Scots POW -- prioritizing our wellbeing - monmouth college (MC) is a small private liberal arts school in rural monmouth, illinois, with 716 students in fall 2023

This project-scots POW - prioritizing our wellbeing-named after the collegiate mascot the fighting scots, is based on samhsa's suicide prevention resource center's model and an integrated health wellness model. Scots POW will address the mental and physical health wellness of MC's students. Physical wellness is a protective factor for mental health (MH) and substance use disorders (SUD). Research has shown that college athletes and first-generation college students are more at risk of MH and SUD. Many MC students (68%) are athletes; 32% are first generation. Currently, MC does not have a college counselor; instead, the college uses timelycare telehealth services for students. This project has four goals and five objectives: goals: (1) better meet student behavioral well-being needs, create infrastructure and programming centered on physical and mental health. (2) improve awareness and training to recognize and help at-risk students, particularly those with substance use issues and suicidal ideations. (3) build stronger, more robust systems of support for historically marginalized students, including lgbtq+, first generation, athletes, and fraternity and sorority life. (4) improve student mental and physical well-being to increase student retention and graduation. Objectives: (1) the project director (PD) and MH peer educators, with support from a new MC MH task force, will train a minimum of 50% of students, faculty, and staff annually on MH, SUD, suicide, and integrated wellness. (2) the new PD and counseling intern will provide evidence-based MH and SUD intervention and treatment to 30% of the student population annually. (3) MC will reach 100% of enrolled students and 100% of faculty and staff annually via MH and SUD informational materials and social media. (4) a minimum of 33% of students will voluntarily be screened annually for MH and SUD issues, including suicidal ideation. (5) half (50%) of students reaching out for counseling services will indicate IT was due to screening or a referral from another student, faculty, or staff. For the purposes of this grant, MC will appoint an integrated wellness coordinator to integrate physical wellbeing into this project. MC will focus outreach, assessment, and training efforts on the large fraternity and sorority life and athlete populations. MC will pay faculty stipends to offer more classes focused on wellbeing; for example, MC currently has classes in walking, rock-climbing, and personal finance. Mental health first aid will continue to be an evidence-based training tool on campus. MC will provide training and informational materials for faculty and staff on how to help students in distress, and hotlines will be promoted widely. MC will continue to use a peer educator model to implement peer listening sessions and outreach. MC will hire a consultant to provide training to help resident assistants, orientation leaders, and first-year mentors understand mental health conditions and how to best support students in psychological distress. MC will also provide training for head residents, house managers, resident assistants, orientation leaders, and first-year mentors to understand their role as peer educators on campus. All students, currently 716, will be reached via programming from this project.