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Wellness Resource Center Strategic Plan: 2018 Revision are not making the most of this. Examples of high impact collaborations in this area include:o Increased partnerships between the Health Educator and Residential Life Coordinators to betterscreen for substance abuse during conduct processes and to connect students to resources that canhelp them move toward healthy choices so that they can achieve their full potential.o Partnerships between the WRC and Residential Assistants to increase student engagement inopportunities to develop life skills like stress management, conflict management, etc.Provide leadership on the JED Campus Project and the Drug Free Schools and Campuses Act (DFSCA)committee. Prevention and health promotion are the primary focus of the JED strategic plan and of theDFSCA Committee, and this is the focus of the WRC as well.Connect student organizations more meaningfully to offices where they can receive mentorship, training,and content-area advising.Continue to provide leadership on protocol and policy development in areas like immunizations, healthinsurance, and behavioral intervention teams.Connecting and centralizing information and referralso Consistency of messaging in campus prevention programmingo Working collaboratively with other offices (i.e., Counseling, Health Center, Accessibility Resources,Student Success and Advising) to streamline how students can access resources and information Consolidate and expand on-line resources Develop a shared webpage where students, staff, and faculty can access information aboutsupport and reporting resources (examples include Vanderbilt University’s Student CareNetwork, or University of Colorado, Boulder’s Don’t Ignore It webpages and campaign) Links to on-line resources for wellness (i.e., the current WRC list of apps for self-care andself-connection, Cash Course, etc.). Development of a referral repository (i.e., mental health practitioners, LGBTQIA friendlyproviders, general and specialty medical providers, etc.)Priority 2: Assess and identify trends and priorities through communityengagement, data collection, and analysisAccurate data regarding the health and wellness needs of the campus community is the first step in developingnew programs, and supports ongoing program evaluation efforts. In order to identifying trends and priorities, theWRC draws from current research and best practices in the literature, and we engage in ongoing assessmentactivities ranging from regular meetings with CCSGA representatives and other student leaders to formal surveys(WRC-administered and those administered by campus partners). Recent surveys administered by the WRCinclude the Healthy Minds Survey (Spring, 2018; n 778), Think About It (2017 and 2018 First Year StudentCohort), and the National College Health Assessment Survey (Spring, 2017; n 382). During the 2017-2018academic year, the college launched a four-year collaboration with the JED Foundation. As part of thatcollaboration, the campus undertook an extensive self-assessment and review by the JED Campus team, resultingin an action plan and set of recommendations from JED. Additionally, campus partners across campus engaged indata collection through surveys and focus groups during the 2017-2018 academic year, including the StudentTransitions Project and the Food Service Review. Taking all of this information into account, the following needsemerged.5

Wellness Resource Center Strategic Plan: 2018 RevisionNeeds Identified from National and CC Data:Mental Health and Suicide:Multiple national studies (i.e., Twenge, 2017; American College Health Association, 2017; Harris Poll, 2015) havedrawn attention to the fact that today’s college students are less emotionally prepared than previous generations,and they increasingly arrive on campus with histories of significant mental health challenges. Making socialconnections and a sense of belonging are important predictors of student success, resiliency, and thriving.Students of color in particular are more likely to feel emotionally unprepared (Harris, 2015), and face additionalbarriers to access resources and support.Anecdotally, CC students, staff, and faculty identify mental health as a primary issue facing our students. The officeof Accessibility Resources has seen increased demand over the last several years. Of the 18% of CC students whoare fully registered with the office, more than a third receive accommodations for psychological disorders.Demand for appointments at the CC Counseling Center has kept pace with increased staffing over the last severalyears, with more than 30% of CC students utilizing the Counseling Center each year. Because they wereconsistently hearing from their peers about struggles with mental health, the CCSGA made mental health theirfocus during the 2018 spring semester. Members of the CC Honor Council also reported that they were seeingimpacts of mental health challenges in their investigation and hearing processes, prompting them to seekadditional training on identifying and responding to signs of mental distress.Data collected from Colorado College students also indicate that mental health challenges are significantlyimpacting our students. Some key metrics from the Healthy Minds Survey (HSM) and the National College HealthAssessment (NCHA) include: CC students scored low on measures of Flourishing and Resiliency, and expressed asense of isolation; they struggle with high levels of self-injurious behavior and suicidal ideation, and report thatmental health challenges are significantly impacting their academic performance (see Appendix 1 for specificstatistics). Consistent with national data, students from under-represented groups appear to be at increased riskfor mental health challenges on the CC campus.Given the significant impact of mental health challenges and illnesses, and the danger associated withsuicidal ideation and behaviors, mental health promotion and suicide prevention must be priority areas offocus for the campus and the WRC. Attending to the mental health needs of students of color and othermarginalized communities and connecting these efforts to other inclusion and equity initiatives will beparticularly important for success.Substance Abuse:While Jean Twenge’s (2017) iGen research suggests that the current generation of college students may be usingsubstances less, this does not seem to be true of CC students. Data collected from Colorado College studentssuggests that substance abuse is a significant issue on our campus. Some key metrics from the Healthy MindsSurvey (HM), National College Health Assessment (NCHA, 2017), and Think About It survey administered to allincoming students (TAI, 2017) include: CC students use alcohol at higher frequencies and in higher-risk waysbefore matriculation than other college students across the country, and continue to use alcohol and to drink inhigh-risk ways once on campus; they also use other substances at high rates (see Appendix 2 for specific statistics).Harmful and underage drinking and other drug use is a significant public health issue, and the health and safety ofour students is a primary concern for us as a campus. In the United States each year, approximately 1,825 collegestudents die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries; about 696,000 college students are assaulted by another6

Wellness Resource Center Strategic Plan: 2018 Revisionstudent who has been drinking; and about 97,000 students report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assaults(NIH, 2015).Data collected at Colorado College suggests that, congruent with our students’ high rates of substance use, they arealso experiencing significant impacts of this use. In the 2017-2018 academic year, 51.2% of the conduct loadinvolved drug/drug paraphernalia and irresponsible alcohol use and resulted in a range of sanctions includingfines, probation, leaves of absence, suspension, and dismissal. Campus Safety had approximately 216 calls forservice related to alcohol and other drug use during the 2017-2018 academic year. Of those calls, approximately35% resulted in a medical transport due to a wellness/safety assessment. Results from the NCHA (2017) surveyindicate that when they drink, CC students injure themselves, have unprotected sex, and experience nonconsensual sex at significantly higher rates than other college students nationwide. They also experience negativeacademic impacts from their substance use at higher rates than the national average. About 4% of CC studentsseriously consider suicide while drinking (see Appendix 2 for specific statistics).An additional concern for us as a campus is the impact that our culture has on student’s sense of belonging andwell-being. In our conversations with students, the predominant culture on campus is identified as a party culture,and drinking tends to be the focus on social events, rather than a by-product. For example, prior to a campusmusic event, students reported that the primary conversations they were hearing about the event were not aboutthe music, but rather about what substances peers were planning on taking. Anecdotally, we hear from studentswho don’t drink that our campus culture contributes to feelings of not fitting in or difficulty finding a social group.Students have identified that CC is often a difficult place to be when recovering from addiction because substanceuse is so often a focus of social activities. One such student shared an example of how at a celebration for Seniorswhere other students were being served beer and wine, she went to the bar and asked for a non-alcohol beverageand was directed to a water fountain. This made her feel that students who don’t drink are not even recognized bythe institution. This challenge to belonging may be felt more keenly for students of color, who nationally are lesslikely to drink or to drink in high risk ways. Research at other institutions (i.e., Washington, Ziong, Kowalik, 2015)also suggests that students of color are more likely to experience micro-aggressions from their peers who havebeen drinking. We have certainly have heard from students of color who have reported experiencing microaggressions within the context of drunken peers. Creating an inclusive campus community requires criticalassessment of how campus drinking culture impacts how members of marginalized communities feel.Given the significant impact of substance abuse, prevention efforts aimed at reducing substance abuse andchanging the campus culture/climate related to substance use must be priority areas of focus for campusand the WRC. Connecting these efforts to inclusion and equity initiatives across campus, and to mentalhealth promotion and violence prevention efforts will also be a key to success.Sexual & Relationship Violence:Sexual violence and other gender-based violence continues to be a significant public health issue on collegecampuses across the country. National data suggest that approximately 1 in 5 women experience attempted orcompleted sexual assault during their college years. New students to campus are at increased risk for assaultduring the first several months on campus (Kimble, et al., 2007). On the Colorado College campus, there continuesto be high demand for response services from the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, and data collected fromstudents confirms that rates of sexual assault and other gender-based violence are high. Overall, more than 20% ofCC students experienced unwanted sexual contact within a 12-month period of time, and 9% of CC students7

Wellness Resource Center Strategic Plan: 2018 Revisionexperienced sexual penetration attempt without their consent in the previous 12 months. As noted above, alcoholis a significant factor in sexual assaults on our campus, with 7% of students experienced non-consensual sex whendrinking in the previous 12 months. CC students also reported experiencing emotionally abusive relationship(9%), physically abusive relationships (2%), and stalking (5%) in the previous 12 months. Women on ourcampus are significantly more at risk for all of these experiences except physically abusive relationships, wheremen reported this experience at the same rates as women (see Appendix 3 for specific statistics)Having a comprehensive multi-faceted set ofprevention education programs that targetsall levels of the social ecological model(individual, interpersonal, institutional,community, societal) is a key to effectivelypreventing sexual assault and other genderbased violence (Basile, et. al., 2016).Colorado College completed the CampusPrevention Network (CPN) Sexual AssaultDiagnostic Inventory completed by ColoradoCollege in the Fall of 2017. This instrumentis designed to assess institutional sexualassault prevention efforts, and providesfeedback in three key domains of prevention:Programming, Critical Processes, andInstitutionalization. CC received an overalldesignation of Proficient. We also received aProficient rating for Programming, andCritical Processes, and a Developing designation for Institutionalization. Recommendations of this report can befound in Appendix 4. The decentralization of Title IX response and prevention efforts on the Colorado Collegecampus has created some challenges to developing a coordinated, integrated approach to sexual violenceprevention. The re-integration of the SARC with the WRC has helped to better integrate and coordinate preventionand response activities. Intentional connections with the Anti-Discrimination/Title IX team, which oversees formalTitle IX reports and climate survey data collection is necessary. There are also multiple student groups whoengage in prevention activities who have very different levels of training which do not always include bestpractices like an understanding of how their work fits into the bigger picture of plans and goals for wellness, howto facilitate challenging conversations, or consistency of language, concepts, and institutional messaging. The JEDFoundation has recommended increased oversight of student groups through collaboration with CCSGA, and thismight help to improve the coordination and collaboration of sexual violence prevention programming. Improvingthe communication, coordination, and collaboration between offices would also be helpful.Given the significant impact of sexual and relationship violence, prevention of gender-based and other powerbased violence must be a priority area of focus for campus and the WRC. Improved coordination andcollaboration between campus offices and student groups that focus on sexual assault will be important toimprove sexual and relationship violence prevention efforts, as will continuing to recognize theinterrelationships of

The Wellness Resource Center approach to wellness is holistic and multidimensional, and our mission statement emphasizes that individual wellness is embedded within an inclusive, healthy community. Our model also emphasizes that wellness is an active process in which individuals learn and make choices that move them toward achieving their full