Improving Student Mental Health at Small Liberal Arts Colleges

A nonprofit organization established a working group of 12 presidents to discuss challenges unique to small liberal arts schools, including access to student mental health resources.
Published: October 17, 2024

More than 80% of college students are struggling emotionally at least somewhat, with more than 25% reporting they are struggling significantly, according to The Student Mental Health Landscapea report released in March 2024 by research publisher Wiley. Students are largely dealing with anxiety (59%), burnout (58%), and depression (43%).

While more focus is being placed on the importance of mental health, access to available resources can significantly vary among college campuses. In general, smaller campuses often struggle to obtain student resources because fewer students means fewer financial resources. Many smaller liberal arts colleges are also located in rural areas that may have limited resources, which puts more pressure on the school to provide the resources themselves.

To discuss the very particular challenges faced by small liberal arts colleges, eight years ago, the Endeavor Foundation, an independent non-profit group that supports liberal arts education and related fields through grant-making, convened a group of leaders from 12 college campuses with about 750 students or less. The group is called the Endeavor Collaborative (3:21).

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“In the first years of meeting together, it was a very open conversation where presidents of the institutions were sharing and learning from each other and talking about the big vulnerabilities and issues in higher ed and also how those impacted smaller institutions that are typically new-tuition dependent, where enrollment fluctuations make a big difference year to year,” Isabel Roche, executive director for special programs in higher education at the Endeavor Foundation, told Campus Safety. “The presidents began to think about what are the issues that are the most important to our students, faculty, and staff, the things that would make the biggest difference on our campuses. And the one that rose to the top was around student mental health and well-being.”

Bennington College Uses Endeavor Foundation Grant to Fund ASIST Suicide Prevention Program

One participating campus is Bennington College. While Roche joined the foundation three years ago, the bulk of her career was spent at Bennington, first as a faculty member and then in administrative roles, including provost and interim president for a year.

Located in Bennington, Vermont, the private liberal arts college has an enrollment of around 785 undergraduate students. It sits on 440 acres with its main campus centered on 10 acres.

“[Mental health struggles] are not new to us but the volume is different. We deal a lot with concern and anxiety around social situations. That is certainly one of the bigger issues that we deal with here — loneliness, which is pretty rampant on many campuses,” Ali Tartaglia, associate dean and director of integrative wellness at Bennington, told Campus Safety (8:53). “We [also] have many students — and that number has also grown over time — of students that identify as neurodivergent, which pushes us to think differently about how we’re offering services and ways in which students can connect with us.”

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE

In February, Endeavor announced $3 million in grant funding for colleges within the collaborative to develop and implement pilot projects that address student wellness. Bennington has used the grant money to implement the Applied Suicidal Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) Program (15:31).

ASIST, offered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is a two-day training program that teaches participants how to assist those at risk for suicide. Tartaglia and her team learned of ASIST through two of the school’s Counseling and Psychological Services employees who work with a community mental health program that offered ASIST.

“What the funding from Endeavor has allowed us to do is to take [the two employee’s] existing training and be able to offer it with the materials and whatnot here on campus. So far, it’s been offered once and we’ve trained nine staff,” Tartaglia said. “We hope the first group that has gone through will garner some excitement from students and other staff and faculty here so that we can continue to keep growing that program and that training here.”

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Other participating campuses are using the grant money for different mental health initiatives, including NatureRx and Place-Based Experiential Learning.

During this discussion, Tartaglia and Roche also share:

  • What makes ASIST a comprehensive program (17:39)
  • More about the grants provided by the Endeavor Foundation (12:45)
  • Advice from colleges looking to obtain grant money for improving mental health (19:33)
  • Action items for campuses to improve student mental health (23:16)

You can also watch the full interview on YouTube.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health and may need support, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or https://www.nami.org/, or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or https://www.samhsa.gov/.
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