Dear CC Community,   

• We are creating a task force of students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni to help us find the right solutions. Our Healthy Minds Survey of CC students highlighted that when it comes to “informal support” for mental health, our students overwhelmingly turn to their friends (58%) and family (51%). We are currently speaking to possible candidates and are planning to announce membership of the task force in January 2023.
• We will also work directly with student facilitators so that multiple existing and new peer-to-peer support services will be available to students in 2023.

• Last week, we held a series of conversations with the Colorado Department of Higher Education on the work we need to do to earn a “Healthy Minds” designation, which is awarded after a comprehensive review of programs and practices to address mental health across campus.
• Barring unforeseen circumstances, by Block 5 we will complete an external review of our mental health and wellness structures, programs, services, and practices, and explore models to provide wellness resources and promote healthy life skills and habits to our entire CC community. We will then plan to publish recommendations on Block 6.
• In the coming months, a few key leaders from CC will visit other colleges and universities like Denison University to learn about their approaches to building resiliency and creating healthy campus environments. Denison won an Active Minds, Healthy Campus award for innovation in prioritizing and promoting the health and well-being of its students.

• We are working with faculty to develop guidance that includes absence for mental health as a part of the attendance and excused absences policy. We expect to announce changes by the end of the academic year.
• As promised, after January 1, 2023, we will launch an anonymous reporting resource for a wide range of campus concerns. More information will be shared in December.
• The vice president and dean of the faculty and the vice president and dean of the college have started conversations with the faculty about constraints on students’ time and ways we can make sure students can truly have a break from class, class assignments, emails, and notifications. We plan to announce some updates in Spring 2023.

• We are exploring adding additional counselors who will be available to students, staff, and faculty for free. We expect to announce some of these additions by the end of the calendar year.
• We will soon announce enhanced partnerships with Children’s Hospital and Cottonwood Creek Wellness Center to expand resources and look at new and innovative ways to address mental health needs.
• Colorado College has joined the Suicide Prevention Collaborative of El Paso County. This alliance of organizations and community leaders share strategies, resources, and expertise with the goal of reducing suicide deaths in El Paso County by 20% by the year 2024.
• The vice president and dean of the faculty, senior director for Student Health & Wellbeing, and vice president for student life and dean of students plan to implement additional mental health training for all staff and faculty on an annual basis.
• Through the task force mentioned earlier, we will examine the need for more sexual assault response team staff and more counselors. We will report more after the task force meets.

• We are reviewing our key campus websites, including the Student Health Center, Counseling Center, Wellness Resource Center, and Title IX so that the most important information is clearly defined and easy to find. We are examining ways to improve and make our communication protocols more transparent, including communicating about our mental health commitment and work and using trigger warnings for sensitive communications.
• This week, the Board of Trustees will be on campus, and we invite students to an open dialogue with them this Friday, Nov. 4, from 3:15-5:45 p.m. (main level of Worner Campus Center). Interested students can sign up here for the Board of Trustees Listening Session. 
• The president and the Cabinet are committed to listening and being in dialogue with students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni. More specific information will be shared each block. The president will meet with students every block so she can personally understand their needs.

L. Song Richardson 

The President’s Cabinet:  
Pedro de Araujo   

Emily Chan  

Rochelle Dickey  

Mike Edmonds  

Mary Ann Graffeo  

Katharina Groves  

Mark Hatch  

Lesley Irvine

Robert Moore  

Ryan Simmons  

Manya Whitaker  

Tulio Wolford  

Todd Woodward