April 25, 2024 – On Friday, May 10, Santa Fe College will host the Mind Body Life Mental Health Symposium. Representatives from the institutions within the Florida College System are invited to attend the event that is focused on student mental health.
Under the leadership of Chancellor Kathy Hebda, Santa Fe College received generous funding from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health to create a toolkit that provides practical guidance to college administrators concerned about student mental health. The toolkit offers strategies for increasing:
- Mental health awareness and wellness
- Access to mental health care and
- The College’s capacity to support mental wellness
Each attendee will receive the toolkit on a flash drive. Users do not have to read this toolkit in chronological order. Instead, they can be guided by the Table of Contents, which lists each tool within one of the four main categories. In this manner, users may focus on the areas and the tools that are most relevant to their institutions.
According to Dr. Naima Brown, who led the Mind Body Life Mental Health Initiative, “Our goal is to provide every attendee with tools to replicate what we were able to do at Santa Fe College. One of the most valuable tools are all the files associated with our multi-media awareness campaign. Then we have materials that can be dropped in a learning management system to increase student resilience. There is also a workbook for high school seniors preparing for college. And there is so much more.”
The program includes a welcome from SF President Broadie, a call to prioritize student mental health from the chancellor, an overview of the toolkit and a keynote on student mental health from Dr. Ernesto Escoto, University of Florida, Interim Associate Vice President of Health and Wellbeing & Executive Director Counseling and Wellness Center. The conference will also feature presentations on a Peer Mental Health Ambassador program, a review of college policies and their impact on students, as well as considerations for wellness programs.