Status
Completed
Start Term
Spring 2020
End Term
Fall 2020
Project Leads
Dean of Students
Core Team

Dean of Students, Social Workers, Counselors, Campus Life and Housing

Ad Hoc team

Accessibility Resources

Pillars of Success
Student Success
Strategic Plans
Annual Work Plan
Equity 2030
Project Purpose

M State offers a wide range of student wellbeing support services, however employees expressed concern they weren’t always sure who the “right person” was to connect a student with. It was decided a new team approach and referral process was needed to encourage referrals and reduce the time it took to connect a student with the appropriate support network.

Deliverables
  • Assemble a team of staff from across the college that is representative of holistic support services that can connect students with appropriate services and support (counseling, equity and inclusion, housing/student life, social workers, dean of students).
  • Develop an online form that gives anyone access to submit a concern (employees, students, staff, guests, parents, etc.).
  • Determine a method to assess concerns in order to identify an action plan to best serve the student’s circumstances.
Project Scope
In Scope
  • Supporting students who experience non-academic barriers or emergencies with the focus on sustainable solutions that support the whole student to keep them on track to graduate utilizing appropriate college, community, regional and national resources through direct service, referral or combination of both. 
  • Providing feedback to college leaders if a college policy appears to be creating barriers.
Out of Scope
  • Academic interventions
  • Student financial account changes
Effectiveness Measures
  • Number of referrals
  • Types of referrals
  • Year over year trends
Constraints

Limited financial resources/emergency funds (outside of Federal COVID funding resources).

Financial Impact

Increased retention of students creates an increase in tuition revenue.

Summary of Results
  • Assembled a college-wide team committed to caring and confidential identification, intervention and timely responses to referrals.
  • Identified the mission of the CARE Team, which is to:
    • Assist in protecting the health, safety and welfare of M State students
    • Support student success
    • Provide a comprehensive response to students whose behavior is disruptive to themselves or the campus environment
  • Established a process to review and respond to referrals.
  • Developed an online CARE Team Referral Form.
  • Created an M State CARE Team webpage with information about the CARE Team, referral process, a link to the referral form and a list of how to recognize and respond to students in various levels of distress.
  • Conducted listening sessions spring 2020 and reviewed the types of referrals, which lead to the proposal and contract for TalkCampus, a 24/7 mental health support service that became available to students fall 2021.
  • The CARE Team has responded to 197 CARE Team referrals since fall 2020 (number of referrals last updated mid-semester spring 2023).
Future Direction

This project is now college practice and has been institutionalized.