During its first year, the Well-Being and Mental Health Campus Collaborative outlined guiding principles for the Collaborative, established priorities for the first year using campus data, and created six subcommittees based on these priority areas. 

Guiding Principles

Use whole-system approaches that embed well-being into the campus ecosystem and are focused on the whole person.

  • Incorporate social determinants of health and basic needs
  • Recognize the interconnectedness between health and sustainability
  • Assess how our policies support well-being as part of the campus ecosystem
  • Embrace, create, and sustain health and well-being equity for all
  • Intersectionality is included within the whole-person approach
  • The whole-person approach includes the entire continuum of individual perspective to the environmental perspective

Ensure a comprehensive and campus-wide approach engaging with varied stakeholders from the campus community that include diverse groups of students, faculty, and staff.

  • Use a participatory approach and seek involvement in the process
  • Use various data sources to inform large, collaborative campus goals
  • Focus on campus and community strengths as the foundation for collaboration

Develop relationships and cross-sector partnerships through collaboration and engagement.

  • Identify areas of opportunity across all populations
  • Identify external partnerships and relationships that foster an ecosystem that supports well-being.

Promote research, innovation, and evidence-informed action to help guide the work of the collaborative.

  • Advance research for health and well-being knowledge and action that advances multidisciplinary research agendas.

  • Ensure teaching, training, learning, and knowledge exchange will benefit the future well-being of our communities.

Build on the strengths of the UI community in developing campus well-being strategies and goals.

  • Research and innovation
  • Learning
  • Service excellence
  • Well-being expertise across the continuum
  • Collaboration and relationships
  • Community of caring

Value diversity, equity, and inclusion of all populations.

  • Ensure that all cultures (populations) are represented, respected, and heard, and the work of the committee is not only focused on the majority culture lens.
  • Understand and respect the intersectionality of identities
  • Respect and deconstruct the impact of colonial legacies on our campus

Demonstrate progress on campus well-being and mental health.

  • Create measurable goals and action plans
  • Assess progress on an ongoing basis
  • Provide transparent and regular communication to the campus community on actions and progress
  • Celebrate successes
  • Share lessons learned

Behaviors that support the guiding principles:

  • Demonstrating empathy, compassion, and care
  • Intentional in language and consistent/authentic messaging
  • Advocacy
  • Acting with integrity
  • Encourage risk-taking and innovation while providing support
  • Advancing an anti-racist, anti-oppressive approach in all we do
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Members of the Collaborative Represent:

  • Office of the Vice President for Student Life
  • Office of the Provost
  • Office of the Vice President for Research
  • Dean of Students
  • University Human Resources
  • University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
  • Division of Access, Opportunity, and Diversity
  • Division of Student Life
  • Facilities Management
  • Office of Sustainability and the Environment
  • Undergraduate Student Government
  • Graduate and Professional Student Government
  • College of Education
  • College of Pharmacy
  • College of Public Heath
  • College of Law
  • College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Graduate College

Subcommittees

  • Food, Nutrition, and Movement: Co-shairs Lucas Carr and Nikki Hodous
  • Connections, Inclusion, and Purpose: Co-chairs Tanya Villhauer and Teri Schnelle
  • Built and Natural Environment: Co-chairs Stratis Giannakouros and Megan Hammes
  • Collaborative Leadership Framework: Co-chairs: Maria Bruno and Joni Troester
  • Substance Use: Co-chairs Joni Troester and Tanya Villhauer
  • Mental Health and Resilience: Co-chairs Bronwyn Threlkeld-Wiegand and Trish Welter
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Year 1 Accomplishments/Deliverables

  • Inventoried existing well-being and mental health programs, resources, training, and initiatives for each sub-committee.
  • Engaged campus collaborators with presentations about the work of the collaborative.
  • Developed a stand-alone training for supervisors to support well-being and mental health in the workplace, to be implemented in Year 2. Elements from this training will be integrated into the broader supervisor training.
  • Created a Guide to Promoting Well-Being in the Classroom and a corresponding pressbook.
  • Began work on a campus well-being website, including identifying funding. Anticipated to launch in the fall of Year 2.
  • Identified high-level metrics for well-being.
  • Created well-being programming evaluative questions to pilot in Year 2.