The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential awarded Grand Rapids Community College more than $250,000 to expand mental health services to students.
In March, Grand Rapids Community College received a Barrier Removal - Growing Institutional Capacity grant from MiLEAP, or the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential. The funds provided from the grant came to $251,942. The Barrier Removal - Growing Institutional Capacity grant will be used to improve mental health services for GRCC students through expanded campus-wide engagement, training, and capacity.
Grand Rapids Community College’s Center for Counseling and Well Being will benefit from the new grant. The Center is part of GRCC’s strategic priority to create more equitable access to mental health support for its students.
In an article posted on GRCC’s website, Melissa Ware, who serves as program director for the Center for Counseling and Well Being, was quoted as saying about the grant money, “This funding allows us to move from understanding the need to taking meaningful, systemic action. We know our students are navigating significant stressors, and this grant helps us ensure that support is visible, accessible and embedded throughout their college experience.”
During the Fall 2024 semester, Grand Rapids Community College conducted what it called the #RealCollegeSurvey, which collected data on challenges GRCC students were facing. The survey found that 4% of GRCC students were experiencing homelessness, nearly half reported housing insecurity in the last year, and over a third of students had experienced food insecurity in the previous month. Those challenges have been found to take a toll on the mental wellbeing and academic success of students, underscoring the need for expanded mental health services.
The Mental Health Improvement through Community College (or MHICC) initiative also conducted the Health Minds Study, and found that only 13% of GRCC students had taken advantage of counseling services on campus, 55% of students experienced significant suicidality, anxiety, and/or depression symptoms, 40% said their mental health had negatively impacted their academic performance several times a month, and that 57% of students reported a desire for mental health assistance.
Mental health is often given as the reason for why GRCC students leave their degree program before completion.
The college plans to use funding from the grant to increase capacity in three primary areas: building faculty and staff knowledge, increasing student awareness and engagement, and strengthening systems and infrastructure.
Grand Rapids Community College Staff and Faculty will be given Question, Persuade, Refer (or QPR) training, which is an evidence based suicide prevention training. Upon completion of the training, participants will be able to notice warning signs, engage in supportive conversations, and link students up with further help. The training will be given using a train-the-trainer method, which will offer sessions every quarter to ensure that the skills are instilled for the long term.
The Center for Counseling and Well-Being also plans to grow its peer-peer outreach capabilities by training student peer educators to have the skills needed to promote help-seeking behaviors, host events, and deliver presentations on mental wellbeing. GRCC is also putting together a new Student Advisory Board designed to give students an official route to voice their opinions when it comes to mental health services at the school.
Grand Rapids Community College is also planning other initiatives such as annual Student Success and Well-Being Summits containing community resources and activities such as screenings, and workshops; and outreach campaigns that will connect staff, faculty, and students, with mental health resources.
The college will also become a part of the JED Foundation’s JED Campus program which is a nationwide program that assists colleges with putting comprehensive and evidence based approaches to suicide prevention and mental health promotion into action. Using this support, Grand Rapids Community College will use a process of assessment, strategic planning, and ongoing technical help to improve crisis protocols, and obtain counseling service accreditation, as well as create sustainable and long term infrastructure that will last beyond the grant period.
Ware talked about the goal of these initiatives, saying, “This work is about creating a campus culture where asking for help is normal and support is easy to find. By strengthening systems and empowering both students and employees, we’re building a foundation that will serve GRCC students well beyond the life of this grant.”
More information about Grand Rapids Community College can be found on the school’s website.