Building bridges internationally

Building bridges internationally: US student mental health support practices and their relevance to the UK

This free professional development webinar for Student Services professionals in higher education, presented in partnership with Togetherall, explores the structures, challenges and tools utilised by student support counselling centres in US institutions.

AMOSSHE members can find the event resources here:

Members only

This is an opportunity to learn from student mental health support colleagues in the USA and engage in open discussion about the differences, learnings and similarities between the US and UK.

• Trends and challenges in the US student mental health space and their context to understand how this might be the same / different from the UK.
• Some of the solutions and tools being tested in the US and associated learnings.
• Ideas and inspiration for new approaches that can help to support student mental health at scale.

This free event takes place online on Thursday 20 April 2023 from 14:00 to 15:30 (BST).

You'll receive recordings of the event sessions afterwards (subject to successful recordings), as well as any presentations or resources. The recordings won't include discussion sessions, workshops, ‘Chatham House rule’ sections or presentation sessions that speakers prefer not to share in this way.

This AMOSSHE webinar is presented in partnership with Togetherall

Programme

Here's the outline programme for the webinar:

• Welcome and introductions.
• An exploration of the development, work, and findings of the Penn State Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), drawn from more than 750 institutions. These include long-term trends in college student mental health, research on treatment outcomes based on institutional staffing choices, and guidelines for building mental health strategies at diverse institutions.
• A panel discussion featuring student support professional colleagues from the US and the UK, discussing their different approaches to student mental health support, what services they do (and don’t) provide, insights on how they’ve negotiated change, and more.
• Questions and discussion - an opportunity for you to reflect on how the case studies compare and contrast with mental health support provision and structures at your own institution.

Speakers

Confirmed speakers include the following sector colleagues.

Ben Locke PhD is Togetherall’s Chief Clinical Officer and a licensed psychologist with over 20 years' experience in the student mental health space. Ben was the Senior Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Penn State University in the US where he oversaw clinical service delivery for a population of 100,000 students across 25 campuses, and he served as an affiliate faculty member in Counseling and Clinical Psychology departments. In addition, Ben co-founded the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) in 2005, where he served as the Executive Director until 2021, representing more than 750 college and university counselling centres, producing dozens of peer-reviewed publications, and consulting / presenting widely. In addition Ben has connections and experience across the US student support sector, including involvement, presentations, and keynotes with NASPA, ACPA, AUCCCD, ACCCCS and ACHA.

Chris Warrington is Vice Chair (Professional Development) at AMOSSHE and Head of Student Support at the University of Leeds. At Leeds Chris is responsible for the framework of support across the university, including disability, mental health and wellbeing services, along with international student support and enquiry handling. Chris has been an active and committed member of the AMOSSHE Executive since 2017, championing the huge impact that our Student Services community of professionals makes to the student experience.

Dr Connie Briscoe is currently the Executive Director of Campus Health and Wellness at Rollins College, Florida. Connie is a Licensed Psychologist in Florida. In her role as the Executive Director, Connie oversees the Rollins College Wellness Center, which consists of Student Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), and Health Promotions. Her areas of special interest include suicide prevention, mental health promotion and risk reduction for young adults. She has presented across the US on suicide prevention on college campuses, strategic planning, and the use of data to inform prevention, intervention and postvention.

Dr Jay E. Darr, PhD, NCC, LPC, BC-TMH, PMP serves as the inaugural Associate Dean of Students for Wellness at the University of Pittsburgh, supervising Campus Recreation, the Student Health Services, the University Counseling Center and the Care and Resource Support Office, providing coordinated leadership on high-level crisis interventions, management of students of concern and student wellness-related issues across campus. Prior to this role, Dr Darr served as the Director of the University Counseling Center for three years. Dr Darr earned his PhD in Executive Counseling Education and Supervision, with a specialisation in Crisis Intervention and Management, and an MSEd in School Counseling from Duquesne University. Dr Darr’s passion is to assist students in becoming aware of their strengths, with the goal of using this awareness as a tool to find healthy solutions to life challenges. His professional interests include crisis intervention and management, identity development, sports counselling / psychology, veteran concerns, stress reduction, racial / transgenerational trauma, supervision and training, and addictive and substance concerns.

Your data

AMOSSHE handles your personal data according to our privacy policy. We won't share your personal data with speakers, session leaders or sponsors, unless you consent to this on the form when you register.

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