VC receives $294,254 grant for mental health services | Education

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Victoria College a $294,254 grant to be used for the increased student awareness of mental health importance and campus services.

The sizable grant supports 100 percent of project costs and will enable Victoria College’s counseling center to increase awareness of and access to the university’s mental health services available to students.

“This grant will be crucial for funding issue specific initiatives at the VC Counseling Center to advance student mental health and wellness, such as suicide prevention and increasing/maintaining our community partnerships,” Brittany Proctor, licensed professional counselor and chemical dependency counselor at Victoria College, said.

The grant will increase the counseling center’s ability to impact the academic goals of students facing mental health challenges in a positive way, according to a Victoria College press release.

“We hope to destigmatize not only counseling, but also suicide and general mental wellness,” Proctor said.

The grant will fund the implementation of a new emotional intelligence curriculum (EIC) for incoming students, the increase in outreach to male students, a new mental health workshop and new seminar topics, and training for employees at Victoria College.

The EIC will provide students with screeners so they may better recognize when they are struggling with a mental health situation. It will provide strategies and resources to further help students affected by mental health struggles succeed throughout their college career.

Male students are most often an underserved population for counseling services. Increased outreach to these students will feature a campaign designed to destigmatize seeking help for mental health.

Victoria College will offer multiple mental health workshops for students and employees, including QPR (Question Persuade Refer Suicide Prevention) and trauma-informed care training, Proctor said.

“It is our goal that this grant will decrease the stigma surrounding help-seeking behaviors, and encourage our students to seek counseling services as necessary,” Proctor said. “It will help provide our staff necessary training to embrace a trauma-informed campus and appropriately support our students who do struggle with suicide or depression.”

Victoria College will grow its mental health outreach and equip students and staff with information enabling them to respond to mental health in a proactive manner. The grant will allow Victoria College to provide the community with mental health and wellness services they would not usually be able to afford.

“We have seen a tremendous number of students engaging counseling services here that would not have the means or opportunity to seek treatment otherwise due to financial concerns or lack of health insurance coverage,” Proctor said.