Auggie Well-Being - Augsburg University, a Minority-Serving Institution in urban Minneapolis, MN, proposes the Auggie Well-Being project to enhance outreach, reduce stigma, and improve the effectiveness of mental health and substance use services for underrepresented and under-resourced students. Culturally relevant activities to encourage help-seeking, and mandatory evidence-based training for campus leaders will move Augsburg toward becoming a trauma-informed campus. Augsburg students are primarily first-generation, low-income, and/or students of color. Many students come from immigrant/diasporic backgrounds, most commonly Hmong, Somali, and Latino populations, who have experienced multiple forms of oppression and trauma. Additionally, Augsburg is a few miles from the intersection where George Floyd was murdered in 2020. Thus, our students experience a complex combination of mental health and basic living needs, compounded by intergenerational trauma, acute racial violence, and systemic oppression. They report high lifetime diagnoses of depression, PTSD, sexual assault, and substance use. Despite this great need, on-campus counseling services are underutilized. Therefore, Auggie Well-Being will prioritize culturally relevant strategies to improve students’ awareness of and access to services. We anticipate that all faculty, staff, 3,152 Augsburg students (called Auggies), and their families will benefit from the proposed project. Goal 1. We will improve underserved and under-resourced students’ awareness of mental health concepts and services by Obj 1.1) developing, translating, and disseminating promotional and educational materials in Year 1; Obj 1.2) providing annual tours of the counseling center (CWC); Obj 1.3) and expanding access to voluntary screenings. Goal 2. We will increase the campus leaders’ ability to identify and respond to students in crisis by Obj 2.1) creating a mandatory training plan for new faculty and staff; Obj 2.2) training 100% of new faculty, staff, and student leaders and 50% of current faculty and staff in Question, Persuade, Refer suicide gatekeeper training each year; Obj 2.3) annually training 100% of new staff and 50% of current staff in Mental Health First Aid; Obj 2.4) annually training 100% of new faculty and staff and 50% of current faculty and staff in Trauma-Informed Practices in Higher Education; Obj 2.5) annually training 100% of Department of Public Safety officers in an enhanced cultural competence training; and Obj 2.6) inviting 100% of faculty, staff, and students to an annual Naloxone training. Goal 3. We will promote help-seeking and reduce stigma by Obj 3.1) hiring an outreach coordinator in Year 1; Obj 3.2) offering all student organizations the option to request funding to host mental health awareness programming for the students they represent; Obj 3.3) annually hosting a multicultural practitioner speaker series; Obj 3.4) hosting an annual Healing Fair to introduce students to non-Western healing practices; Obj 3.5) expanding students’ access to CWC’s annual Wellness Retreat; Obj 3.6) expanding first-year students’ required substance use training to include discussions on harm-reduction and Fentanyl; Obj 3.7) establishing a Mental Health Task Force to ensure policies and procedures are trauma-informed by completing five annual reviews; and Obj 3.8) implementing a stakeholder input plan, uniting multiple student organizations, campus departments, and community partners to create a safety net to support our students. Ultimately, Auggie Well-Being embodies Augsburg’s unwavering commitment to holistic student well-being by addressing the complex challenges of our underserved and under-resourced students. We will empower them with the resources and support needed to thrive, including increasing awareness of services and reducing stigma. The project will move Augsburg toward becoming a trauma-informed campus, improving our campus community's overall wellness and safety.
