Increasing Mental Health Resources on Campus - University of Houston
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Increasing Mental Health Resources on Campus

DSA News
June 26, 2024

With a rapidly growing need at the University of Houston (UH) and around the country for mental health supports, we headed into the fall of 2022 with significant new investments in mental health programs and services. Nearly a million dollars were invested in staff and programs across a number of areas that strengthened the web of support including:

  • Cougar Cupboard and health education staff in UH Wellness (4 FTE)
  • Case manager for the Care Team in the Dean of Students office (1 FTE)
  • Case manager in the Student Empowerment office (1 FTE)
  • Licensed clinician supporting the Cougars in Recovery community (1 FTE)
  • Licensed clinicians in CAPS (3 FTE)

JED approach

We also signed up to be a JED Campus and began a 4-year journey with the JED Foundation. The JED Foundation was formed by the parents of a student, Jed, who died by suicide in 1998. We joined more than 500 higher education institutions partnering with JED, a nonprofit dedicated to young adult mental health. Their work helps us protect and build emotional health and prevent suicide, giving our students the skills and support they need to thrive.

In January of 2023, a broad JED committee of students, faculty, and staff met with our JED representatives as they delivered our strategic plan, based on measuring our progress against more than 80 best practice standards, organized within their comprehensive approach model.

Following the tragedy of two of our students dying by suicide in early spring, President Khator appointed broad representation to a mental health task force and an Agnes Arnold task force. She also brought in external experts to do a review of our Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) area. Recommendations were delivered in May 2023 and significant resources were marshaled to incorporate the 33 new recommendations into the JED plan and other campus areas.

In the subsequent months, many people worked on organizing, prioritizing, and implementing changes and investments in all areas of the combined plans. Some highlights include:

  • Broadening participation and accelerating implementation of the JED plan with more than 200 students, faculty, and staff on the various work teams
  • Launching the CoogsCARE campaign and hub website (uh.edu/coogs-care) with more than 28K visitors and 123K views
  • Adding to our 24/7 supports with Welltrack Boost, Togetherall, and Charlie Health
  • Adding 5 new dedicated student support and wellbeing professionals in residence life
  • Expansion of the Cougar Cupboard with 7651 students enrolled
  • Enhancing awareness of the 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Evolving the Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) into a new Care Team model
  • Enhancing safety of the Agnes Arnold building
  • Removing barriers to access for CAPS (fees elimination, way-finding signage, additional Let’s Talk programs, etc.)
  • Investing in retention and recruitment of CAPS licensed clinicians
  • Enhancing community partnerships for additional supports
  • Expanding training programs for all students, faculty, and staff including a redesigned “You Can Help a Coog” program and an 84% increase in QPR suicide prevention training
  • Increasing mental health referrals to CAPS, Student Health Center, and Care Team

In all, we’ve invested an additional $8.2M in mental health support in FY24 with plans for much more to come. Continuing to act on recommendations from the CAPS external review, Mental Health task force, Agnes Arnold task force, and JED, there are plans to invest more than $55M in additional support over the next two fiscal years including Agnes Arnold core renovations, unifying CAPS into a single location, increasing licensed clinicians by 12 FTE, and continuing to implement best practices across the full range of mental health-building recommendations. Stay tuned as we roll out supports that will make a difference in the lives of all Coogs!

Written by Chris Dawe, Assistant Vice President - Health and Wellbeing.