Home / Faculty Guidance for Supporting Students’ Mental Health / Instructional Strategies That Support Student Well-being
Your role as an instructor is an important one in the larger system of student support at Tufts. In a college or university, the classroom is the only place where students really must show up in order to remain a student. Intentionally designing your course with some flexibility and building relationships with your students can support student mental health, improve learning, and strengthen our campus community. You are not a mental health provider, but a compassionate and supportive human who wants their students to thrive.
“It’s important to remember that we live in a world that pits self-care and achievement against each other. With this in mind, invite students to question such mentalities and join a mindset that locates well-being as an act of resistance against toxic norms of society or highly competitive settings. You can help students re-narrate self-care as an instrument that serves academic success. Also, you can remind them that learning (not simply the completion of academic tasks) relies on sufficient energy, time, and space to absorb what is being taught. They don’t need to buy into the myth that one must surrender rest in order to do well.” (Emory University website)
Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services (CMHS) hosts two peer support programs: Ears for Peers and Mental Health Representatives. Mental health representatives suggest that faculty do the following to support students in distress:
Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services (CMHS) describes learning environments that support mental health and well-being as ones where faculty:
Building some flexibility into your course assignments and due dates can be useful not only in cases where individual students might be struggling emotionally, but also when there is a campus tragedy or crisis outside of Tufts. Communicating that flexibility and recommending its judicious use can relieve both you and your students of the anxiety that comes with missing work or class, and provides a cushion for that stress.
Dr. Mays Imad, neuroscientist and educator, in a talk at Tufts two years ago highlighted three preconditions for every student to thrive: feeling safe, experiencing meaningful connections, and having caring support and resources. Some relatively simple strategies suggested by Dr. Imad are below.
Create a safe environment | Communicate that students are more than a number, and that you care.
Create a predictable structure that students can count on. Connect with students and invite engagement regularly. Be transparent about why your policies exist, how your assignments will support their learning, and where there is flexibility built in. |
Create Connection | Use office hours as a way to get to know your students.
Cultivate community by inviting them to share their stories, creating community agreements, and getting to know each other through in class activities. Check in with students regularly, and ask them to check in with each other. Connect the course to why it matters in the larger world, and invite them to connect it to their personal lives. |
Offer Care and Support | Regularly check in to see how students are doing.
Provide and normalize mental health breaks. Listen, and encourage students to listen to each other with compassion. Cultivate hope. List available resources at Tufts for academic and mental health support. |
Not all students who need help will reach out and ask for what they need, even if you have offered. Simply noticing a change in a student in your class, or missed work and checking in will be enough to help you learn what is going on and how you might support a student. Everyone has a rough week on occasion, misjudges what they need to do to turn work in on time, or miscalculates how much to study for an exam. The simple act of checking in creates connection and indicates caring and support.
When a concerning pattern or change emerges in academic work or behavior, sharing that information and asking for advice for how to approach a student is important. Know that there are cultural, societal and familial reasons that some students will resist taking advantage of mental health support. Become familiar with the range of services in your school such as the counseling center, peer support, student affairs, academic support services and advising deans, as any one of those can connect students to appropriate supports. Chances are that if you are noticing changes, others are as well. Below are some of the changes you might notice.
Academic signs |
Significant decline in quality of performance
No response to emails checking on missed work Excessive absences from classes, labs, rehearsal, work, etc. Written work that expresses anger, hopelessness or despair Disruptive or inappropriate comments or behavior |
Behavioral signs |
Deterioration in appearance
Signs of being down, apathetic Irritability, anxiety, or agitation Excessive alcohol or drug use Extreme fatigue or sleepiness Social isolation or withdrawal Talk about harm to self or others |
Remember that not every student who is struggling needs counseling. “A common reaction when faced with student struggle is to want to refer the student to a mental health provider. However, supporting a student’s well-being does not always involve a clinical solution as much as a relational one. By shifting away from clinical language (e.g., depression, anxiety) to describe common student struggles (e.g., loneliness, fear of failure), we are in a better position to relate to them in a supportive, engaging manner and help them feel that they belong here. For many students, a connection with a trusted adult will be all the healing they need. And when more support is needed, there is an array of campus resources to help.” (Emory University website)
Some suggestions for how to reach out with care:
Parts of this section was developed using resources from a faculty presentation by Julie Ross from Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services.
Return to Faculty Guidance for Supporting Students’ Mental Health.