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Fostering a Supportive Campus Culture for Peer Support

TimelyCare — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:58:03 +0000

Overview

Peer support programs can significantly boost student well-being and belonging. In this Care Conversations episode, Seli Fakorzi shares strategies for integrating peer support into campus culture and overcoming implementation challenges.

In this episode of Care Conversations, Seli Fakorzi, Director of Mental Health, TalkNow, and Client Liaison at TimelyCare, discusses the impact of peer support on college students. Join Seli and host Sushi Suresh as they dive into strategies for how colleges and universities can support students more effectively.

Care Conversations is an audio series by TimelyCare, higher education’s most trusted virtual health and well-being provider. Each conversation offers insights from subject-matter experts on topics impacting campus health and wellness.

How can college and university leaders foster a culture of peer support?

Seli Fakorzi:

Campuses can foster peer support by making information easily accessible through events, student groups, or digital tools like QR codes. Hosting info sessions and creating resources to educate students on how to support their peers are key steps in building a proactive and informed support culture.

Sushi Suresh:

I think being easily accessible is so important to students. There’s already so much on their plates, so removing barriers can make a big difference.

What are creative ways schools have integrated peer support?

Seli Fakorzi:

Some campuses are training students to serve as peer supporters using tools like the Be There Certificate on TimelyCare’s platform. Counseling centers are also creating spaces where these peer supporters can gather, learn, and reflect together. Group training helps make the experience approachable and empowering, encouraging students to take pride in supporting their campus community.

What challenges do schools face, and how can they overcome them?

Seli Fakorzi:

A common challenge is encouraging students to take on peer support roles. Many feel uncertain or lack confidence. Schools can overcome this by offering flexible resources like the Be There Certificate, which students can complete at their own pace. Digital tools meet students where they already are—online—making it easier to engage and share support. Ultimately, normalizing peer support and keeping it manageable is key.

Sushi Suresh:

I love all of those tips. The Be There Certificate is a great digital tool, and our partnership with the Born This Way Foundation makes it even more impactful.

How can faculty and staff create safe, supportive spaces?

Seli Fakorzi:

Faculty and staff are crucial in normalizing mental health conversations. They don’t need to be therapists just active listeners who validate students’ experiences and guide them to helpful resources. By staying informed and approachable, they can be powerful allies in promoting campus wellness.

Sushi Suresh:

That resonates with me. Some of my most meaningful college experiences came from professors who normalized mental health support. It had a big impact on my journey.

How your campus can start a peer support movement

Creating a culture of peer support starts with intention and action. Whether it’s through student training programs, digital tools, or faculty engagement, small efforts can lead to a major impact.

Contact us to learn how we can help your campus thrive.

Key Takeaways

Peer support fosters connection and mental wellness.
Accessibility and simplicity are critical to student engagement.
Faculty and staff should actively normalize mental health conversations.
Training tools like the Be There Certificate help students feel confident in supporting peers.
Creating dedicated spaces for peer support builds community.

FAQs

What is the Be There Certificate?

It’s a digital peer support training tool designed to help students learn how to support their peers in a thoughtful and effective way.

Why is peer support important in higher education?

It enhances belonging, reduces stigma, and empowers students to contribute to a healthy campus culture.

How can faculty support peer programs?

By listening, encouraging open dialogue, and connecting students to campus resources.

The post Fostering a Supportive Campus Culture for Peer Support appeared first on TimelyCare.

Combatting Perfectionism in College Students

TimelyCare — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Listen to the Episode

In this episode of Care Conversations, Nicole Trevino, vice president of student success at TimelyCare, discusses the impact of perfectionism on college students. Join Nicole and host Sushi Suresh as they dive into strategies for how colleges and universities can help support students.

Care Conversations is an audio series by TimelyCare, higher education’s most trusted virtual health and well-being provider. Each conversation offers thoughtful insights from a subject-matter expert on different topics impacting the health and well-being of campus communities.

How have you seen perfectionism impact students mental health?

Nicole Trevino:

Students become stressed and burnt out. There’s such a desire to be perfect, to succeed in their major, to land that perfect internship, to land that perfect job, or get into that particular graduate school post-graduation.

Students will often work, work, work, and not take care of themselves. They get burned out as a result of trying to be that perfect scholar of sorts.

What types of resources and programs helped those students in those situations?

Nicole Trevino:

In my experience, having marketing campaigns on campus that promote recharging, taking care of yourself, and being mindful of your overall well-being and your mental health are helpful. Successful institutions have these types of campaigns in place, and it’s something that’s not just for students. It’s for faculty, staff, and students alike.

The other piece is having these conversations as early as orientation, encouraging students to take advantage of the resources, and educating parents, guardians, and family supporters about all the resources that are on campus, so as their students call home stressed or needing support, they can redirect and remind students what’s available there in the campus community to support them.

Sushi Suresh:

I love that! Setting the standard from the get-go with orientation and a student’s support system can go a long way.

What are things that faculty, staff and administrators can do to address the negative impacts of perfectionism on students and also help support their academic performance and well-being?

Nicole Trevino:

Remember that you’re role modeling for your students. Talk about the practices and how you take care of yourself, how you recharge yourself, and share that with your students.

Encourage your students to use resources just as we’re talking about taking care of ourselves. Utilize what’s available within your community.

Another way to help students is to step into a mentor role to really help students along the way.

Sushi Suresh:

I think that’s so important. I remember when I was a student, having a faculty or staff member really acknowledge these things, and having that open dialog like that made such a huge impact on me. I just felt more open to coming to them with some of the issues I had around perfectionism.

Closing Thought: Perfectionism often leads to student burnout due to the pressure to excel academically and professionally. However, with the help of faculty and staff stepping into mentor roles, students can navigate their academic careers.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

The post Combatting Perfectionism in College Students appeared first on TimelyCare.

Supporting College Students Mental Health During Holiday Breaks

TimelyCare — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 22:36:26 +0000

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How Schools Can Help Students Manage Their Mental Health During Holiday Breaks

In this episode of Care Conversations, Carly Newhouse, senior manager of clinical programs at TimelyCare, discusses strategies for schools to support students’ mental health during holiday breaks. Heading home, or away from campus, can be a mix of excitement and stress for many students. Join Carly and host Sushi Suresh for a conversation about how colleges and universities can make the holiday break (and the return to campus) smoother for students.

How can colleges and universities best prepare students to manage their mental health and family expectations during holiday breaks?

Carly Newhouse:

Educate Your Students About Support Resources Available Away From Campus: If your school has invested in TimelyCare, you want students to know that we are available and all the resources we have, from self-care resources to on-demand or scheduled visits. Additionally, are they able to access any of the on-campus resources that they typically rely on during this period?
Help Students Who Stay On Campus to Find Connection: The same holds true for students who can’t return home because their family is located internationally, they can’t afford to get home, or home is not safe—so they really cannot go home. We want to make sure that they know about the support available, especially if they’re going to be staying on campus, and potentially not with a group of peers that they know. How can they stay plugged in? Perhaps the school has activities or some ways of connecting students that will be on campus.

How might schools prepare for the students return? And how can the break impact academic and social reintegration with campus?

Carly Newhouse:

There may be some whiplash with a student going from an emerging adult, who is independent and choosing their own time to go to sleep rather than a curfew, having to adjust to being back in a family environment. So, when somebody’s been back with family for a month and a half, they start to get used to that dynamic again. To come back to school and be independent when perhaps they haven’t done laundry on their own for six weeks, for example, can be a challenge. It’ll take a little bit of time to adjust.

Help Them Readjust to School Mode: I’d definitely recommend that professors not assign a tremendous amount of assignments that are due quickly. We want to give students a little bit of time to readjust.
Remind Them Again About Available Resources: I’m sure professors know this from years of research and experience, but we want to be mindful of giving people time and reminding them of the resources, such as TimelyCare and on-campus resources. Six weeks can feel like a lot, and you don’t remember what you had access to, especially if you hadn’t previously used it. But now they might benefit from using it.

Closing Thoughts: Be mindful of students’ mental health during academic breaks! Transitions for students heading home and returning to campus can be difficult. So, overcommunicate about the support resources available to students each step of the way.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

Listen to the Episode

Tips for Students to Manage Their Mental Health During Holiday Breaks

In this episode of Care Conversations, Carly Newhouse, senior manager of clinical programs at TimelyCare, discusses the challenges students face when returning home from college during academic breaks. Heading home, or away from campus, can be a mix of excitement and stress for many students. Join Carly and host Sushi Suresh for a conversation about how students can handle family dynamics, keep their independence, and set boundaries that work.

What are some common challenges students face when they return home during academic breaks?

Carly Newhouse:

The biggest challenges are often that you leave college feeling more independent and more capable, and then you return home to an environment where you are likely somebody’s child and somebody’s sibling with certain responsibilities. There can be some cognitive dissonance there, where the student feels like, ‘Okay, earlier today, I was a rather independent adult, and then this afternoon, all of a sudden, I’m being told to clean my room and take the dog out before I eat lunch.’ That can be a real challenge, to switch gears. And, it’s one that the student may really not want to transition to that older role.

How can students can maintain healthy boundaries with family while still preserving that independence?

Carly Newhouse:

A key piece of guidance is to have clear and compassionate communication with your family members. So, you want to educate them on who you’ve become and what’s important to you. There may be students who talk to their family members daily, and yet, when you’re in person and living together, there are nuances that come out that you might not have articulated over the phone. So you want to educate them on what’s important to you now but do so in a way that they can be open to hearing it.

So rather than just saying, ‘No, I refuse to clean my room because I’m an adult and I can live however I want within the boundaries of these four walls,’ you could say, ‘Hey, this feels a little odd, because in college, I keep my room however I wanted it. And as long as there’s no food or anything dangerous for anyone in the family, it feels frustrating to me to be told to clean my room. Can we come to some middle ground? What feels the most difficult for you to accept in my room right now? Is it the clothes on the floor? Is it the garbage can overflowing? Like, what is it?’

What are some strategies for students who are experiencing feelings of loneliness and grief?

Carly Newhouse:

I’m really glad you brought it up! A lot of times, when we talk about going back into your family life, there’s an assumption that your family life is safe and healthy. And that’s, unfortunately, not the case for everybody.

There are a lot of students who come from families where there’s physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and so that is an unsafe environment. That can feel lonely and scary being taken from a college setting where you feel safe, maybe finally, for the first time. And then having to go back into an environment that is chaotic and inherently unsafe can be really challenging in those circumstances.

I would lean on a few things.

Support System: You want to reach out to your support system, especially if loneliness is the primary feeling. That support system might be other family members, friends, a professor, or us here at Timely Care. You might want to engage with TalkNow, scheduled counseling, or just Peer Community. It really depends on what feels safe to you. If you’re in a setting where you don’t have privacy, then an audio or video call is probably not ideal for you.
Self-Care: You also want to lean on the self-care rituals that feel good to you. And hopefully, at this point in your life, you know that ‘Hey, when I exercise, I feel more empowered and more in control,’ or ‘Hey, when I take 10 minutes to journal and lay out my goals for the day, I feel more able to make good decisions regardless of the environment that I’m finding myself in.’

Closing Thought: Returning home during the holiday season can be a challenge for students. By setting healthy boundaries, being clear in communication, and leaning on support resources and self-care, students can navigate the academic break and be ready for their to return to campus.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

The post Supporting College Students Mental Health During Holiday Breaks appeared first on TimelyCare.

The Ways Higher Ed Faculty and Staff Can Improve Time Management

TimelyCare — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 21:53:47 +0000

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In this episode of Care Conversations, Kristen Buglione, senior program manager of well-being and health coaching at TimelyCare, breaks down how higher education faculty and staff can improve their time management. Join Kristen and host Sushi Suresh for a discussion to learn some simple and effective time management strategies that can enhance the health, well-being, and success of those working in higher ed.

How can faculty and staff manage time wisely and prioritize tasks effectively while balancing administrative duties or teaching responsibilities or research?

Kristen Buglione:

It sounds simple, but finding a calendar and a to-do list strategy that works can be really effective! While we have so much going on and feel like there’s not enough time in the day or days in the week to get to it all, to be able to harness some control over your time is really important.

Blocking off time for certain types of tasks can also be really helpful. Identifying windows of time on your calendar, blocking them off, and then creating a to-do list of the things that you’re going to get done on certain days or at certain times can be so helpful.

Sushi Suresh:

I know things are so busy in the moment, but you’re right, being able to be like, ‘Okay, this is a weekly task. It’s going to happen on Friday. Don’t stress.’ That can really help and ease our stress of what we’re busy with at that moment.

Why is work-life balance important?

Kristen Buglione:

It’s important to experience both. Work and your other life experiences, whether that ends up, in the end, being a perfectly balanced work and personal life, that depends on your own life and your priorities.

I think it’s important to think about, and to identify, what your values and priorities are related to your work, life, your personal life, and to think about strategies to create some balance between the two.

Sushi Suresh:

I love that idea—that it’s not always going to be 50/50. We have to be realistic with the balance. And you need to know that anticipation of what is important to you in that week.

How can schools prioritize work-life balance?

Kristen Buglione:

There are a lot of ways to approach this organizationally. There are structures, policies, procedures, and ways that managers can influence how work-life balance is talked about or approached. There are simple ways that we can support each other, like noticing and acknowledging that we have lives outside of work that put a lot of demand on our time. There’s also checking in, asking how we’re doing, how things are going, and seeing if there are ways to support one another through some of those ebbs and flows.

Building trust and respect, and having open communication to create that supportive environment is really important.

What tips do you have for improving work-life balance?

Kristen Buglione:

Figure out your non-negotiables. For me, it’s movement, it’s being outside, it’s having my meals and snacks prepped, and spending quality time with family. I know if I don’t get enough sleep, I can’t concentrate. I can’t focus. So for me, those things are so important.

If I can really prioritize those things in my personal life, I know I’m going to be set up for success. I think that’s the first piece. Having that set schedule of how I’m doing those things in balance with my work responsibilities is really effective and helpful for me. I’ve recently started using my notes app, and that’s really working for me right now. So I’m really focused on putting all of my to-do’s in there and then checking it. It’s just really helpful, and then I have reminders built into my calendar.

Sushi Suresh:

There’s nothing more satisfying than for a pending task to go to a completed task. I totally feel that.

Closing Thought: Proper time management can stand in the way of productivity and efficiency for faculty and staff in higher education. However, by setting expectations and priorities with yourself and implementing some simple strategies into your schedule, you can improve your daily routine.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

The post The Ways Higher Ed Faculty and Staff Can Improve Time Management appeared first on TimelyCare.

How to Help College Students Develop Time Management Skills

TimelyCare — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 21:47:42 +0000

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In this episode of Care Conversations, Kristen Buglione, senior program manager of well-being and health coaching at TimelyCare, discusses the importance of time management skills for college students, emphasizing their long-term impact on student’s health, well-being, and future careers. Join Kristen and host Sushi Suresh as they dive into how students can prioritize their time management and the ways colleges can support them.

What are some of the common time management challenges that students may face?

Kristen Buglione:

That’s a great question. Students have so much on their plate. There are so many competing deadlines and activities. What I tend to see is that students push themselves to try and do it all, and in doing that, they’re sacrificing their basic needs and healthy choices.

Sleep is usually the first thing that’s impacted. Students tend to cut back on sleep, push themselves to stay up later to do more, and fit in everything they’re trying to do. It can really impact them in a lot of different ways, both from a health and well-being perspective.

Sushi Suresh:

For sure that impact can be understated, and I feel like a lot of faculty and staff administrators can see that in their students.

How can schools help students overcome these challenges?

Kristen Buglione:

It’s important to look at the holistic experience of a student from an individual staff or faculty member’s point of view. It can be really easy to only think about how that student is interacting within the context of your classroom or your team. If you take a step back and think about the holistic experience for that student, we have a lot of students who are going to school, have jobs, and have family members that they’re supporting. There are a lot of expectations on them and expectations they put on themselves.

If we can help students organize and plan their time, acknowledge that they need that support because they have so much going on, and help them explore and use the tools that are available to them. (Sushi) I love the emphasis that not every student is the same, and they all have so many different experiences. So, approaching them with empathy is so important, but also, I remember as a student, not even knowing what resources were available to me until someone told me.

How can schools integrate time management skills into their curriculum and any student support services that may help them enhance student success?

Kristen Buglione:

I think demonstrating organizational and planning skills inside and outside of the classroom is a great way to help students learn.

Build it into the learning experience or their experience and their activities outside of the classroom.
Think about ways to build that into the process. It is really helpful in guiding students to use those strategies and those tools.
Check in and ask people how they’re doing. Learn about what’s going on with them, and then connect them to resources or tools. Approaching everyone from that human and empathetic lens can really help us all support each other and recognize when another level of support is needed, or just a little extra flexibility would be helpful to help that student manage their time.

Sushi Suresh:

Some of the best professors I know always checked in and were aware that maybe I was struggling a little bit with my time management, and just helped me out by talking through it.

Closing Thought: A lack of time management can dramatically impact a student’s ability to reach their goals. By being aware of these challenges and bringing an empathetic perspective, faculty and staff can help guide students to solutions to help them succeed.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

The post How to Help College Students Develop Time Management Skills appeared first on TimelyCare.

Best Practices to Support Student Mental Health During Times of Uncertainty

TimelyCare — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 21:51:11 +0000

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In this episode of Care Conversations, Matt Geracie, director of mental health – scheduled counseling at TimelyCare, discusses strategies for colleges and universities to support students’ mental health during times of uncertainty and crises around the world. Join Matt and host Taylor Stakes for a discussion on how to foster campus connections, help students manage anxiety, and support students in and out of the classroom.

What proactive measures can colleges and universities take to help manage students’ anxiety related to the global crises happening every day?

Matt Geracie:

That’s a really good question. I think, in general, we have to try to get ahead of it as much as possible. And when looking at building a resilient campus, there are a couple of good things to focus on.

Foster connection on campus
Do we have things in place that can promote students connecting with each other? That is of utmost importance, whether that’s setting up events for students, having plenty of clubs or activities, or staying mindful of the online student population, which I think is one of the bigger challenges with schools now as we’re going to more of an online format. But even setting up things like peer-to-peer support and doing whatever we can to foster connection. I know that can be a challenge, but a lot of research shows that the more engaged folks are on campus, the more connected they feel and the higher the probability that they can do well. There are great retention numbers in terms of students being engaged and involved on campus.
Ensure students are aware of support resources
Nowadays, schools have many great resources for students. And I wish when we were in school that we had these resources. One of the biggest challenges is making sure that students are aware of them. There’s the obvious benefit of students knowing about it, but there’s another added benefit of normalizing that those services exist and that a lot of students are using them.

What resources should institutions provide for students to address anxiety and uncertainty?

Matt Geracie:

A few things come to mind:

Host workshops
Schools can host workshops or seminars that focus on managing stress and mindfulness.
Expand access to support
Some campuses are considering expanding access to support and adding additional drop-in hours on campus.
Promote services
Campus can promote available services if they’re not already promoting. Whatever folks can do to support peer-to-peer help is great.
Prioritize digital hygiene
It’s important to discuss digital hygiene and promote limiting social media consumption, setting digital boundaries, and curating healthier habits. I heard this idea the other day of designating specific areas on campus as screen-free zones where students can disconnect to provide a space where they’re calm and can focus. But I thought it was a really cool idea, especially during this time when we cannot avoid information about what’s going on in world events.

What recommendations do you have for colleges and universities to support international students experiencing political unrest in their home countries?

Matt Geracie:

With international students in general, it’s important to be intentional about providing specific support. Even without considering things that are going on in their own home country that are really distressful, just being an international student in general is hard.

I imagine what it’s like to go to another country, go to school and, not know anybody there, and adjust to the culture. It would be very difficult. It’s great when campuses have groups specifically for international students or opportunities to meet other international students. One of the biggest challenges is feeling like you have community when you’re in this new place and when you’re away from your home.

So, anything they could do to help create community and make people feel supported is great, and then they could promote the resources available on campus to students when needed.

How can faculty and staff support students as they face stress inside and outside the classroom?

Matt Geracie:

Faculty are really the front line of what happens on campus. From my experience working in higher education, I know it is not uncommon for students to feel very comfortable sharing a lot with faculty. Often, it’s through the lens of, “I couldn’t, you know, do this assignment because of this, or I’m going to be out of town for that.”

Considering the role that they play, it’s really important that they also promote the resources available and know when to refer students to help. Many campuses are now doing Mental Health First Aid training for all of their staff, and I think that could be a really valuable thing, especially for those working on campus. Things can happen all the time, whether you’re a faculty member or a staff member. You never know when there’s going to be a student who needs a little bit of help.

I think that it’s great to get that training and promote it on campus so that people can feel comfortable about the resources available and how to handle certain situations with students.

Taylor Stakes:

One thing I tell my students when they approach me with certain issues that I’m not equipped to handle is to check in with our counseling center on campus. If TimelyCare is available, check out TimelyCare because I’m not a mental health professional. So, I always defer to the professionals.

Matt, thank you so much for joining us today and thank you all for listening. If you’ve enjoyed this conversation, check out our other episodes until next time. Take care.

This transcript has been edited from the original conversation for clarity.

The post Best Practices to Support Student Mental Health During Times of Uncertainty appeared first on TimelyCare.