The Quadcast

Dr. Jessi Gold, Assistant Professor and the Director of Wellness, Engagement, and Outreach in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, joins the Quadcast to discuss campus-wide mental wellbeing. As a clinician who sees students, faculty and administrators, she has a unique perspective into the mental wellbeing of all campus stakeholders and how those populations interact with one another.

Kelsey Matthews, a mental health advocate and member of MCI's new National Youth Council on College Mental Health, joins the Quadcast to share her powerful story of perseverance that defined her path to a college degree. Youth Council Chair Carson Domey co-hosts with Dana Humphrey in an episode that touches on resilience, the first-generation student experience, and the impact of college affordability on access and wellbeing.

This week's Quadcast features a conversation between LearningWell Editor in Chief, Marjorie Malpiede, and Executive Writer for LearningWell, Nichole Bernier, on what she learned while writing her recent article: “How to Build a Career You Love.” In the article, Bernier reports on how colleges students are applying design thinking to reexamine traditional career paths through a personal, purpose-based lens. This new twist on career development is inspired by Stanford's Life Design Lab and the best-selling book based on it, called Designing Your Life.

Quadcast hosts Dana Humphrey and Marjorie Malpiede discuss new content in LearningWell magazine, including “Bringing Wellbeing into the Classroom” a profile on the Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning at Georgetown University. The hosts talk about how and why they wrote the stories, bringing insights and information about their subjects that may not have made it into the magazine.

On today's Quadcast, Boston Globe correspondent Kara Miller comments on the new report by Raj Chetty, David Deming and John Friedman, Diversifying Society's Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges, which points out the disproportionate admission of affluent students at elite colleges in comparison to students of comparable profiles with less means. Miller questions whether the hyper focus on who gets into so few schools takes away from the broader issue of opening up more opportunities across the board.

A conversation with Richard Miller of the Coalition for Transformational Education and Marjorie Malpiede of the Mary Christie Institute on the debut of their new joint publication, LearningWell.

In this week's Quadcast, Ann Curzan, the Dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) at the University of Michigan, and Joslyn Johnson, Assistant Dean at LSA, discuss a new initiative at Michigan's largest school where mental health ambassadors work in curricular and co-curricular settings, doing research and making recommendations for environmental improvements for student mental health and wellbeing. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Student Advocates are two new professional positions dedicated entirely to understanding and improving the institution's impact on mental health and well-being and making systems-level changes in support of student wellness. Curzan says, it is another (big) example of the wellness work taking place at the school, which recently joined the Okanagan Charter (https://wellbeing.ubc.ca/okanagan-charter).

A new paper by Dr. Jeffrey Arnett, released last week by the Ruderman Family Foundation, suggests that the mental health of people between 18 and 29 has, and continues to be, disproportionately affected by the global pandemic. Arnette, a psychologist and scholar who coined the term “emerging adults” in his previous research, shows that the age group that was least at-risk physically from the virus was most vulnerable to it from a mental health perspective. MCI Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede discusses the findings with Dr. Arnette and Sharon Shapiro, Trustee at the Ruderman Family Foundation.

On the latest episode of the Quadcast, MCI executive director Marjorie Malpiede speaks with Stephanie Marken, partner of the education division at Gallup, and Dr. Zainab Okolo, former strategy officer at Lumina Foundation and current senior vice president of policy, advocacy and government relations for The JED Foundation. Together, the two experts discuss the results and implications of a recent report co-produced by Gallup and Lumina, called: “Stressed Out and Stopping Out: The Mental Health Crisis in Higher Education.” Among its findings, this survey reveals the critical barrier emotional stress poses to not only enrolled students finishing their degree but prospective students enrolling at all. The response from colleges and universities, Marken and Okolo suggest, must focus on developing a culture of care on campus that can see students through to graduation.

This week's guest on The Quadcast is Jen Hamilton, the director of counseling at Nobles and Greenough School, an independent middle and high school in Dedham, Massachusetts. With MCI reporter Mollie Ames, Jen discusses her experience teaching the curriculum for Yale Professor Laurie Santos' class, Psychology and The Good Life, to secondary students. While Professor Santos is in the midst of adapting her curriculum for high schoolers (http://www.psychologyandthegoodlife.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cmames%40marychristieinstitute.org%7C3440710ab64a4f3853f808db3076e3d6%7Ccde41b320d9d4e1693cda73b6b1a3cff%7C0%7C0%7C638157059416556624%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MAX1MG4msn6g6uZNk0euZNtET%2FDdr0YeFjHVFI1t%2B1c%3D&reserved=0), Jen was a pioneer in bringing the course to a younger audience. For years, seniors at Nobles have enrolled in her elective to learn about strategies for reducing stress and promoting wellbeing. “We would love for our kids, when they graduate Nobles, to have a toolkit for not just how to handle bumps in the road as you're on your journey to get to college, but well through college,” Jen said.

“The finding we didn't expect and that at first we didn't believe was the people who stayed the healthiest and lived the longest were the people who had the best connections with other people,” says Dr. Bob Waldinger on this week's episode of The Quadcast. Dr. Waldinger is the 4th director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which, after 85 years, is likely the longest-running study of adult life in history. Starting in 1938, it followed two groups of men in Boston from opposite socio-economic backgrounds and their families to chart determinants of wellbeing and human thriving. Today, Dr. Waldinger tells MCI Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede, the study's findings could have critical implications for teens and college students, who are struggling with their mental health in record numbers. For people aged 16-24, the loneliest group of people in the U.S., Dr. Waldinger suggests investing in meaningful and reciprocal relationships early on can help them become happier over the course of their lives.

This week on The Quadcast, MCI reporter Mollie Ames speaks with Sam Dolbee, her former advisor at Harvard College and a current assistant professor of history at Vanderbilt University. As professors around the country find themselves on the frontlines of the student mental health crisis, Sam discusses his experiences providing care to students who are struggling. Conscious of the wide range of stressors his students are facing, Sam is willing to adapt his teaching to meet the needs of his students, as individuals or a group. “I think working with all students involves meeting them where they are and treating them like the complex, interesting human beings that they are,” he said.

On a new episode of the Quadcast, MCI reporter Mollie Ames talks to Dr. Amelia Arria, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development and professor of Behavioral and Community Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Dr. Arria discusses the latest trends in substance use among college students, including how their behaviors have evolved throughout the pandemic and the connection to overall wellbeing. As students turn to substances to avoid uncomfortable situations, and then downplay potential consequences, Dr. Arria explains the challenge is changing this “risk-reward balance.” “What colleges have to offer is this challenging environment where you can really find your purpose in life and find meaningful friendships,” she says. “That's part of the long-term reward. It's not this immediate gratification associated with substance use.”

This time on the Quadcast, MCI associate director Dana Humphrey hosts Sarah Lipson, PhD, EdM, principal investigator of the Healthy Minds Network (HMN). Together, they review the results of a new survey: the mental health of young professionals, a partnership between MCI, HMN, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Although prominent researchers like Dr. Lipson have spent years investigating the mental health of college students, much less is known about what happens to these young people after they leave campus. From their survey findings, Dana and Dr. Lipson discuss what leaders in both the workplace and university setting can take away to help support the wellbeing of this population. The survey was conducted by Morning Consult.

This week on the Quadcast, two members of MCI's Board of Directors, Andrew Shepardson and Zoe Ragouzeos, join Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede to share their takeaways on college student mental health and wellbeing from the last year. Andrew is Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Bentley University, and Zoe is Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University. Together, these experts discuss their observations on how the pandemic has left students socially and emotionally stunted, with new situational anxiety or exacerbated clinical issues. Young people are struggling to engage not only socially with peers but in the physical classroom, which has become unfamiliar territory for many. The way forward, they say, demands campus-wide efforts—from students, faculty and staff—to provide support and prioritize wellness.

In the second episode of MCI's Quadcast series on peer support, executive director Marjorie Malpiede speaks with Dr. Ben Locke, chief clinical director of Togetherall, a digital, clinically moderated peer support network. Dr. Locke was formerly the director of counseling at Penn State University, where he was also director of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. Dr. Locke talks about the “treatment gap” on college campuses and how colleges can respond. When it comes to a population-level issue like mental health challenges, he says, there's “no single answer.” Yet peer support—in a variety of forms—may work alongside traditional services to be part of the solution. The episode concludes with a conversation between Malpiede and Dr. Zoe Ragouzeous, the clinical director at MCI and head of counseling at New York University, who respond to some of Dr. Locke's comments.

This week on the Quadcast, we start a two-part series focusing on peer support in college settings, coinciding with the recent release of a new white paper (https://marychristieinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Peer-Programs-in-College-Mental-Health.pdf) on the subject by the Mary Christie Institute and the Ruderman Family Foundation. On this episode, MCI Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede speaks with two former student peer support leaders who have grown their programs into national peer support organizations. Daniel Mirny is the CEO of Lean on Me, a national peer-to-peer text line for mental health support, and Samuel Orley is the co-founder and chairman of The Support Network, a peer-led support group model begun at the University of Michigan. The episode concludes with a conversation between Malpiede and Dr. Zoe Ragouzeous, MCI's clinical director and head of counseling at NYU, on what was shared and what this means for the field.

This episode of the Quadcast marks the end of our student advocacy series co-hosted by MCI Associate Director Dana Humphrey and Carson Domey, a first-year student at the University of Texas at Austin and longtime youth mental health advocate. Humphrey and Domey talk with Sam Gerry, a junior at Bates College who has spent the last several years channeling his own trials with depression and suicidality into a range of mental health initiatives. The founder of a charity kickball tournament supporting suicide prevention called Kick it for a Cause, Inc., Gerry has also assisted research into the impact of teen social media use and sleep habits on suicidality; how multilingual people navigate the mental health system; and the sources of stress for high schoolers in Maine. On the Quadcast, he shares how these personal and professional experiences with mental health have informed his belief in the need for preventative care on college campuses.

Associate Director Dana Humphrey speaks with Gretchen Ely, PhD, MSW, a professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville's College of Social Work whose research focuses on access to reproductive healthcare. In the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobb's Decision which overturned Roe V. Wade and ruled that there is no constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., the landscape of reproductive healthcare has changed dramatically. Dr. Ely discusses the impact the decision is having on college students and concerns that she and other experts have about increased barriers to abortion care.

On this week's episode, Eric Wood, Ph.D., LPC, the director of counseling and mental health at Texas Christian University, talks about evidence-based initiatives within the counseling center and beyond that expand the scope and definitions of mental health support, including community and campus partnerships and peer support communities.

This week on the Quadcast, MCI Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede explores the collaborative work of Archie Holmes and Chris Brownson, kindred spirits from different posts within the University of Texas System that came together in the interest of student wellness. Dr. Holmes is Executive Vice Chancellor of the UT system, while Dr. Brownson is Director of the Counseling and Mental Health Center at UT Austin. With their respective backgrounds promoting academic achievement and mental health—as well as a recent $16.5 million grant from the UT System to support student wellbeing and safety services—the two are paving a holistic, mutually reinforcing path toward student success.

Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede interviews Joe Tranquillo, Associate Provost at Bucknell University, who applies “UX” (user experience) thinking to a host of academic priorities, including retention. The Associate Provost for Transformative Teaching & Learning and Professor of Biomedical Engineering refers to the principles of the Coalition for Life Transformative Education (CLTE), in advising institutions to identify what it takes for students to thrive and apply that to “everything you do.”

Associate Director Dana Humphrey and youth mental health advocate Carson Domey interview Joseph Sexton, a senior at Vanderbilt University who was recently awarded the Jed Foundation's Student Mental Health Voice Award. Joseph describes how he started an organization at Vanderbilt focused on building a movement around critical psychiatry and improving policy, research and funding with the goal of making “tractable gains” in suicide prevention. Learn more about his work at the Vanderbilt Critical Psychiatry Conference website (http://vanderbiltcritpsych.org/). To connect with Joseph, feel free to reach out through Twitter (https://twitter.com/josephfsexton) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-f-sexton/).

This week's Quadcast features Samantha DeCaro, PsyD, the director of clinical outreach and education at the Renfrew Center, a national residential facility for eating disorder treatment. Associate director of the Mary Christie Institute, Dana Humphrey, speaks with Dr. DeCaro about the unique stressors that can put college students at risk for new or exacerbated eating disorders. Particularly with the onset of the pandemic, conditions already correlated with disordered eating — isolation, disrupted schedules, and certain social media use — became more prevalent and more destructive. Now, Dr. DeCaro reveals what experts have learned about disordered eating since the pandemic and explores next steps for colleges hoping to foster positive eating cultures.

Elizabeth Ahmed is the Executive Vice President of People, Communications, Brand and Corporate Responsibility at Unum, a disability insurance company with 11,000 global employees. She speaks with MCI executive director Marjorie Malpiede about new approaches the company is taking in areas that are of particular interest to Gen Z graduates entering the workforce: diversity and inclusion, social responsibility, and mental health and wellbeing. Ahmed talks about the ways Unum has re-strategized corporate accountability since 2020, especially towards social justice, behavioral health, and helping Gen-Z workers find purpose in their careers. Creating sustainable work environments includes helping employees thrive, which ultimately helps customers, Ahmed said.

This Pride Month, Mary Christie Institute's coverage of the unique needs of LGBTQ+ student continues with our latest episode of the Quadcast, featuring David P. Rivera, PhD, associate professor of counselor education at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY) and special advisor to the Steve Fund. Dr. Rivera's career in higher education has spanned counseling, teaching and administration, always with an emphasis on serving LGBTQ+ students and students with other marginalized identities. With MCI executive director Marjorie Malpiede, Dr. Rivera explains his latest work, Affirming LGBTQ+ Students in Higher Education, which addresses the unique stressors that LGBTQ+ students face and guides administrators toward constructive solutions. The “trillion dollar question,” he says, is how to ensure that all students feel they belong on their campuses.

Researchers Akilah Patterson and Meghna Singh discuss their research interests (including the mental health of graduate students, students of color, and high school students), alternative sources of support and the need for cultural humility in counseling services. Akilah Patterson, MPH, MCHES, is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a graduate of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, and Meghna Singh is a Community and Global Public Health student at the University of Michigan and Student Associate Coordinator for the Healthy Minds Network.

Maryann Davis, Ph.D. is a professor of psychiatry at the UMass Chan Medical School and the Director of the Implementation Science & Practice Advances Research Center (iSPARC) and the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research (ACR). She discusses the challenges students with mental illness face in their journey towards a college degree and how campus community members, particular faculty, can better understand and support these students. The Center recently released a video guide series (https://www.umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR/hot-off-press/2022/01/pass-videos/) with faculty and student narratives that help inform faculty on issues such as accommodations, reducing stigma around mental health conditions, and helping students thrive academically.

Dr. Zainab Okolo, a therapist, advocate, educator, and strategy officer for student success at the Lumina Foundation, joins the Quadcast today to discuss a host of student mental health policy issues, including new research from the Lumina Foundation and Gallup that identifies college students' emotional stress as the main driver behind stopping college.

Guest host, Carson Domey, interviews his headmaster, Alex Zequeira, at Saint John's High School in Shrewsbury, MA. Zequeira shares his observations on high school mental health from his years of coaching, teaching, and leading high school students -- from social media, the collective trauma of the pandemic, and building resilience before college. Carson and Zequeira worked together to implement the suicide hotline on the back of student ID cards.

Paula Swinford, MS, MHA, CHES, is the director of the Office for Health Promotion Strategy and a clinical instructor for family medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Swinford talks about what it takes to create a health-promoting campus - from assessing student needs to establishing university structures – and discusses the five components of the Collective Impact Framework.

In this week's Quadcast, we speak to Dr. Tia Dole, the new Executive Director of the Steve Fund — the leading national organization dedicated to supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color. Dr. Dole spoke of her background as a clinician, her work at the Trevor project, her motivation to take on this new role, and her passion for connecting disenfranchised young people with the support they need to thrive.

The pandemic has led to increased demand for services at campus counseling centers as well as counseling staff turnover. Dr. Hotaling, the Director of the Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center at Union College and President of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), joins the Quadcast today to talk about how counseling centers are evolving, creating communities of care, and what today's students are experiencing. The AUCCCD is the largest organization of campus mental health leaders in the world. This episode is sponsored by Christie Campus Health.

On today's Quadcast, we interview Sofia B. Pertuz, PhD, SHRM-SCP, CPC, on how higher ed can work towards increasing sense of belonging for students of color and first-generation students and how the workforce can also invite these graduates to thrive at their own companies. Dr. Sofia B. Pertuz is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professional with over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, inclusive excellence, and critical incident management in higher education, nonprofit and corporate organizations. Dr. Pertuz currently serves as the Managing Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Billie Jean King Enterprises and a Senior Advisor to the Jed Foundation.

Young mental health advocate Carson Domey co-hosts the Quadcast to interview Massachusetts State Representative Jack Lewis on ongoing legislation to improve mental and behavioral health policies and funding. Representative Lewis discusses prioritizing social and emotional health education in K-12 school systems, adding crisis intervention hotlines to student IDs, and current state efforts to tackle challenges faced by social workers.

In today's episode of the Quadcast, Dr. Carrie Landa, Boston University's new Executive Director of Student Wellbeing, talks about factors that contribute to student wellness and strategic initiatives colleges and universities can engage in to increase social belonging. Landa's expertise in psychology lends itself to teaching students resilience, such as CBT and DBT skills, to help them navigate with day-to-day events while also meeting students where they are when it comes to equity issues.

In a new survey with Born This Way Foundation, we learn students' perceptions and experiences with peer counseling, revealing its increasing value as a resource. Defined as "the process of confiding in trained peers (fellow students, not friends) for mental health support, peer counseling may help ease the mental health crisis on college campuses, as we continue into the 3rd year of the pandemic. Maya Enista Smith, Executive Director of the Born This Way Foundation, and Zoe Ragouzeos, Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University, present key findings and implications of the report, placing this new data in the context of college life and youth voices.

Carson Domey joins host Dana Humphrey to talk about the advocacy work he's been pursuing since before he was a teenager; more recently including his work with the Massachusetts legislature on promoting information and reducing stigma for teen mental health. Passionate and outspoken about ending the stigma around mental health, Carson Domey will be a recurring guest host on the Quadcast.

As the end of 2021 draws near, the Mary Christie Institute reflects on the continuing impact of the pandemic on college student mental health and higher education's response to the uncertainty on campuses. Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness at New York University, Dr. Zoe Ragouzeos, discusses student isolation and loneliness, the pandemic's silver lining that de-stigmatized mental health and outreach for help, and key findings on faculty's role when it comes to student mental health.

In this interview, President Bradley provides insights from her new paper, Mental Health on College Campuses, a comprehensive overview of the state of college student mental health, from prevalence trends and capacity issues to prevention, education and emerging service strategies.

Co-Principal Investigators of the Healthy Minds Network, Sarah Ketchen Lipson, PhD, EdM, and Daniel Eisenberg, PhD, discuss most recent data from the Winter/Spring 2021 Healthy Minds Study, an annual survey studying mental health and related issues amongst undergraduate and graduate students. Their research reveals recent trends on college student mental health and the pandemic's effects - from loneliness and isolation to increasing rates of anxiety and depression. They also identify interventions considered most effective.

Andrew Shepardson, PhD, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Bentley University and Zoe Ragouzeos, PhD, Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University and MCI President, share advice for faculty to better support college student mental health and wellbeing at this critical time. Strategies include building trust on campus, referring students to support, discussing mental health, and incorporating community and inclusion in the classroom.

Dr. Henderson, Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center and Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine talks with us about the importance of acknowledging trauma and cultural difference when addressing the mental health needs of college students, now more than ever. With practical insights from his work in both resource limited countries and at an urban, community-serving health care center, Dr. Henderson provides advice and direction on how to better serve all students, from those of color and lower income, to those with serious mental health conditions.

College mental health expert, Marcia Morris, MD, Associate Professor at the University of Florida's Department of Psychiatry and Associate Director of the Student Health Care Center Psychiatry, brings insight and advice for students and their parents as the pandemic, and its consequences, continue to impact the college experience. Dr. Morris talks about the acute distress facing students of color and low-income students, the anxiety that remains around COVID-19, the four T's (tips) for parents in supporting their student's mental health, and how schools and families can help students with serious mental illness thrive at college.

In the new Quadcast, Dr. Hollie Chessman, Ph.D., Ed.M., Director of Research at the American Council on Education, shares insights from three major research efforts, including the Presidents' Pulse Point Surveys, which tracked leaders' increasing concern for student mental health throughout the pandemic. Other studies provide best practices on institution-wide prevention and addressment strategies and a deep dive on the mental health needs of minoritized groups – all within the context of the past 18 months and in anticipation of the “new normal.”

Dr. Dori Hutchinson, Executive Director of Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, discusses how colleges and universities can vastly improve their support for students with serious mental health conditions, from supported education, to improved access to accommodations, to more flexible policies on leaves of absence and re-entry. Dr. Hutchinson describes working with students in the NITEO program, which helps students on leave build resilience and avoid shame with an 84% success rate of returning to campus. The pandemic, Hutchinson says, has produced an opportunity for college administrators to offer more supportive options for students with serious mental illness.

Dr. Jill Grimes, a family physician, clinical instructor for UMass Medical School and author of “The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook” and Jill Henry, a high school teacher, award-winning cross-country coach, and co-author of the book - “The Greatest College Health Guide You Never Knew You Needed” recently co-wrote an op-ed that was published in the Hechinger Report called “The pandemic gave graduating high school seniors new strength and resilience.” The authors and experts came on the Quadcast to discuss pandemic silver linings - increased resilience, discussion of mental health and appreciation for healthy extracurriculars among teens and young adults.

Michael Gerard Mason, PhD, LPC, NCC, NCSC, is the Associate Dean of African American Affairs, Director of the Luther Porter Jackson Black Cultural Center at the University of Virginia, and expert advisor to The Steve Fund. He spoke with us about his ground-breaking work on the mental health of Black students at UVA with lessons learned for all schools post-pandemic; how the pandemic changed caretaking norms on campus; and the inflection point that now exists for how we respond to racial disparities in this country.

We continue our series on College Presidents and Covid-19 with Dr. Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College in Boston who described how the events of this past year have shone light on decades-long disinvestment in the social networks that are critical to community college students' success; and how a “just recovery” could impact their mental health and wellbeing in preventative, sustainable ways.

We spoke with Jared Fenton, founder and Executive Director of the Reflect Organization, a non-profit dedicated to empowering college students to foster a culture of authenticity, self-love, and allyship on campus. Fenton describes his organization's work and how it came to be, the Penn Face phenomenon, and his focus on providing “One Caring Person” for college students nationwide.

We continue our series on college presidents' during this unprecedented time with an interview with Howard University President, Dr. Wayne Frederick who spoke to us about what life has been like at the DC-based HBCU, his students' resilience, what to look forward to, and what to look out for.