For nearly two decades, the rising rates of mental health struggles among college students have been well researched and well reported. This much-needed awareness catapulted the issue to the top of administrators’ priority lists, resulting in task force recommendations that focused primarily on treatment expansion. In fact, the majority of the response to what the media has coined the “college student mental health crisis” has been just that — a response. 

A growing number of campus leaders across the country are now promoting a different lens through which to view college student mental health — one that is proactive and population-based. Encouraged by movements such as the Okanagan Charter, which advises colleges and universities to embed health and wellbeing into every aspect of campus life, this new thinking takes into account determinants of health, both protective factors as well as risk factors, that help or inhibit students from thriving. 

Part of the appeal of a health promotion approach comes from frustration about the unsustainability and limitations of the clinical model most colleges maintain. While experts support strengthening and expanding counseling services for those who need them, demand will continue to outpace resources at most institutions. At the same time, many students who could use some level of support aren’t asking for it, indicating there could be other non-clinical on-ramps that could help with issues that may be more developmental or environmental. And as with all downstream models, counseling treats those who have already developed a problem, begging a question about what might have helped earlier. 

As valid as these arguments may be, moving upstream by focusing on mental health, not just mental disorders, requires colleges and universities to make an institutional mindset shift. This is not always easy to achieve in a sector dominated by entrenched beliefs. The broader, more holistic approach takes interdepartmental coordination and buy-in (no more “not my job” rationalizations), introduces new phrasing like “psychological health,” and requires the currency with which institutional decisions and investments are made in higher education: evidence. 

“It really takes the wellbeing conversation away from, ‘What are the student affairs people doing about this?’"

“For a while now, we’ve been able to understand individual health outcomes which are easier to measure,” said Chris Dawe, the former chair of the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network, which is affiliated with the Okanagan Charter. “I think we need much better data on the kind of work we are doing at the systems level that allows us to make better decisions about what works and doesn’t work.” 

Researchers working in the field of college student mental health acknowledge this need and are helping to close the data gap on a preventive approach. Daniel Eisenberg, along with Sarah Lipson, directs the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthy Minds study, whose annual survey has been largely responsible for sounding the alarm on the rising rates of mental health issues among college students. They are now developing a best practices repository: a comprehensive, publicly accessible repository of evidence about the effectiveness of various public health and preventative programs, services, and policies that address college student mental wellbeing.

“Campuses offer an ideal setting for preventive strategies because there are so many different ways to reach students over a sustained period of time with supportive resources and practices,” Eisenberg said. “But campus leaders and administrators need to pay close attention to two major challenges in implementing these strategies. First, which strategies actually have strong evidence of effectiveness? Second, how can we ensure that these strategies actually reach a large number of students in a meaningful way?”

Innovative partnerships

Another key player in the evidence-based prevention research arena is MindArch Health, a company that partners with colleges and universities on improving community health. Founded by Nadine Wilches, a clinical social worker and researcher, MindArch uses a comprehensive software solution to assess and enhance mental wellbeing and resilience within campus populations. It is both a product and a strategy, starting with a survey tool institutions use with their students, and often faculty and staff, to determine a wellbeing protection/risk profile. 

“The mission behind our work is to reduce risk and reverse rates of mental and behavioral health problems,” Wilches said. “We do that by trying to predict those most at risk using a community mental health model which is more socioecological. We look at the whole campus system and the impact of mental wellness through what we call protective factors in the research.” 

The product, called MAP (MindArch Automation Pathway), is evidence-based, strength-based, and pre-clinical. MindArch uses an EQUIP model (Examine, Quantify, Unite, Inquire, Plan) for the process overall and the five elements of a systemic wellbeing framework in its surveys. These are: self-efficacy; psychological safety; emotional control; interpersonal attunement, and self-assurance. 

“We are measuring the factors that are known to buffer against mental health problems — things like security, belonging, connection, sense of self. And then we break all those down into questions that allow us to direct solutions,” Wilches said.

After the assessment, which includes qualitative research with key stakeholders, the MindArch process calls for bringing together leaders from across campus for a three-part planning phase that produces sustainable changes towards a tangible goal. The areas in consideration are the 4 P’s — policies, practices, programs, and places — with the question being: How has what we learned influenced these domains? Once interventions are in place, a pre- and post-assessment provides the schools with efficacy data. The outcome of the process can involve every aspect of the university, from the classroom to the surrounding community. 

“We’re working on changing environments and environmental conditions that produce stress that can be prevented rather than saying each individual on campus needs X, Y, and Z,” said Tim Ecklund, the vice president for partnerships at MindArch. Ecklund came to the company after many years in student affairs leadership positions, including at Stonybrook University and Utica College. He said, during his career, he was struck by how little colleges and universities were doing to strengthen mental health, while they focused most of their attention on how to address mental disorders. “MindArch was what I wished I had,” he said. 

MindArch’s preventive mindset, and its focus on strategies that can impact everyone on campus, appeals to many administrators looking for more comprehensive solutions. Cheryl Barnard, the dean of students at Miramar College, a community college in San Diego, is a customer of MindArch. She spent many years as a student affairs leader for private, four-year institutions on the east coast.

“In all my years as an administrator, mental health has always been about the delivery of a service to the students who come to counseling,” she said. “This is the first time where I feel like I have an evidence-based strategy that looks at the entire population and not just the 1 percent to 5 percent who find their way to the counseling center.” 

“This is the first time where I feel like I have an evidence-based strategy that looks at the entire population and not just the 1 percent to 5 percent who find their way to the counseling center.” 

Barnard said MindArch has allowed her to reach that larger student group with strategies that are specific to her campus. After receiving the data regarding protective factors and risk factors among students at Miramar, she pulled a task force together to consider what changes they might make on campus. One idea included putting together a skills building program for the school’s ANAPI population (Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders) after these students reported a deficit in their decision-making abilities. Another involved pooling resources that would combine supporting students’ health, mental health, and basic needs. 

Barnard’s favorite part is the data. “MindArch gives you evidence-based practices based on the data you’ve collected so you’re not guessing. It’s hard to argue with a result we’ve gotten from 300 of our own students.” 

MindArch’s broad application on campus means that many of its customers come from different corners of the institutions. Stuart Sidle served as the dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Mercy University in New York. He now leads a $5.25 million U.S. Department of Education STEM Ready H.S.I.-STEM grant at the university. As an organizational psychologist and student success strategist, Sidle was particularly drawn to MindArch’s focus on resiliency and its correlation to persistence. 

“We’ve had some very good opportunities to use this data,” Sidle said, pointing to a new training for faculty that helps students with self-regulation by having them reflect on their own energy and time during exam periods. “We’re really looking at what we can we do to help people stay in a good place before they are struggling,” he said. “It really takes the wellbeing conversation away from ‘What are the student affairs people doing about this?’ to ‘Let’s all be aware of the adjustments we can make to help students thrive.’” 

MindArch was launched in September 2025 as a for-profit company, though Wilches prefers to call it a social enterprise, as it receives donations and puts profits back into research and development. At an average of $14,000 a year, it is now in seven schools and growing. Its pitch to higher education includes its advantageous use of competing resources given its scale. Here again, is where evidence comes into play. 

“One school saw an 8 percent improvement across four or five elements in just one academic year,” Wilches said. “Another saw an 11 percent improvement in psychological health by strengthening the protective factor they had targeted. In fact, 100 percent of our institutions have been able to get additional funding from the data we originally collected.” 

You can reach LearningWell Editor Marjorie Malpiede at mmalpiede@learningwellmag.org with comments, ideas, or tips.