The University of Mississippi (OleMiss) is looking out for its students with the new yearlong Chancellor’s GROVE Well-Being Initiative – focusing on the key elements of Growth, Resilience, Outreach, Validation and Empowerment. Goals include helping students, faculty and staff understand the importance of wellness and become better allies to those in distress. The initiative will aid campus community members in finding services that best fit their needs and creating broadened support systems so they can thrive.
University leaders recently completed Mental Health First Aid training as part of the initiative. “Sometimes you know that someone is going through a crisis, but you don’t know how to respond,” Charlotte Pegues, vice chancellor for student affairs, told OleMiss News. “We want to give them the tools to help others and to help themselves.”
In addition, counselors and therapists have been embedded in the William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing, the Office of Veteran and Military Services, and the Graduate School. An in-house counselor is available through the athletics department. And the initiative is working to help make campus members more aware of the wealth of resources available campus-wide.
“Students who are healthy and well are successful in several ways and persist toward graduation,” Juawice McCormick, director of University Counseling Center, said. “We are all here to help support students in their Ole Miss experiences and to help them continue with success in wellness as they move toward their futures beyond UM.”
Learn more here.
