Colleges share strategies for attracting students to screening
events
Holding a mental health screening event soon? Looking for ways to boost
attendance?
With so many overlapping activities on campus, it can be a challenge to motivate
students to stop at your booth and either: test their moods, evaluate their
attitudes about eating or find out if they have a problem with alcohol. It pays
to get creative with your promotional approach.
To help ignite your creativity, some CollegeResponse®
sites across the country are sharing their most successful strategies:
-
To raise awareness
about eating disorders, the staff at Texas Christian University added a section
to their website that included original comic book stories of characters
dealing with body image and eating issues. Episodes are added on a weekly
basis. “Each of the characters was created in hopes to relate to the students.
The site just launched and we are already getting a great response,” said Eric
Wood, Therapist and Outreach Coordinator at Texas Christian University. Learn
more by visiting
www.counseling.tcu.edu.
-
To encourage
students to participate in their National Depression Screening Day® event,
the counseling department at Converse College in
Spartanburg, South Carolina decided to set up a table in the dining hall and
offer free mood rings with information about mood disorders. “This was a huge
success and increased the number of screenings completed,” said Dr. Carol Edens
Epps, Director of Counseling at Converse.
-
Students at
McMurry University in Abilene, Texas are offered incentives
at the screening event: healthy snacks during the eating disorders screening,
alcohol-free beverages during the alcohol screening, and smiley-faced pens and
notebooks during the depression screening. “Students love getting anything that
is free. Sometimes we do popcorn. We have discovered that the smell of
popcorn draws the crowd,” said Karen Douglas, Assistant Director at the
Counseling & Career Services Center at McMurry. Faculty members are also
invited to get involved by offering extra credit to students who participate in
the screening events.
- Students at
Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina
participated in a poster campaign during National Eating Disorders Awareness
Week. Students were invited to be photographed and then write something they
liked about themselves –inside or out- on the picture. The images were then
used in posters that promoted confidence on campus. All the posters can be
viewed at http://counseling.appstate.edu/pagesmith/177.
“Thanks for the opportunity to share a program that served both as an
intervention and prevention initiative,” said Denise Lovin, a psychologist at
Appalachian State University Counseling Center.
These are only examples of some of the many creative ways in which colleges and
universities encourage students to take a screening. If you have any questions,
suggestions or ideas, please don’t hesitate to
email us. We are always willing to help you promote your event.
Best of luck with your screening events!