Colleges and Universities

Click on each individual area of strategic intervention to learn more:

The process of help seeking is complex, with many possible factors influencing whether or not someone takes steps to get help. Perceiving a need for treatment is one of the greatest predictors that college students will seek care. But students are less likely to seek care if they are unaware of available mental health services or insurance coverage, skeptical about the effectiveness of treatment, or had low socioeconomic status growing up. Students who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander are also less likely to seek help (Eisenberg et al., 2007b). Campuses are engaging in a variety of activities designed to increase the likelihood that a student who needs supportive services or counseling will seek out and secure assistance, including:

• Anonymous online screening tools that allow students who may be reluctant to seek help to complete a questionnaire and enable campus mental health clinicians to reach out to participants exhibiting warning signs.
• Communication campaigns that include brochures, posters, and a variety of web-based content to address specific facilitators and barriers to help seeking.
• National campaigns, targeting the general public or college students specifically, that promote student help-seeking behaviors and attempt to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues.
• Peer counseling or peer education programs to take advantage of students’ willingness to talk to their peers.

Click on this icon to see Shelly Rutz talk about pretesting the messages in the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s “Life Happens, Let’s Talk About It” poster campaign.