2023-2024 Updates

Examples of Work During the 2023-2024 Academic Year

Below are some examples of work that has occurred in the 2023-2024 Academic Year towards the implementation of the Commitment to Care strategic plan.

These examples are intended to highlight a variety of actions underway across the five strategic goals defined in the Commitment to Care strategic plan; this information is not a comprehensive list of work underway.

The table below is a summary of ongoing progress.

Commitment to Care Update - Summary Statistics
	October Release of Strategic Plan	May 30, 2024	Net Change
Accomplished Actions*	14	22	+8
In-Progress Actions**	21	29	+8
Little Action Since October or Not Yet Started***	38	22	-16

Commitment to Care Update - Summary Statistics

Accomplished Actions*

October Release of Strategic Plan

14

May 30, 2024

22

Net Change

+8

In-Progress Actions**

October Release of Strategic Plan

21

May 30, 2024

29

Net Change

+8

Little Action Since October or Not Yet Started***

October Release of Strategic Plan

38

May 30, 2024

22

Net Change

-16

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Table Notes
* may require ongoing monitoring, evaluation, maintenance
** active progress since October
***for many of these actions, work will commence once newly approved staffing positions are filled

Dr. Estevan Garcia was hired to the newly created Chief Health and Wellness Officer (CHWO) role in March 2024.

Restructuring of Health Service, Student Wellness Center, and Employee Wellness under the CHWO is in progress.

Action 1A.2. Create and fill a chief health and wellness officer position to lead work for student, staff, and faculty health and well-being.

Action 1A.3. Situate Dartmouth College Health Services (Primary Care, Counseling Center, Inpatient Nursing Department, Pharmacy), Student Wellness Center, and Wellness at Dartmouth (for faculty and staff) under chief health and wellness officer in the Dartmouth organizational structure.

Gary Xia was hired to the newly created Time Away Director role in February 2024 and a part-time administrative support role also filled.

New collaborations between faculty and the Student Wellness Center continued in Academic Year 2023-2024.

The Student Wellness Center and the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning offered monthly faculty learning communities with a focus on integrating wellbeing into teaching and learning practices.
The Foreign Language Offering Wellbeing (F.L.O.W.) faculty leadres from the German department and Student Wellness Center presented to Dartmouth’s program directors to introduce the methods used for possible expansion across languages.
The Student Wellness Center is collaborating on two research projects with faculty from Anthropology and Sociology departments to examine the impacts of implementing wellbeing practices into coursework on student wellbeing and learning. The Student Wellness Center has also worked with faculty across nine departments, including at the Thayer School of Engineering, to integrate wellbeing practices into faculty training or student-facing curricula in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Action 1B.1. Pilot faculty sessions, trainings, and collaborations to develop and disseminate pedagogical approaches that support well-being in academics.

For Summer 2024, Dartmouth will cover the cost of canoe, kayak, and paddleboard rentals for all current students (undergraduate, graduate, and professional students) at the Ledyard Clubhouse.

Content for a mental health and wellbeing website to aid students in navigating the resource options available to them is being developed.

In Fall 2023, 397 undergraduate students completed the StandUp to Hazing online educational module in preparation for joining a Greek Letter Organization or Student Society.

Dartmouth now offers no-cost seltzer water to undergraduate events registered through the Alcohol Management Program.

In October, Dartmouth’s first Intercultural Engagement Conference was held, with the theme “Every culture has a story. Every community has a story. Every person has a story.”

This conference was open to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and was organized by leaders in the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, Geisel Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, and the William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living. Participants had an opportunity to learn about cultures and communities similar or different from their own, gain skills and insight, and create connections.

Action 2B.2. Launch an annual intercultural conference to support community-building through diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

A memorial tree for all members of the Dartmouth community was planted near the Rollins Chapel and was dedicated in May 2024.

In April, the Office of Sustainability celebrated Dartmouth’s $500 million dollar climate commitment with a community dinner that showcased faculty and student leadership addressing climate change.

Also in April, the Office of Sustainability also hosted a guest lecture “Falling in Love With Mother Earth: Engaged Mindfulness for a Creative and Spiritual Response to the Climate Crisis” and dinner as part of a weeklong visit by eleven monastics from the Plum Village tradition.

Action 2B.4. Pilot programming centered on climate hope as a force of resistance against climate despair.

Increased communications skills trainings equip faculty and staff to be more effective resources to students.

The Student Wellness Center added a third two-day Motivational Interviewing training to its calendar in March 2024. In January 2024, Dr. Marc Brackett, Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, discussed the intersection of self-awareness and communication as the Dartmouth Dialogues keynote speaker in a talk open to all members of the Dartmouth community.

Action 3A.2. Incentivize faculty and staff participation in effective skill-building trainings that support high-quality mentoring, advising, and teaching, for example, Universal Design and Motivational Interviewing.

A newly created undergraduate Sexual Violence Prevention Project (SVPP) curriculum design specialist role was filled in April 2024.

Multiple departments across Dartmouth continue to advance mindfulness programming as a pathway for self-awareness skill-building.

The Student Wellness Center continues its longstanding tradition of offering Intro to Mindfulness courses open to all students and employees. More recently, the Student Wellness Center began targeted offerings for graduate/professional students and for employees, increasing faculty and staff familiarity with these practices, as well as gaining Wellness Education credits for participating undergraduates.
Stronger partnerships between the Student Wellness Center and House Communities have also increased access to retreats and weekly yoga nidra.
In April 2024, a delegation of eleven monastics from the Plum Village tradition returned to Dartmouth for the second time for a week of programming, which drew over 1100 participants.

Action 3E.2. Integrate self-awareness skill-building throughout the Dartmouth experience.

The Tucker Center piloted the Interfaith Passport program and an interfaith spring break trip to Washington, DC open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

In May 2024, two student mental health panels were held.

The undergraduate Mental Health Student Union, with support from the Student Wellness Center, hosted a student panel about Dartmouth student experiences with mental health challenges at the Collis Center. Also, Geisel fourth-year medical students hosted a mental health peer panel for Geisel students.

Action 4A.3. Increase awareness of individuals managing mental illnesses and living well by piloting a panel of students, staff, faculty, and/or alumni speaking about their experiences.

Dick’s House Primary Care has implemented use of the UCLA loneliness scale and the Columbia Suicide Severity Screener.

The UCLA loneliness scale facilitates identification of students who may be experiencing difficulty below a clinically diagnosable threshold. The Columbia Suicide Severity screener, which provides additional evidence-based suicide screening questions.

Action 4B.1. Administer the UCLA Three-Item Loneliness Scale to students using Dartmouth College Health Services Primary Care.

Action 4C.2. Train Dartmouth College Health Service Primary Care staff to ask additional evidence-based suicide screening questions using the Columbia Suicide Severity screening tool.

In September 2023, Dartmouth eliminated fees for overnight observation at Dick’s House Inpatient Nursing Department.

Good Samaritan posters were posted in undergraduate residence halls and other locations across campus in advance of the Green Key weekend to increase familiarity with this policy and encourage help-seeking behaviors.

In Spring 2024, in advance of Green Key weekend, Dartmouth worked with the State of New Hampshire and other local entities to distribute over 100 additional naloxone medications through undergraduate Greek life and other channels.

Naloxone is already routinely available to all students through the Student Wellness Center, Dick’s House pharmacy, a 24/7 Dick’s House vending machine, all Dartmouth Dining Services locations, and all Greek Houses. About 400 fentanyl and xylazine test strips were also provided during Green Key weekend to help prevent overdoses.

Action 4D.4. Increase the availability of Naloxone for opioid overdose.

Case management staffing has increased for undergraduates and Geisel students.

In the Undergraduate Dean’s Office, Pierre Venescar was hired as an additional case manager in January 2024, joining existing case managers Tara Strong and Morgan Ogreen. Erin Anderson was hired as Geisel’s inaugural case manager. Initial work is underway integrating these new case management roles with other case management roles within the Dartmouth ecosystem.

Action 4D.7. Develop Dartmouth College Health Service case management roles and responsibilities, inclusive of how those roles and responsibilities align with other case management roles across Dartmouth.

In Summer 2023 the Counseling Center added a therapist who can conduct counseling sessions in Spanish, and in Spring 2024, a therapist/case manager who can provide counseling in Hebrew was hired.

With these additions, the Counseling Center offers counseling in six different languages (English, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Taiwanese). As of May 2024, the Counseling Center has 7 clinicians who identify as members of the BIPOC community.
In the Winter 2024 the Counseling Center partnered with Therapists of Color New England to offer additional therapist choice to students via a part-time, one-year pilot contract. The Division of Institutional Diversity and Equity is contributing financial support for this pilot partnership.
The Counseling Center has continued its partnership with UWill to provide a diverse selection of therapists from which to choose. In response to Dartmouth’s direct request, UWill has provided access to an indigenous therapist for our students.
Dartmouth Student Government (DSG) has been very supportive the partnerships with Therapists of Color New England and UWill.

Action 4D.5. Continue regular assessment of the diversity of staff experience in relation to the experiences of the student population (disaggregated) and pursue greater alignment through hiring practices, for example in language fluency.

Chief Health and Wellness Officer Estevan Garcia has begun meeting with representatives of the undergraduate, graduate, and professional school student governments and will establish an ongoing meeting schedule for the 2024-2025 academic year.

In Winter 2024, the Office of Institutional Research and multiple departments collaborated to revise the Dartmouth Health Survey, with input from student leaders from several undergraduate, graduate, and professional school student entities.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Examples of Work During the 2023-2024 Academic Year

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Strategic Goal #1: Center well-being in all we do, both inside and outside of academics.

Strategic Goal #2. Create an inclusive community to foster mental health and well-being for students with diverse lived experiences.

Strategic Goal #3. Equip students with the resources and skills to navigate both success and failure with strength and confidence.

Strategic Goal #4. Proactively address mental illness to aid students in reaching their goals.

Strategic Goal #5. Invest in innovative applications of evidence-based approaches to respond to changing environments and needs.