During its second year, the Well-Being and Mental Health Campus Collaborative conducted focus groups, piloted program-evaluation methods, led coordinated communication projects, and strengthened foundations for a range of services and resources.
Focus Group Findings
Collaborative partners conducted fall 2023 focus groups and listening posts to learn about supports for and barriers to well-being on campus.
Students, staff, and faculty joined 14 focus groups. Listening posts at campus events captured 68 student responses and 340 faculty and staff responses. Participants’ experiences provide context and narrative to quantitative data on campus.
Key drivers of well-being identified from participants' experiences include:
Connection and belonging
Local-level campus support (instructor, supervisor, program, college)
Campus resources and awareness of resources
Flexibility and balance
Basic needs (financial, food insecurity, safety)
Mental health (resources, support, and response skills)
Support for race, culture, and identities
Workload (faculty and staff)
Feeling valued
5-for-5 Connection Challenge
In February 2024, collaborative partners implemented a shared communication campaign around the 5-for-5 Connection Challenge developed by the U.S. Surgeon General to strengthen relationships and reduce loneliness.
The initiative invited faculty, staff, and students to commit to connect with people in their lives over five days in a row. A sample of participant reflections:
“I noticed a student who was tearful and struggling. I let him know that I saw him, I heard him, and I cared about him.”
“I wrote hand-written thank you notes to my friends and family who sent me birthday presents.”
“The connection I gained with others felt really good and the self-reflection…got me thinking about how I need to take better care of my mental health...”
Other Year 2 Accomplishments/Deliverables
- Outlined funding plan for the Food Pantry, staging a crowdfunding campaign and soliciting private gifts and business donations.
Integrated well-being into hiring a partner for the Iowa Memorial Union Modernization Project, asking firms to address experience with WELL Building and biophilic design in their proposals.
Continued to develop peer support models: Students the President’s Leadership Class piloted pilot the Jed Foundation training You Can Help, while the committee adopted materials from the Australian suicide prevention program R U OK? for use with faculty and staff.
Continued to build campus well-being website with pages for over 150 resources and a custom filter tool for personalized searches.
Piloted common evaluative questions for well-being programs and services, demonstrating that questions worked across contexts.
Expanded UI Support and Crisis Line to faculty, staff, and postdocs.
Clarified that employee sick leave includes mental illness.
Implemented supervisor training on well-being and mental health.
Revised campus definition of well-being: Well-being at Iowa is fostered by an environment that promotes healthy and purposeful living for all campus members.
Year 3 Priorities
- Understand financial well-being needs across campus and provide recommendations for expanded support.
- Continue efforts to embed well-being considerations into the design and construction process systemically.
- Continue to build culture of empathy and compassion through peer support and the development of programs for faculty, staff and students.
- Launch and promote a campus-wide well-being website.
- Prioritize one shared communication opportunity and target specific communication and engagement strategies to groups on campus with low engagement in well-being services.
- Share high level metrics and electronic evaluation tools, and continue to collect qualitative data to understand campus well-being needs.
- Form Connection and Belonging sub-committee to continue work on Year 1 priorities and respond to focus group feedback.