By Kenya Godette
The Office of Counseling Services is redefining the traditional roles of higher education faculty and staff through its new “Red Folder Campaign,” an initiative designed to help University employees identify and help students struggling with their mental health.
While teaching, advising and managing the daily functions of campus life are central to their duties, faculty and staff serve as a first point of contact for students in distress. Their daily interactions put them in a unique position to recognize early signs of anxiety, depression and stressors that interfere with academic performance and everyday life.
“Faculty are the counseling center’s eyes and ears because they have forward-facing interaction with students every day and they notice things,” said Joy Himmel, director of Counseling Services, in a previous interview with ODU News.
The office has begun to distribute more than 2,000 red folders to academic and staff departments with information on how to “recognize, respond and refer” at-risk students. A digital version of the folder is available online along with an e-learning module.
The “recognize” portion of the campaign helps faculty and staff familiarize themselves with the signs and symptoms of students in psychological distress. It trains participants on how stress manifests in a student’s academics and behavior. Some signs include multiple requests for assignment extensions, falling asleep in class, disheveled appearance or lack of engagement and withdrawn behavior.
Himmel notes that since the pandemic, isolation has become a common challenge counselors work to address. Students, who lived through an era of strictly virtual learning and social interaction, are less likely to engage face-to-face with their peers and are more anxious about it.
“Respond” refers to the do’s and don’ts of how to start a conversation with students who need intervention.
“The only way to know if a student is thinking about self-harm or suicide is to ask,” reads the campaign. In addition to guidance, the chapter also offers encouragement to staff and faculty who may not feel equipped or confident in offering their help.
It quotes the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit that provides mental health support for teens, saying, “You can have a huge positive impact when a student is at a crossroads in their life. Just showing you care can create a positive ripple effect that changes a student’s trajectory, educational experience and sense of connection on campus.”
The last pillar of the campaign is “refer,” providing immediate, short-term and long-term mental health resources to share with students. Resources include on-campus, crisis, after-hours and community services.
With nearly 80% of higher education faculty reporting that within a 12-month period they are dealing with student mental health issues (according to the Mary Christie Foundation), the campaign's goal of educating and equipping faculty to better support students is crucial.
“Faculty and staff need to be armed with tools to help students succeed and stay in school, mental health is a big part of that,” Himmel said. “We did a satisfaction survey in 2023 where 92% of students reported counseling services helped them stay in school and 86% said counseling helped them learn to cope with stress.”
The Office of Counseling Services offers a variety of comprehensive mental health support services for students. Programs include one-on-one and group therapy sessions, a meditation room located in the Student Recreation and Well-Being Center and Pet Therapy Wednesdays, a partnership with the Alliance for Therapy Dogs and local handlers who bring therapy dogs to interact with students. Counseling services, programs and registration details are available online.