Supporting your student’s entire wellbeing: A message from Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole

November 18, 2021 11:19 am
Categories: Uncategorized

Dear parents and families of Stanford students,

As we quickly approach the end of a fall quarter that has been both challenging and exhilarating, I wanted to send my gratitude. Thank you for supporting your students through the pandemic, remote learning and our full return to campus this September. While energy and excitement on campus are high and our COVID-19 infection rates remain low, we know that emotions at this time of the year can compound with other stressors students are managing. We believe parents and families can be key to supporting their students well-being during stressful academic times and over the upcoming winter break. 

Approaching conversations about mental health and well-being with your student can sometimes be challenging. Student Affairs has updated the Red Folder tool to reflect this moment in time. We urge you to visit this resource for tips on how to:

  • identify signs of student distress
  • more safely and comfortably have conversations with students about what you are observing
  • connect students to appropriate mental health and well-being resources on campus (this tool has a comprehensive listing of resources at Stanford to support student well-being)

Additionally, in partnership with CAPS, the university is providing a new 24/7 telehealth mental health counseling service for students. This new service, called WPO, is free of charge and is accessible to students wherever they are – even during university breaks and holidays. More information about this support can be located on the CAPS homepage. To access this new therapy service students should call:

  • 1.866.212.6113 (enrolled Stanford students currently located in the U.S.)
  • 1.984.239.2309 (enrolled Stanford students currently located outside the U.S.)

Finally, we have new additional web and downloadable resources for you to use or share with students as needed:

  • Resources for our Communities provides a directory of various services offered to support student well-being. This easy-to-use site should help you and students navigate the network of resources available to our community.
  • Given the extraordinary levels of disability, loss, and grief some students have experienced in the wake of COVID, we created Grieving at Stanford to help students connect with resources to appropriately support their needs.
  • This resource card is a portable way for  students to keep this information handy.

We take seriously our opportunities and responsibilities to support student mental health and well-being, and we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with and provide support for parents and families. We encourage you to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the resources mentioned above, and we hope they will help you feel more confident in how you support your students. Please be in touch with questions or ideas and know that we deeply value you as members of our broader Stanford community.

Sincerely,

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs