培养学生健康

帕洛阿尔托学院 held its second annual 宣传 Summit on Friday, Sept. 6, 传播当地的意识, 区域, and national student wellness challenges and initiatives. The event was attended by 教师, 工作人员, and students from 帕洛阿尔托学院 and the 澳门新葡京博彩区, 以及社区成员.

The annual Summit focuses on the needs of college students outside the classroom and what educational institutions can do to help. Topics revolve around various non-academic barriers that can inhibit students from being successful both academically and personally.

“在帕洛阿尔托学院, 这是一个优先事项,卡洛斯·克鲁兹说, interim dean of student success at the 大学. "As an institution of higher education, we have codified our commitment to advocacy and looking at the holistic self and cultivating wellness for our students. We know that it's not just about what's happening in the classroom, but also about what's impacting them outside, to ensure they can be successful in receiving a credential."

While the inaugural 2018 event focused on caring for students' basic needs – such as food and housing – the 2019 event covered mental health and how it is affected by various external factors. Mental illness is a pervasive issue nationwide, with nearly one in five adults living with a mental illness in 2017, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. 此外, 75 percent of American college students deal with anxiety and 74 percent face depression, according to a survey by the American Council of Education.

This year's event featured two keynote speakers: Dr. 林赛Bira, clinical health psychologist and adjunct assistant professor at UT Health 圣安东尼奥, 博士和. María Félix-Ortiz, psychology professor at University of Incarnate Word. Attendees also heard from Rhonda O'Cana, personal counselor at 帕洛阿尔托学院.

"I have to tell you that we are among great leaders here at 帕洛阿尔托学院,埃德林·德·奥利维拉说, a music instructor at the 大学, during opening remarks at the Summit. "We're not only are we talking about hard things – we're actually changing. 我们实际上正在采取行动."

帕洛阿尔托学院 ignited its commitment to advocacy in 2015 by commissioning a cross-campus advocacy task force comprised of students, 教师, 和工作人员. The task force conducted an environmental scan of the types of advocacy services currently at the institution in an effort to better understand students' needs. 在调查结果中, students articulated that they needed assistance with mental health counseling, 紧急援助, 金融知识, 职业准备, 健康服务. 2016年12月, 帕洛阿尔托学院 responded by opening the Student Health, 宣传, 资源, 与业务约定(S).H.A.R.E.) Center to begin addressing these needs.

"We care about our community; we care about our students; we care about each other,德·奥利维拉说, 倡导工作小组成员. "That's reflected in the daily work that we do each day."

2018年春天, 帕洛阿尔托学院 conducted the Healthy Minds Survey to gauge critical areas of students' mental health needs, evaluate current programs and policies, and create benchmarks to use in comparison to other institutions of higher education. The results of the survey supported the development of resources needed to meet the needs articulated by 帕洛阿尔托学院 students, including expanded mental health services and programming through the S.H.A.R.E. Center.

"The journey continues as there are still many needs our students have,德·奥利维拉说. "The more we're doing, the more connected we get to our community. We're discovering more of these needs every day because we're getting to know our students and our community."