The media outlet's exploration of different approaches to supporting the mental health of students provided a look at programs in place at Elon within Campus Recreation and Wellness.
A recent report by Campus Rec Magazine has highlighted programs within Elon University’s Campus Recreation and Wellness to support student mental health.
The article titled “Serving Mental Health” appears in the magazine’s March/April issue and examines how a variety of colleges and universities are responding to the increasing portion of young people with mental health needs and struggles. Mental health resources and programs are even more important since the start of the pandemic, the article notes.
Charlotte Williams, associate director of Campus Recreation and Wellness for student wellness, told Campus Rec reporter John Reecer that safety, suicide prevention and awareness and sleep come to mind as some of the top current concerns of students.
“These are really the forefront issues,” said Williams. “Sleep is a really challenging issue for college students. One of the challenges is getting students to unpack and use their words. It’s easy to use stress as a scapegoat for adults. But what is it when you really peel back the layers? It’s about prioritizing and determining what is important for you in your life’s design.”
Williams and Jenny Larson, associate director of Campus Recreation and Wellness for recreation programs and facilities, shared about how Elon has moved to an approach that uses larger programs to help push forward the conversation around mental health.
“For example, club sports have really opened up that conversation,” said Larson. “Our baseball team has been big mental health advocates on campus. Utilizing student organizations is important. We have 27 different sport clubs and around 1,000 student participants. Being able to merge the mental health conversation from the health promotion aspect with our student employees has normalized that conversation.”
Find out more by reading the complete Campus Rec article.