Student mental health and wellness is a growing challenge for nearly all university educators. Increasing numbers of students struggle with academic and/or social disengagement, mental health problems, or environmental factors that introduce non-academic challenges. Many universities have extensive student support services, but these are not always efficiently utilized by their target audience.

While classroom instructors can be the first observers of concerning student behavior, few are trained as counselors or therapists, and most are already spread thin. In the current resource-lean academic environment, asking faculty to take on emotional labor for which they are neither trained nor compensated is a very big ask.

To respond to this need, we developed a simple tool for classroom instructors to diagnose and respond to concerning behavior or disengagement. A flowchart sends faculty through a series of decisions, then directs them to the appropriate campus resource. Especially in engineering, faculty may choose not to address behavior or disengagement because they fear saying the wrong thing to a student. We sought to overcome this barrier by providing sample language for conversations and emails.

This flowchart was developed as a project for Drexel University's Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Science (ELATES). KEEN supported MT's ELATES fellowship. Many faculty and campus offices contributed to the content as acknowledged below.

EM and Mental Health:

“Overcoming emotional barriers” and “entrepreneurial mindset” may seem disparate, but the Three Cs run throughout both. First, therapists, community organizers, and faith leaders all agree that the first step to behavior change is non-judgmental curiosity, also known as humble inquiry. ‘Why don’t you go to class? What stops you from turning in your problem sets? How do you feel when you think about your major? About college? What do your parents think?” The answers to these questions may not be appropriate to share with professors who are assigning grades. Students still need to learn how to ask them. Second, connections are vital. Professors cannot be responsible for managing students’ habits and feelings. How can students connect their existing networks – family, friends, activities, affiliations – to their academic lives for the support and accountability they need? Finally, developing the emotional and psychological skills required to succeed in college will allow students to create enduring value throughout their careers and personal lives.