Kristie Norwood, the counseling director at Hampton University, a historically Black college in Hampton, Virginia, is willing to sound like a broken record when it comes to what the growing number of students attending HBCUs need and want from their education: It's all about belonging.

In the seven years since Norwood started at Hampton, following a decade-long clinical career working with veterans, she's seen her home institution transform. Amid a trend of increasing enrollment across HBCUs nationally, Hampton's surged 46 percent between 2022 and 2025 alone. 

With LearningWell, Norwood offers her perspective on why Black students today may be feeling drawn to Hampton and HBCUs widely, the mental health pressures they continue to grapple with on campus, and how her center is growing and innovating to meet the moment. 

Dr. Norwood is a mental health expert at the Steve Fund, a leading nonprofit dedicated to promoting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of young people, particularly those from underserved and under-resourced communities.  

LW: HBCUs widely, and Hampton in particular, are seeing upticks in enrollment. Has that shift been noticeable in your work, or did it surprise you?

KN: Our president, President Darrell K. Williams, came in about three years ago with this vision around having the number one student experience in America, and part of that vision encompasses mental health and wellbeing. I think that has really set the tone and really galvanized our team. Students coming across the country to college — they want a great education, but they also want other aspects that incorporate wellbeing. They want activities. They want a sense of community. They want to know that many of our students now have had some exposure to mental health care and that the support and resources are here. 

From a student mental health perspective, are there specific factors you think have made HBCUs, and Hampton, most appealing to students lately?  

At Hampton, there's a really strong sense of community and belonging. For example, each of the classes has its own name, its own identity. There's this friendly banter — or I would say really, it's friendly pride — that happens between the classes. Students walk in with this sense of community. The alumni base is also incredible. So while I am not a Hamptonian, I have come to really appreciate and value the connection that students feel to the alumni base. 

"It doesn't mean that you have to come to an HBCU, but I would offer for other institutions to think about, how are we creating that sense of belonging for Black students?"

There's a sense that the sociopolitical climate in recent years — school bans on D.E.I., racial violence, discrimination — might be inspiring more interest in HBCUs. Does that align with what you're seeing and hearing from students?

We do hear students talk about having been connected or grown up in predominantly white spaces and that, for them, it's really important to seek out an environment where they feel a connection to parts of their culture or they're around other students where aspects of Black culture are honored and an inherent part of the community experience.

The other piece we have to think about is the impact of the global pandemic. At that point, many of these students were transitioning to high school or in middle school — critical age periods. When you transition to high school, it's a big transition. So if I didn't get those typical transition or social skills at that point, now I'm getting them when I'm coming into college, but they might feel a little bit insurmountable. On top of that, during those times, we were witnessing the killings of Black people across the country. So all of those pieces play a role psychologically in belonging. Students may feel that they want to be somewhere where they feel connected and where aspects of heritage and culture are going to be shared — going to be valued. It doesn't mean that you have to come to an HBCU to have that, but I would offer for other institutions to think about, how are we creating that sense of belonging for Black students?

Do you end up with many students in your office still searching for that sense of belonging?

I think it can be challenging for first-year students. We see many students who are looking for a sense of belonging or just trying to figure out some of those social skills. How do I make friends? How do I maintain these relationships along with workload, with student organizations? I think the other piece is that many of our students may be very connected to their families, so this is the first time they're away from home. Geographically, there are no HBCUs, for example, in California. So we tend to draw a lot of students from there who desire to attend an HBCU, and then they're far from home. I think some of those pieces cause students to come in looking for, how do I create belonging? Who am I in this new space without my parents or guardians here, and how do I feel comfortable in this space?

I wonder if you've found similarities between working with veterans and now Black college students post-pandemic, maybe especially given your expertise with P.T.S.D.?

For sure. I would say responses to stressors and trauma are definitely existent in both populations and very similar — but also just that transition. Some of the veterans I worked with, they weren't necessarily fully diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but that sense of transition was challenging. It was like, no one understands me, even the people closest to me. Sometimes that mirrors our college students, where it's like, I don't know if my family understands me. I don't know if my faculty members understand me. I don't know if anyone from high school understands me. They're left feeling lost and then isolated, thinking it's just them, and it can lead to a spiral. So not to sound like a broken record, but I really think that idea of belonging and an authentic community is so important.

Are there other key mental health needs among Black college students today that you're seeing but maybe aren't getting as much attention or aren't as well understood?

I would say the pressure is a lot, and not just the pressure of being in college, but the pressure of navigating college and also balancing that with expectations. So many of our students are high performers, and many were the salutatorian or the valedictorian during high school. And so trying to navigate that with the questions of, who am I? And who does the world want me to be as a Black human? Who does my family want me to be? Who is safe enough for me to be authentically me? They're trying to figure these things out as they're 18 to 22 and their executive functioning, their brains, their frontal lobes are still developing. Those tend to be some parts of the transition that we normalize and help them navigate. 

I think, culturally, some of these messages go back many generations for Black persons, such as you have to continue working hard. Even if you're suffering, continue to push through it. So I think now we're working to shift those narratives to help young adults consider their wellbeing. And sometimes that means resting. Sometimes that means stepping back from clubs and organizations. Sometimes that means finding a mentor on campus. It's about finding your way home to yourself, your health, and your needs. 

And with the increases in enrollment, have you been seeing many more students coming into the counseling center?

We have absolutely seen more students coming into the counseling center, but I would say, at least at Hampton, it's partially due to enrollment, but there are other factors. We do a fair amount of outreach, and we have also established a bereavement services program and are partnering with New York Life Foundation to try to develop an evidence-based grief program. So I think that has driven students, when they experience a loss, to the counseling center, as well. 

We also have a peer counselor program. Right now, we have about 25 undergraduate student Peer Counselors. They are called counselors, but they're not licensed clinicians. They're not seeing heavy-laden mental health concerns, but they are available to provide support, and they're a great voice. Research shows that when college students have a mental health challenge, they're likely to report that to a peer first. So peers can be a conduit to help students get to the counseling center and get engaged with a clinician if that's what they need.

Has it been difficult to keep up with the demand for services? Did the counseling staff also need to grow?

Yes. I was really excited when our new president came on board and added two clinicians to our center. So about three years ago we added an athletics mental health specialist, and then we added an L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ specialist as well. Our partnership with New York Life Foundation also allowed us to hire a bereavement support clinician, as well as a bereavement care manager. So those resources have been tremendously helpful. I think many of my colleagues in higher education, if not all, would say they still need more resources — not just in college counseling centers but in the community in general — but I will say that the resources that we have are really helpful in serving students.

Do you mean mental health resources for the wider Hampton community? 

Yes. At least in Virginia, there's a shortage of mental health professionals. So the resources versus the demand makes it difficult to make sure that everyone is servicing folks in a timely manner.

Is it a challenge also to find clinicians within that shortage who can provide culturally sensitive care or are trained to work at an HBCU?

I think all accredited programs are expected to have a cultural competence component to them for graduate training, but taking one course is not enough. It's also ensuring that clinicians engage in their own introspection of their values and biases, that they're relatable, that they understand college populations, and then also understand some of the unique experiences that come with students who are drawn or enrolled at HBCUs.

Are there ways you're hoping to expand counseling services?

I would say I have two ideas. Currently, we have SheCare wellness pods through a partnership with the Boris L. Henson Foundation and Kate Spade New York, where we're able to offer yoga, art therapy, soundbath. It's a great connection point for integrative wellness, but I would love to expand on that and to see us have not just an integrative wellness center, but a community and belonging-integrated wellness center that really has an intentional community component to it. I also would love to see us be able to have a component that helps service our students who are neurodivergent. That is a population we're seeing more of in terms of trends. And so it's important to have select spaces where those students can, again, feel a sense of community and feel a sense of belonging. 

We also share a backyard with the [Veterans Affairs] Medical Center, so my V.A. roots feel really drawn to how we could merge that center with the community and also be able to service veterans who are transitioning out or who just want or need a continued sense of belonging. 

Are there specific benefits that come to mind when you think about what the counseling centers at HBCUs are able to offer?

Many counseling centers actually put a cap on resources. So students may only be eligible for six sessions a year or 12 sessions a year. I have not chosen to move to that model. And part of that is because there's such a big stigma that exists, particularly within the Black community, around just seeking help in general. And so if a student only gets six sessions, I might spend four of those just talking about the stigma and what it took for them to come into this space. 

I think we can be leaders in the field and in college counseling and talking about, how do you talk about that stigma? How do you eradicate that stigma? How do you normalize mental health? And then what are some of the unique challenges that this population may be experiencing, but maybe we're not talking about? What are they seeing on social media that might be traumatic? For example, Nolan Wells, that case just came out with the grand jury's findings. So here it's a topic of conversation, but there might be other schools where a student might be struggling around that case. Are we creating voice for all of those pieces that students are actively experiencing?

Any other Hampton projects you want to highlight?

I'm really proud. We just hosted the Steve Fund's 16th Young Growing and Rooted Conference. It was an all-day program, and it was the first time that they held it at an HBCU. So it was really beautiful to watch. We engaged in integrated wellness; we had breakout sessions, held healing circles, and our keynote speaker, Dr. Gina Duncan, an alumna of Hampton and Steve Fund expert, spoke about protective factors. I would love for us to continue programming with the Steve Fund, as well as with some of our other partners, to grow those spaces where we can have such dialogue and impact the campus and community.

You can reach LearningWell Reporter Mollie Ames at mames@learningwellmag.org with comments, ideas, or tips.