Thursday, April 16, 2026
2:00 – 3:30 pm ET

Create Clear, Sustainable Practices That Support Students & Staff

Colleges and universities are facing growing challenges related to mental health accommodations under the ADA as student needs increase and systems struggle to keep pace. Institutions are seeing a sharp rise in accommodation requests tied to anxiety, depression, trauma, and other mental health conditions, often alongside incomplete documentation, unclear functional limitations, or expectations that exceed what the ADA requires.

Many campuses lack consistent processes, sufficient staffing, or shared understanding across disability services, housing, faculty, and student affairs, which leads to uneven decisions and strained communication. Emotionally, this creates pressure and frustration for staff who are trying to balance legal compliance, fairness, and compassion, while also managing risk and limited resources.

Join us on April 16, 2026 when our expert presenter will discuss how to overcome the pull between supporting students in real distress and setting appropriate boundaries, resulting in anxiety, uncertainty and fear of getting it wrong on both legal and human levels. You will learn practical decision making frameworks, language you can use in difficult conversations, and clear ways to draw boundaries without losing empathy or increasing risk.

Connect ADA compliance, mental health realities, and institutional capacity into one integrated model, helping your campus move away from reactive, case by case responses toward clearer, more sustainable practices that support both students and staff.

Topics Covered

Gain crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you: 

• Evaluate mental health accommodation requests based on functional limitations rather than diagnoses, leading to more consistent and defensible decisions.
• Strengthen your approach to ADA and mental health by building clearer, more consistent systems that support both students and staff by shifting the focus from diagnoses to functional limitations, standardizing documentation and decision-making processes, and improving cross-campus communication between disability services, housing, counseling, and academic affairs.
• Reduce conflict and risk by training staff and faculty on ADA fundamentals, mental health boundaries, and appropriate referral practices, while also setting clearer expectations for students about what accommodations can and cannot do.
• Invest in proactive education, transparent processes, and compassionate but structured interactions, so you can increase confidence, reduce burnout, and create a more sustainable model of support that is legally sound and emotionally healthier for everyone involved.
• Distinguish between accommodation issues, mental health concerns, and conduct matters and make appropriate referrals.
  

Presenter

Leigh Davis Fickling is the Deputy Director of the Title IX and Clery Compliance and an Accommodations Consultant at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Click here for full bio.