Support the university’s first virtual 5K from Oct. 15-18 to celebrate Exercise is Medicine Month, while also raising funds for the Student Emergency Fund and Patriot Pantry. More information and registration.
Category: Wellbeing
All George Mason University students, faculty, staff and visitors are required to help ensure a safe return to campus by participating daily in the university’s Mason COVID Health Check™. Beginning Aug. 17, all visitors to campus, including students, faculty, staff, parents and friends, are required to show proof that they have received clearance through the Mason COVID Health Check™ to be on campus.
The Mason COVID Health Check™ is a screening tool in which participants answer a short series of simple questions relating to their health and any exposure they may have had to coronavirus. The tool is key to helping Mason avoid coronavirus outbreaks by allowing for early identification of individuals who may have been exposed to coronavirus or are beginning to exhibit symptoms. These individuals can then be quarantined to avoid exposing others on campus to the virus.
Supporting George Mason University students through challenging times has been the cornerstone of the Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC) since its inception in 2016.
Using an outreach and individualized assistance model combined with partnerships incorporating Mason programs and those in the wider community, the SSAC team was ready to help students navigate obstacles they encountered when the pandemic hit during the spring semester.
Although the SSAC office closed its physical doors on March 20, all services continued virtually.
COVID-19 might appropriately be called the “One World Virus,” underscoring our shared destiny. The global pandemic has triggered the ultimate disruption in higher education as almost every campus in the country manages its repercussions. This moment will likely redefine the significance of student affairs work and the worth of practitioners as strategic, compassionate, and collaborative institutional leaders.
At George Mason University, the president convened daily meetings with the executive team to share national, regional, and local up-to-the-minute public health information to inform daily decision making. Student affairs professionals worked collaboratively on university-wide financial, academic, and operational issues. The director of student health services, the institution’s de facto in-house medical authority, provided public health updates. Absent a medical school, there was an increased reliance on health practitioners who served students along with the expertise of the campus emergency health and safety team. Faculty researchers in the university’s College of Health and Human Services lent their expertise to create a COVID-19 risk assessment available online to all students and faculty.
Regular communication through daily virtual meetings with student-serving units is now essential with Webex and Zoom meetings as the primary means of connection. Continued strategic discussions include the development of a COVID-19 emergency fund, virtual commencement, orientation planning, virtual student employment opportunities, implementation of telehealth, online counseling services, e-recreation, e-engagement activities, and career success for graduating students to name only a few topics.
In addition, vice presidents for student affairs (VPSAs) found ways to support students for whom online instruction created additional hurdles: students with home bases not conducive to online learning; students with little or no access to technology or internet; students experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, and grief for themselves, loved ones, and family members; and students at risk of losing or who have lost their means to pay for and pursue their college careers.
It has become even more essential—and more challenging—to convey core institutional values in an online environment. While they do not intuitively convert from in person to online, student affairs professionals must find ways to communicate values despite the challenges. Institutional core values assure students that the campus remains the same place they chose, the place they love, and the place that will support them through these uncertain times to ultimate success.
The agility of student affairs practitioners to manage multiple student concerns in this moment is extraordinary and all-consuming, which underscores the need to consider the well-being of staff members. Continuing to make human connections, checking in, acknowledging that many staff members are managing grief and anxiety, finding opportunities to express gratitude and appreciation, and providing time for staff to regroup and re-energize are vital to relational work with colleagues and students.
Intelligence, kindness, and understanding are vital to unpacking the complexities involved in the decision-making process, as VPSAs continue to make educational and potential life-changing decisions that will affect students’ futures. The ability to accompany students through this shift in their educational experience will require continued compassion, flexibility, and authentic care and concern. Although practitioners may be stretched in unimaginable ways, student affairs staff must continue to move forward, incrementally, to do the next right thing. Student affairs work will accelerate a continued shift in the business of higher education with student well-being and holistic success at the center of all institutional decisions. Be prepared to lead the way.
This article was original published in Leadership Exchange.
Beginning July 15, 2020, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is partnering with Protocall Services to provide after-hours crisis services for Mason students. Protocall is a crisis hotline that is staffed by licensed clinicians to provide crisis intervention and referral services from 5pm to 8:30 am Monday to Friday and 24 hours on weekends.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic forced so many dramatic changes in their lives, college students faced serious mental health challenges, such as depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders and addiction. In fact, experts and researchers use terms like “epidemic” and “crisis” to characterize the mental health challenges currently facing American college students.
Read More about Mason’s Counseling and Psychological Services
“I can’t breathe.” Those words resonate strongly for many Black Americans and do as well for those working in healthcare. In healthcare, those words often spur action to save a life. With those words, Student Health Services mourns the killing of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black Americans, and we stand with the racial justice movements working to prevent the further loss of Black lives.
The Black Lives Matter movement and the current covid-19 pandemic continue to emphasize the public health crises brought about by systemic racism and racial injustice. Black and Brown communities have a higher burden of infection and death from covid-19 and other diseases and are at increased risk of experiencing institutional violence. Systemic racism underlies both of these disparities. Black lives matter. Black voices must be heard.
Student Health Services recognizes that to fully support the health of our students of color at Mason we must move beyond only cultural and linguistic competency and take a more active role to support movements for racial equality. Student Health Services commits to using a framework of racial justice to examine our own procedures and initiatives as we work toward creating a culture of inclusion and trust.
We commit to listening to the voices and hearing the experiences of Black students and underserved students. We will be vocal and active in conversations and movements that support the Mason Black community.
We will continue learning about social, economic, and environmental conditions that put Black students and students of color at higher risk of disease, violence, and negative health outcomes and take action to address those disparities in our practice. We will identify and address our own privileges and implicit biases that could harm students and our patient interactions. We will do the hard work needed to create an environment of trust and inclusion.
-Student Health Services
The programs and services offered by George Mason University are open to all who seek them. George Mason does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. After an initial review of its policies and practices, the university affirms its commitment to meet all federal mandates as articulated in federal law, as well as recent executive orders and federal agency directives.
All Mason students have access to high-quality health care, counseling and health education at Student Health Services (SHS). Visits with a health care provider are free, and services such as supplies, immunizations, physical exams, and lab tests carry only nominal fees. Students do not need health insurance to be seen at SHS.
“SHS doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses have experience with treating a wide range of health concerns, from illness to injury, to sleep and chronic health concerns. We offer diagnostic and preventive health care services including an on-site lab, physical exams, nutrition and health counseling,” said Lisa Park, MD, executive director of SHS.
Mason students explain why social distancing is so important to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Watch the video.
The Center for the Advancement of Well Being, Counseling and Psychological Services, and Student Health Services have ample well-being resources for your student including BurnAlong. Your student can join BurnAlong for free and participate in online classes — exercise, dance, yoga, relaxation — all in community and at a distance. BurnAlong also runs on a social platform so your student can invite their friends, roommates, and others to join you in these activities.