LifeBound Honors Mental Health Awareness Month

Today's students are facing extraordinary mental health challenges. As noted by Pace University president Marvin Krislov in this recent article in Forbes, "With war in Europe, economic stress around the world, political polarization in the United States, increasingly obvious effects of climate change, mass shootings seemingly every week, it is a stressful, disquieting, anxiety-producing time for all of us. And yet we somehow expect college students to study and learn, to manage jobs and school and family obligations, to learn how to be adults and how to be productive members of society, while they're dealing with all of that." 

Institutions are putting more time and resources than ever before into mental health support for students. Krislov notes that in addition to resources that help students in a crisis, institutions must invest in resources that build students' ability to persist, face challenge with resilience, and make strategic wellness choices. Coaching is an extraordinary tool for these times, as not only does it help students build self-awareness and self-advocacy, but it also connects students more effectively to the existing range of supports already offered. 

To be clear, academic coaches are usually not also counselors -- and even if a coach is a licensed counselor, they have taken off that "hat" in the coaching environment. However, mental health issues nearly always have some effect on academic performance, and as such are part of the landscape of coaching the whole student. 

• When a student discloses a mental health imbalance (depression, anxiety, and so on), coaches can ask them to describe how this is affecting academic performance

• Using targeted questions, coaches can help students understand where they have choices, and what actions chosen may help them move forward

• Coaches can connect students to counseling and medical services that go beyond the scope of the coach

• In the context of academic focus, coaches can ask what kinds of self-care measures help students settle their minds, be present and mindful, and take action.

Grow as a coach so that you can support students even more effectively in these unprecedented times. Join LifeBound for: 

Three-Day Inclusive Coaching

Register for June 19, 21, 23 Class

Coaching Certification Cohort

Register for Summer Cohort by May 25