Article Courtesy of the Steve Fund
Students looks out over campus. Photo credit: Pexels
The Steve Fund launches an online resource center during Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, with scientific information from premier experts on student-of-color mental health and emotional well-being.
A new online knowledge center offers expert information on supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color. It was created by the Steve Fund, a nonprofit focused on student-of-color mental health issues. It is available free of charge at www.stevefund.org/knowledgecenter.
“Our goal is to provide carefully vetted information to university and college administrators and other stakeholders, so they can make informed decisions on how to better support the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color,” says Evan Rose, president of the Steve Fund, adding: “We are thrilled to launch new resource during July, which is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.”
Beyond education professionals, the Steve Fund Knowledge Center also targets students and parents, among others. It includes more than 30 video expert presentations, Webinars, expert interviews and white papers with titles such as “What Parents of College Students of Color Need to Know” and “What We Know About the Mental Health of Students of Color during College.”
The knowledge center features content from top scientists on the subject of student of-color-mental health, for instance:
• Dr. Jeanne Manese, Director of the Counseling Center (University of California-Irvine, Counseling Center Goals in Action (GIA) – “Strategies that Promote Mental, Emotional, and Academic Well Being ”
• Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D., Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California- Berkeley – “Relational processes in Shaping Underrepresented Students’ Academic and Health Outcomes”
• Virgil Moorehead, Psy.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Counseling and Psychological Services, Stanford University – “Native Resilience: Digital Storytelling and American Indian Students”
• Dr. Daphne C. Watkins, University of Michigan School of Social Work and School of Medicine – “Is Making it to College Enough? Masculinities, Stress, and Success among Black College Men.”
• Dr. Teresa LaFromboise, Professor of Education. Stanford University – “Culturally Responsive University Initiatives with American Indian/Alaska Native Students”
• Dr. King Davis, professor of research in the School of Information and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin – “The History of Mental Health Services and Policies for African Americans”)
Studies show that students of color at American colleges and universities are often less likely to seek help when they feel depressed or anxious. They report more micro-aggressions than their European American counterparts. According to a Harris poll they are nearly twice as likely to report feeling less emotionally prepared when they first started college compared to their peers. Only 49% of African Americans students complete their 4-year college education, compared to 71% of white, non-Hispanic students, according to a CollegeBoard report.
Many of the Knowledge Center’s expert presentations were first given at conferences sponsored by the Steve Fund, at universities such as Stanford, Yale and Harvard. The Fund will hold its next annual “Young, Gifted & @Risk Conference” at Washington University in November 2016 when more experts are expected to present and augment the knowledge center.
“The current Steve Fund Knowledge Center is just the beginning,” says Stephanie Bell Rose, a co-founder of the Fund. “Our vision is to go from 30 to hundreds of expert content items and become a crucial resource for anyone trying to improve support for the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color.”
Visit the Steve Fund Knowledge Center: www.stevefund.org/knowledgecenter