Fostering a Community of Care
The Center believes in a community approach to wellness. We strive to promote the educational success of students by supporting their intellectual, emotional, and social development through the provision of culturally aware clinical services.
We are committed to regularly engaging the campus community in support of student emotional wellness and consistently seek ways to expand this outreach. For instance, in 2020, our staff members become certified as suicide prevention training instructors and will train faculty and staff this year to strengthen the competency of community members in suicide prevention. We also offer outreach programming based on community needs and work with our Wellness Partners to support student wellness.
Access to Mental Health Services
The Center provides a variety of mental health services to the campus community, including short-term psychotherapy, crisis intervention, group counseling, outreach and consultation, and referral resources. We provide intervention and prevention services, both within and outside the Center.
We constantly evaluate best practices and changing community needs with the goal of ensuring and expanding accessibility. In October 2019, we added services with ProtoCall, which provides all day urgent care clinician access by phone to our students. We have consistently reduced wait times over the past two academic years, and also added a clinical case manager to our staff to assist students in accessing off-campus therapy when desired or recommended. Access involves many factors, including providing quality care and diversity and inclusion; all of our commitments are part of our commitment to access.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Well-Being Center staff is committed to creating a welcoming and affirming space where all members of the American University community are valued and celebrated. We are a multicultural and multi-theoretical staff who deeply value our global and diverse community. Our social justice approach includes taking a stand against discrimination and oppression in any form. Since we recognize that not all diversity is universally valued, we feel a special obligation as a mental health agency to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for all our students.
We value cultural competence and have consistently sought clinicians who share the diversity of our student body; offer group therapy options to address issues specifically relevant to students of color, LGBTQ+ students and others; and engage with our Wellness Partners and others across campus in mental health outreach geared to diverse concerns.