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Message from Task Force Co-Chairs Eleanor JB Daugherty and Nina Rovinelli Heller | April 20, 2020

Dear Students,

During such a dynamic time, we felt it was important to share with you the dedicated work of the President’s Task Force for Mental Health and Wellness.

Since the President created the Task Force earlier this semester, we have been charged with examining current resources, identifying gaps of care and connection on campus, and recommending opportunities to allow UConn to become a national model for mental health care and wellness for students.

This is a significant and exciting task and we do not do this work alone.  In order to work expediently and transparently, we have created the website, projectwellness.uconn.edu, to share our progress as a task force.  The members of our group, which includes faculty, staff, students and administrators, are presented there as well as the workgroups we have formed to allow us to focus on key areas that will guide our recommendations.  Those areas include:

  • Community Wellness: Prevention and Partnership, led by Karen McComb
  • Mental Health Continuum and Coordination of Service, led by Sandy Chafouleas
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Culture, Language and Workforce, led by Angela Rola
  • Training and Research, led by Radenka Maric
  • Listening Sessions, led by Becky Feldman

Our commitment to student mental health and wellbeing is not isolated and we are grateful to the existing work that is occurring within SHaW-Mental Health and through the University’s partnership with the Jed Foundation.  The latter is perhaps the most important because if reflects a combined commitment between Undergraduate Student Government and Student Health and Wellness to partner with the Jed Foundation to understand the wellness climate on campus and develop a strategic plan that will improve UConn’s ability to respond to the needs of our students.

We are so thankful for the work of our student leaders in providing a voice to those who feel their mental health needs are not being met.  Through their actions and the stories they bravely gathered, our student leaders inform our work as a task force.  Through the model of this great work, the Task Force commits to having additional forums to continue the tradition of listening and understanding the experiences and unmet needs of our students.  We encourage you to join us in this work by participating in one of our upcoming listening sessions.

Those Listening Forums are scheduled to occur as follows vie WebEx:

We encourage students to register and share their thoughts.

Finally, the Task Force is in receipt of the thoughtful questions generated by student leaders.  These questions serve to shape the areas of focus for our workgroups; our agenda and mission are both more focused and robust because of them. Thank you. Where those questions relate the charge of the task force, our final report will reflect our responses and recommendations for the University.  We are correct in striving for excellence in our care and concern for our students.  As Chairs of the Task Force, we commit to helping UConn find that path to excellence.

 

Yours,

 

Eleanor JB Daugherty, EdD
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Co-Chair, President’s Task Force for Mental Health and Wellness

Nina Rovinelli Heller, PhD
Dean, Zachs Chair in Social Work,
Co-Director, PhD program
Co-Chair, President’s Task Force for Mental Health and Wellness