy, and trying to get them to come to one more thing can be a lot to ask,” says Sorvaag Marg. “So we’ve been adding ourselves into the things that they already show up to and have found that to be successful.”

From events hosted by the well-being team or Office of Residence Life to student groups or simple tabling in U-Square, Sorvaag Marg believes this intentional integration with faculty, staff and students will help better address current needs and make programming more impactful. 

“Other areas outside of Counseling Services often see things we don’t,” says Sorvaag Marg. “Building relationships across UMR helps us close gaps and deliver even stronger programming."

Reducing barriers to access 

Easing accessibility to mental health care is a crucial goal for the Twin Cities campus. With great resources to share and 60,000 students to reach, Boynton Mental Health and Counseling is making efforts to assist those with access problems to receive the care they deserve.

This semester, staff piloted single-session walk-in opportunities scattered strategically throughout campus, where students can meet with a licensed clinician at no cost and no documentation on their electronic medical record.

“We knew there was this issue, and early results show that allowing these more informal access points seems to be helping meet that need,” says Joy Johnson-Lind, senior director of mental health at Boynton.

Increasing touch points to counselors also shows up as embedded counselors in select colleges, Let’s Talk’s 20-minute virtual conversations and other community-based services that make first contact with professional help a bit easier.

“We're intentional as we look at our college health survey data to see where those priority student populations are that are most in need and intentionally placing counselors in those spaces,” says Johnson-Lind. 

All in this together

Even on these unique paths, each campus is bettered by continuous connection. The Systemwide Mental Health Collaborative brings counselors together to network and utilize resources across campuses, discussing trends and addressing needs.

“It’s been a great place to find out what other campuses are doing and how we can incorporate it rather than always starting from scratch,” says Ramberg. “There's so much we can learn from one another.”