2017 SLI Workshop

1. The Wellness Project:
An Overview
2017 Summer Leadership Institute
Lindsey-Wilson College

2. Biographical Sketch
• Name: Eric J. Hearst
• Howard University (B.S. in Human Development 1996; Master of
Social Work 2002)
• Argosy University (Ed.D. in Educational Leadership 2015)
• Princeton Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity anticipated 2019)
• 13 years of professional practice as a school social worker with
Loudoun County Public Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia
• Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Random fact: Lifelong fan of the “Classic Doctor Who Series” (The
Third Doctor is MY Doctor)

3. The Wellness Project:
Three Main Questions
• Q1: What are some of the issues you are seeing
with your students?
• Q2: What support services are available to your
students on campus and in the surrounding area?
• Q3: How can the Bonner Foundation and Bonner
Network help?
Note: Only five schools participated in the telephone
interviews

4. • Mental health challenges — Depression, Anxiety, Self-
injurious behavior)
• High School – College Transition — Adjusting to
campus culture; Lack of racial/cultural connectedness on
college/university campuses)
• Lack of perceived cultural competency in school-based
counseling and student support services)
• Self-efficacy — Poor coping skills; Lack of resiliency;
Inability to seek out and follow-through with supportive
services on campus).
Summary of Responses:
Q1: What are some of the issues you
are seeing with your students?

5. • Academic skills centers
• Counseling Centers
• Health & Wellness Centers
• Campus Chaplaincies
Summary of Responses:
Q2: What support services are available
to your students on campus and in the
surrounding area?

6. Challenges in accessing support:
• Lack of health insurance/inability to pay for private
treatment;
• Inability to travel to providers (rural, lack of
transportation, etc.);
• Unwillingness to seek help from campus based
supports;
• Concerns about the lack of cultural/racial competency
in campus based supports)
Summary of Responses:
Q2: What support services are available
to your students on campus and in the
surrounding area?

7. • Provide trainings — trauma informed care;
Mental health first aid);
• Continuing education — topics including self-
care, boundary settings for students and
enhancing community support for students);
• Identify best practices from within the
Bonner Network — enhancing student
protective factors/minimizing risk factors on
campuses).
Summary of Responses:
Q3: How can the Bonner Foundation
and Bonner Network help?

8. • Q1: How have you been involved with the Bonner program on your
campus?
• Q2: Think back over all of the years you’ve been involved and tell us
your fondest memory
• Q3: Think back over the past year about the things Bonner did to
promote student wellness in its network. What went particularly
well?
• Q4: What needs improvement?
• Q5: Suppose you could make one change that would make Bonner’s
efforts at promoting student wellness better. What would you do?
• Q6: What can each one of us do to make Bonner’s efforts at
promoting student wellness better?
The Wellness Project:
Focus Group Questions