Campus mental health at the core of discussion for faculty, staff and students

Natalie Bonfine, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, and Jessica Zavala M.P.A., director of The Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health, both participated in panel discussions at a special meeting of the Faculty Congress of Ohio.

This meeting highlighted mental health issues at Ohio’s colleges and universities. Dr. Bonfine discussed research related to mental health issues of college and university students. She focused on a survey of students and faculty/staff at Ohio’s colleges and universities that revealed the behavioral health needs and perceptions of campus-based services for mental health and substance use. The survey was initiated and supported via the Ohio College Initiative housed at Prevention Action Alliance in partnership with The Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health.

Ms. Zavala’s contributions emphasized targeted education programs for faculty, staff and students as well as elements of quality psychoeducation, screening and well-being programs. Various programs including suicide-prevention gatekeeper trainings are supported via the Campus-Community Collaborative Grants. These grants have successfully supported campus-wide public education on mental health and stigma reduction activities across campuses in Ohio.

The Faculty Congress of Ohio is a collaboration of the Ohio Faculty Senate of Technical and Community Colleges and the Ohio Faculty Council (OFC), which represents the faculty of Ohio's 14 public universities, including NEOMED. It exists to provide a forum for discussion among faculty members at institutions of higher education and to advocate for the values of higher education: the teaching, creation, preservation and application of knowledge for the good of both individual students and the public. Because of these values, it is committed to shared governance at universities so that the expertise of faculty may help shape academic priorities and policies at each institution, and endorses the principles of academic freedom and responsibility contained in the 1940 AAUP "Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure." 

The Ohio Faculty Council engages with policy makers and the public to share information about higher education and to partner with the Ohio Department of Higher Education, elected officials and other to facilitate knowledgeable decision making on issues related to universities. By giving Ohio's public university faculty the ability to speak with one voice, the council creates opportunities for effective collective action on behalf of Ohio and its citizens.

See more about the Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health.