Vanguard University shifts to wellness focus to meet rising mental health needs

In a post-pandemic world, college students are only now beginning to fully return to the social activities, in-person classes and the same high expectations that were placed before them in pre-COVID times.

But while the day-to-day world may be shifting back to some version of normalcy, the internal lives of adolescents and young adults and their ability to navigate school, jobs and life in general are more complicated than ever.

To help start important conversations about mental health, wellness and the resources available to students in need, Vanguard University on Wednesday held a Wellness Fair on the Costa Mesa campus, inviting professionals and experts throughout Orange County to attend.

Jennifer Que, a specialist with the Orange County Health Care Agency, speaks with a nursing student Wednesday at a Vanguard University Wellness Fair.

(Courtesy of Vanguard University)

Doug Hutchinson, director of Vanguard’s Counseling Center, said his team partnered with the campus’ Healthcare Services Department to host the free event to introduce students to a recent rebranding of the university’s counseling and healthcare departments into a unified Center for Wellness and Health Promotion.

“It’s really a movement away from responding to crises to thinking about how we can promote health and wellness,” he said of the collaboration. “We’re trying to integrate our services to reach more of our population, rather than just seeing the ones who can make it to the Counseling Center or Health Center.”

Hutchinson acknowledged that while college has never been easy, students walking onto campuses these days may find themselves balancing the usual pressures of completing assignments, passing exams and paying for college with intensifying social justice issues, political crises and concerns about the climate crisis.

According to a 2023 study issued by the Healthy Minds Network, a research organization focused on adolescent and young adult health, 44% of college students nationwide reported experiencing depression, while 37% of respondents indicated they’d had feelings of anxiety and 12% confessed to contemplating suicide.

“We’re multiplying our services, but counseling can’t be the only answer to everyone’s health needs,” Hutchinson said.

Piper Hall, from left, Carlita Cartwright, Paola Jiminez, Alexis Paulsen and Yharexy Gomez at a Vanguard University Wellness Fair Wednesday.

(Courtesy of Vanguard University)

Kimberly Cook, Vanguard’s director of Healthcare Services said the university has convened a 15-member Living Well Committee of students, faculty and staff that focuses on supporting the spiritual, relational physical and emotional wellness of the student body by sponsoring events like Wednesday’s Wellness Fair.

The event featured demonstrations, games and free health screenings from the school’s Kinesiology Club. Albertsons Grocery provided free COVID-19 and flu shots, while mental health-related organizations like the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) provided information to attendees.

“Everyone’s been really engaged with the hope of it not only being health and wellness out of the counseling and health centers, but being university-wide something people are thinking about,” Cook said. “It takes the whole university to be mindful of the whole student.”