Creating a Happy & Healthy NAU

A Holistic Approach to Student Mental Health

5 min readOct 19, 2022

Poor student mental health ➡️ negative impact on both student success and retention.

Colleges across the nation are experiencing the effects of a mental health crisis among students. While challenges in student mental health have been on the rise — the pandemic has exacerbated stress, depression and loneliness in college students.

In recent years, there has been:

a 10% drop in high school students who want to go to college
a 20% drop in college-educated people in the country

The stats above were shared in a Inside Higher Ed webcast conversation with Pardis Mahdavi — Provost and executive VP University of Montana — and Luoluo Hong — VP, student engagement & well-being Georgia Institute of Technology.

The higher education professionals shared their campus’ experiences with student mental health and retention as well as strategies they’ve implemented.

What they all agreed upon was this: Institutions are more responsible now than they used to be.

At this point, you might be wondering what we can do if anything to make an impact in this area.

Enter the 8 Dimensions of Wellness

“Most students today don’t match who higher education was historically designed for. A holistic approach allows students — as well as faculty and staff — to come to campus as their whole selves.” — Luoluo Hong, VP, student engagement & well-being Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology shared how they implemented an eight-dimension model for wellness that aims to cultivate well-being by focusing on the total person.

If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, it should.

After a campus-wide needs assessment revealed the critical desire for a more cohesive and visible approach to wellness across campus, the multidisciplinary group Healthy Campus Coalition developed Live Well NAU, a framework to support the health and wellness of students, faculty and staff in hopes of cultivating a healthier — and happier — NAU community.

Live Well NAU provides resources for all eight dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, financial, and environmental.

Whether you’re a staff or faculty member who works with students, the Live Well NAU framework can help.

What are the 8 dimensions of wellness? We’ll break it down and share suggestions for what you can do to help bring the 8 dimensions into your student life.

Emotional 💛💙

Coping effectively with life stressors, having self-esteem, and expressing optimism, as well as being aware of our feelings, accepting the full range of feelings, expressing our feelings appropriately, and understanding the feelings of others

Create a stress free care package with tea recipes, coloring pages, and calming music recommendations. Encourage students to complete the NAU Resilience Project module.

Environmental 🌎

Honoring the interdependent, dynamic relationship we have with our environment — whether social, natural, built or digital — and our responsibility for sustaining it; occupying pleasant, nurturing, safe and stimulating environments

Host an outdoor trash pickup on a trail near campus. Invite Health Promotion to present a Bystander training to your group.

Financial 💵

Having basic needs met and a positive relationship with money, applying resource management skills to live within one’s means, making informed financial decisions, setting realistic financial goals, and preparing for short- and long-term needs or emergencies

Host a budget workshop.

Intellectual 🧠

Finding ways to engage in lifelong learning, expand knowledge and skills, and interact with the world through problem-solving, experimentation and curiosity, as well as the ability to think critically, reason objectively and explore new ideas

Share events and resources from from NAU’s Academic Success Centers.

Occupational 💼

Also known as “career.” Getting personal satisfaction and enrichment from work, hobbies and volunteer efforts, that are consistent with one’s values, goals and lifestyle, as well as taking a thoughtful and proactive approach to career planning and grow

Invite a staff member from Career Services to host a resume writing or interview skills workshop. Invite a speaker to a Q&A who is an expert in a specific field.

Physical 🏃‍♂️

Replenishing the body through physical activity, exercise, sleep, and nutrition.

“I learned a lot from the Live Well NAU principles, like the importance of sleep hygiene. Now, I make assignments due at 10 p.m. rather than the normal 11:59 p.m. to encourage students to get their work done earlier so they could have more time to wind down before sleep.” -McKenzie McLoughlin, NAU public speaking instructor

Invite Health Promotion staff to grocery bingo to share healthy recipes and eating tips. Bring a group fitness class to your group activity.

Social 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Connecting and engaging with others and our communities in meaningful ways, having a well-developed support system, being interculturally competent, and feeling a sense of belonging

This area of wellness requires effort these days — be intentional about reaching out, calling people to check in, and meeting up IRL. Share campus events with your students.

Spiritual 🧘‍♀️

Includes searching for and/or having a sense of purposeful existence and meaning in life, as well as seeking harmony with the universe, extending compassion towards others, practicing gratitude, and engaging in self-reflection

Ways to improve spiritual health and reminding yourself of your purpose could be faith-based practices, meditation, or taking time to take a step back from the stress of the day to gain perspective. Create a daily gratitude challenge in your area.

Apply Live Well NAU in the work you do with students

Share the Live Well NAU student guidebook with your team