Wellness Initiatives Fund

Academic Year 2024-2025 Annual Report

Students at Take Back the Night March
Support the Wellness Initiatives Fund

During the 2024-2025 academic year, 14 proposals were awarded Wellness Initiative Funds, for a total of $3,575. In addition, the Wellness Fund continues to support ProtoCall, our 24/7 urgent support line. The generous support of our donors has enabled us to continue with many effective educational programs, as well as incentivize community members to become more creative in their programmatic offerings. As always, those who received funding were extremely grateful for the opportunity to implement projects in support of student wellness, and an overview of the year’s activity can be found below.

ProtoCall

In collaboration with the JED Campus team, ProtoCall, a 24/7 Support Line, continues to provide students with the ability to reach a crisis clinician for urgent counseling needs any time of the day from any location, 365 days/year. This resource is promoted heavily during students’ first year in particular. In addition, the Wellness Coalition plans to review and replace urgent resource postings around campus to ensure advertising throughout the year remains consistent, as well as how to best promote and market the support line specifically with faculty and staff. During AY24-25, the Support Line received 80 calls from members of the Stonehill community. It is reassuring to know that over 95% of students utilizing Counseling Services report being aware of this crisis resource.

NASPA Certified Peer Educator Training

The Office of Health and Wellness relaunched our Peer Health Educator program, kicking off with a full day of training in August that included topics such as QPR/how to help a friend, healthy relationships, alcohol safety, and Stonehill-specific resources. Three students also completed the NASPA Peer Education Certification Program in fall 2024 to strengthen their skills in bystander intervention, effective listening, and programming strategies. These students were then able to provide wellness support and mental health awareness programming on campus, including volunteering at Fresh Check Day and other wellness events, hosting weekly office hours, and sharing insights on important wellness topics on campus.

Fresh Check Day

students at fresh check day table
Fresh Check Day

Fresh Check Day, a large-scale mental health awareness fair, was held again this past fall. Despite the rain, we saw a great turnout of approximately 200 students. Thirteen booths represented by various student groups and campus offices, including Athletics, Campus Ministry, Campus Police, Counseling Services, and Health & Wellness, covered numerous wellness topics, including anxiety, depression, and suicide; substance abuse; counseling and mental health check-ins; stress relief and relaxation; sexual assault prevention; and nutrition. In addition, we also offered a flu clinic and the 20/20 Vision Van. As is tradition, the day included a mobile farm visit pet therapy service, which brought the ever-popular baby farm animals to campus. 

We continue to believe that this event is paramount in showcasing the Stonehill community, highlighting resources, and raising awareness about suicide prevention and mental health.

Guest Speaker Gurdeep Bhogal

Meditation Practices
Associate Professor of Communications & Media Studies Monique Myers, Ph.D. invited Gurdeep Bhogal to campus to speak to her classes about various meditation practices from both Eastern and Western traditions. These practices included mindfulness and breathing techniques to reduce stress (both daily, as well as stress-specific times, such as midterm/final exams).

Following the lecture, students were assigned to apply the practices and reflect upon them.

Student Reflections

“Overall, I very much enjoyed the meditation guest speaker... During her presentation, I found myself very comfortable and relaxed. I was reinvigorated after the meeting, and I will look more into meditation.”

“I really enjoyed the guest speaker. She was super good at getting us into a deep meditation. I was super calm and felt very in touch with the center of my body. I really liked the way she guided us as well; she was very smooth with her words…Overall, it was awesome, and I would love to listen to her speak again.”

“I enjoyed the presentation. I am also in a Buddhist Thought course where we meditate Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first 5 minutes in class. I felt very connected, I understood the concepts of what she was talking about. I also really enjoyed the meditational practices we did with her. I felt as if her meditation was better than mine in Buddhist Thought.”

“I thought she was great, and her energy was very contagious but also calming. I loved the three exercises she had us do, and I am typically not a fan of meditation.”

Giving Back to the Community

Happiness & Communication Term Project
Professor Monique Myers was recently featured in Stonehill’s News and Events - A Summer to Remember, published on June 10, 2025. In the article, Fostering Happiness at the Hill, she shared details about a Stonehill course-Happiness & Communication-that puts a smile on students’ faces. The class explores how happiness and communication are intertwined through an investigation of factors that promote happiness. By the time students complete the course, it is intended that they can put into practice effective skills that maximize their well-being and that of others.

The Wellness Initiatives Fund was thrilled to support Dr. Myer’s endeavors. Partnering with a local farm, Professor Myers’ Happiness class again this year picked pumpkins to donate to local homeless shelters in the Brockton area.

Students found this to be a very rewarding experience for them, and they were grateful for the opportunity to bring some happiness to those living in the shelters, as expressed below:

Student Reflections

“Bringing the pumpkins to the homeless shelter was a very enriching experience…Being able to just do something small for others was a great way to not only increase their happiness, but it also in turn increased my own happiness as an added bonus.”

“Bringing the pumpkins to the family center was a great experience. When I went home that day I felt like a good person; that feeling was like a happiness booster. It’s so funny how doing a good deed for others can truly affect your mood. I would do it again on my own time because it made me feel better.”

Family Community Resources Walk for Survivor Safety & Community Cultural Fair 

The Office of Health and Wellness and Take Back the Night supported our neighborhood partners at Family Community Resources by participating in the Walk for Survivor Safety in October. Thirteen students from the Take Back the Night Club participated in the walk. It was a beautiful and moving day where they heard from survivors of domestic violence, learned about the services Family Community Resources provides, and walked through Brockton to raise awareness about domestic violence. 

students at walk for survivor safety

Mental Health Moment

group of items for mental health moment

In a collaboration with the Office of Intercultural Affairs, Counseling Services offered a three-part series of events called ‘Mental Health Moment,’ a drop-in support for students around relevant mental health concerns.

The events noted below provided a safe, supportive environment to explore students’ concerns around each topic and how to access additional resources. 

  • Election Stress
    An open dialogue over lunch about how students were feeling about the upcoming election. Students engaged in self-care activities, such as coloring, creating an action plan of how they would cope with election stress, and exploring ways to have difficult conversations with people who have alternate views. 
  • Imposter Syndrome
    A tabling event to allow students to explore the topic of 'Imposter Syndrome' and how this can uniquely impact students with historically marginalized identities. We provided affirmation cards, articles, and coloring materials. This was part of a larger First Gen Week to support First Gen students and some of the issues they encounter on college campuses.
  • Happy Holidays?
    An event centered on caring for your mental health during this time of year. Counseling services and OIA decorated holiday cookies with students and provided a space to discuss end of semester stress, concerns related to winter break, and holiday traditions they are looking forward to.

Hope Helps

Hope Helps is an initiative that encourages students to ask for help in accessing mental health resources on campus. Selected student leaders attended a QPR training offered by Health and Wellness Educator Lydia Hogan and completed an assessment to become a Hope Helps Leader.
Hope Helps has worked to assemble their E-Board members and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members, with the goal of two students from each varsity team on campus. Thus far, 25 students have been trained in QPR and received custom buttons to put on their backpacks indicating they are a peer resource. During the Spring Wellness Fair, Hope Helps launched their promotional campaign with a table that explains and encourages students to access the program. They also launched a visibility campaign on Instagram and other social media sites. Moving forward, the goal is to train additional students, such as SGA Wellness Committee members and ABS Leaders.

Harm Reduction Bags

In an effort to increase harm reduction programs on campus around alcohol, the Office of Health and Wellness piloted a program on Halloween for harm reduction goodie bags, which featured alcohol poisoning safety cards, cup covers, a pledge to not drink and drive stickers, liquid IVs, and lifesavers with campus resources. The program was successful in distributing harm-reduction tools, resources, and starting a conversation around safe alcohol practices, and students responded well to the event.

Following the program’s success, two additional events were offered before Thanksgiving break and Spring Break. Again, students were very receptive to learning about harm reduction strategies and expressed gratitude for the availability of merchandise and step-by-step instructions on what to do if someone appears to have alcohol poisoning. Students now feel comfortable coming into the Wellness Office to ask for cup covers before going into Boston for a night out.

National College Health Assessment

The ACHA-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) is a national research survey organized by the American College Health Association (ACHA) to assist college health service providers, health educators, counselors, and administrators in collecting data about their students' habits and behaviors on the most prevalent health topics. The ACHA-NCHA provides the largest known comprehensive data set on the health of college students, providing the college health and higher education fields with a vast spectrum of information on student health.

The College received IRB approval to launch the NCHA/ACHA survey in spring 2025 to inform wellness promotion and prevention work and ultimately improve overall student wellness at Stonehill. The survey was promoted extensively through Instagram, daily tabling, and by directly emailing students, faculty, and staff with reminders throughout the two-week survey period. In the end, we had 269 student respondents (11% of the undergraduate population). The survey data included important details on student mental health, physical health, substance use, belonging, food security, safety, and more. The data collected will help inform the work of the Wellness Coalition, which aims to increase student wellness as part of the College’s new strategic plan.

Cannabis Awareness & Safety

As part of National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week in March, the Office of Health and Wellness created cannabis safety cards to teach students about cannabis, the effects of THC, harm reduction tips, laws and regulations on Stonehill campus, and resources. These cards were attached to succulent plants and given out to students during the lunch period. Students were directed to the cannabis safety cards as well as the Health and Wellness Instagram to learn more about cannabis safety and care tips for the succulents. Great student feedback was received, and all 120 succulents and Cannabis Safety cards were distributed in the two-hour event span.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Take Back the Night Club and the Office of Health and Wellness hosted six events during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. These events included a “Day of Action” tabling event, where students signed our banner committing to creating a safe campus environment; a “Letters to Survivors” event, where students wrote letters of hope and support for survivors that we shared with A New Day Rape Crisis Center; the annual Take Back the Night March; a “Cookies and Consent” tabling event; a bracelet making event; and a denim drive. At each of these events, students were able to grab a stress ball, bracelet, sticker, or pin purchased through the Wellness Initiative Fund, which enables students to keep awareness of sexual assault prevention alive throughout the year.

Make Your Own Finals Self-Care Package

In collaboration with the Library’s semesterly “De-Stress Fest” in April, The Office of Health and Wellness offered a “Make Your Own Finals Self-Care Package” event to help boost student morale and provide resources and tools for academic success. This event has become a staple for students, and we saw the same success this year. We were grateful to be able to provide some joy and motivation to our students during a high-stress time.

The Stonehill College community remains deeply grateful to 
Robin McQueen-Lynch '80, Bob Flynn '87, and other generous donors for their unwavering commitment to the health and wellness of our students.

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The College is truly grateful for the generosity of those who are assisting us in our efforts to support the overall health and wellbeing of our students, which remains our top priority.

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