New Student Orientation: Wellness & Safety

Anne Staunton, PhD, MPH

Manager, Wellness & Community Outreach

Division of Student Life

Summer, 2014

Overview • Mills Students – WIFM?

• Health & Safety Issues for Students

– Emotional/Mental Health

– Alcohol/Other Drugs

– Sexual Violence

– Stress

• How to Help Yourself & Others?

– Take Charge of Your Balance

– Training & Education

– Bystander Intervention

– DSL & Beyond: Mills Services & Resources

Who is a Mills Student?

YOU START HERE…

Who is a Mills Student?

AND YOU END HERE AT MILLS. WHAT HAPPENS IN BETWEEN?

Your Vision, Your Gifts & Talents

YOU DEVELOP YOUR OWN UNIQUE TALENTS AND VISION…

Learning & Fellowship

YOU DEDICATE YOURSELF TO LEARNING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN…

Helping Others

YOU HELP OTHERS ON THEIR JOURNEY…

Teamwork & Pride

AND YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, DEDICATION, TEAMWORK AND HELPING OTHERS RESULT IN ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT GIVE YOU A SENSE OF PRIDE.

Health & Safety Issues for College Students

– Emotional/ Mental Health

– Stress

– Alcohol/ Drug Use

– Nutrition

– Sexual and Reproductive Health

– Navigating/ Using Health Services

– Bullying

– Sexual Harassment

– Sexual Violence

Emotional Health • Major and minor life events and how we handle them can cause

stress and increase our susceptibility to physical or mental illness. • Trauma – including childhood trauma – also plays a significant role

in susceptibility to illness. • We are all individual in our vulnerabilities, resilience and coping. • Coping can be learned; most people can enhance their coping

strategies. • Drugs and alcohol make problems worse. • Get help for mental health or addiction issues. Call our Counseling

Center at 510-430-2130 for an appointment or urgent consult.

Helpful resources: • Help Guide: http://www.helpguide.org/ • Reach Out USA: http://us.reachout.com/ • The Jed Foundation’s U LifeLine: http://www.ulifeline.org/

Yikes – Stress!

• Can you name some events or experiences that are stressful?

• Stress in College: Some causes: – New responsibilities

– Increased workload

– Change in sleeping habits

– Change in eating habits

– Financial difficulties

– Anxiety/ being overwhelmed

– Disappointment with a grade or performance

– Break-ups

– Loneliness/ Homesickness/ changes in social support

Sexual Violence

Sexual violence, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct are not tolerated at Mills College. Types of offenses that are considered sexual violence:

• Stalking

• Dating Violence or Intimate Partner Violence

• Domestic Violence

• Sexual Assault

Sexual Violence is frequently accompanied by alcohol or other drug use.

What Can I Do?

• Everyone experiences new challenges, stressors and anxiety in college.

• You don’t need to know everything to help yourself and to be of help to others.

• Be aware, pay attention and get help from Area Coordinators or other staff members.

• Embrace opportunities for training and learning (like this one!).

How to Help Yourself & Others?

• Heed the advice of the airlines:

– “Place your own oxygen mask before assisting your child or others.”

• How to Help Yourself?

– What do you do to manage your own stress?

– How do you combat a “culture of stress?”

– What are you doing to create your own health, wellness and happiness?

Take Charge of Your Balance

Mindfulness: http://cdn.franticworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Mindfulness-Of-Body-And-Breath-from-book-Mindfulness-Finding-Peace-in-a-Frantic-World-128k.mp3

Create Your Happiness

UCSB, Gaucho FYI, Adapted from Sonja Lyobomirsky, PhD

How to Help Others

• Check in on a friend

• Notice behavior, red flags

• Listen and encourage

• Offer assistance

• Offer help to talk to someone (a counselor or physician)

• Offer help to get someone to a safe place or to medical care

Information, Education & Training in Wellness & Safety

– Take Online Course: Campus Clarity’s Think About It – including two follow-up refresher and post-test modules

*This course and follow-ups are mandatory for all new first-year and transfer undergraduate students

**Watch your MILLS.EDU email in-box (only Mills emails) for an invite

***Complete the course as soon as you can and before mid October

– Attend Campus wellness talks and events on Campus

Mills Wellness • Health Insurance Enrollment/ Waivers/Navigation/Use • Liaison for Kaiser Permanente operated Student Health

Center – All appointments are online or through 1-877-MILLS KP – No appointments or “I’m late” or cancelations or passing messages

through health@mills.edu or Cowell

• Health prevention and promotion programs (talks/ events, etc.)

• Individual coaching and support • Student involvement opportunities (Wellness Action

Group, Community Health Resource Center) Anne Staunton, PhD, MPH, Manager Cowell 123 510-430-2260

Division of Student Life: Cowell

Student Health Center: CPM 117

HOW ELSE TO HELP?

TALK ABOUT:

BYSTANDER INTERVENTION

What are some reasons why people would not intervene?

What are the warning signs that a sexual assault is about to occur and bystander intervention is needed?

What are effective strategies for preventing sexual assault as a bystander?

Things to Talk About

BYSTANDER EFFECT &

BARRIERS TO ACTION

The more people who are there to witness

a situation where someone needs help, the

less likely it is that someone will actually

intervene.

A person’s feeling of responsibility is not as

strong when that responsibility is shared by

others.

Bystander Effect

What are reasons someone might NOT

intervene in a situation?

What can we do on campus to overcome

these barriers to intervention and create a

more supportive campus climate?

Barriers to Action

HOW TO RECOGNIZE

SEXUAL ASSAULT

A distressing concern for all college students is sexual violence or misconduct.

Mills College does not tolerate any form of sexual violence, sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.

Sexual violence and misconduct may include:

- Stalking

- Dating Violence or Intimate Partner Violence

- Domestic Violence

- Sexual Assault

Most sexual violence and misconduct that occur on college campuses is in the category of dating violence or intimate partner violence, but some acts of violence also are perpetrated by acquaintances or friends.

90% of college women who are victims of attempted or completed rape know their attacker.

Sexual Violence in College

Take care of you:

• Know your risks.

• Use your instincts.

• Set and maintain your boundaries.

• Use good judgment.

Signs of an unhealthy and dangerous relationship (get distance but do not confront alone; get help):

– Controlling

– Isolating

– Jealous

– Rageful

– Abusing alcohol or drugs

– Yelling or physical fights or abuse

Warning Signs: Identify Intrusive, Controlling or Abusive Behavior

Victim blaming

– Places partial or complete blame for the assault in the victim

Rape myths

– The idea that “real rape” is only committed by a stranger who ambushes a woman unexpectedly

Studies have shown most men disagree with

such attitudes, but are afraid to speak out

– Silence encourages harmful behavior

Attitudes that Enable Sexual Assault

Consent is: V.O.I.C.E.

• V = Voluntary (freely given)

• O = Only Active (not passive)

• I = Informed

• C = Clear

• E = Engaged Permission

Part 1: What is Consent?

STRATEGIES FOR

INTERVENTION

The best model for preventing sexual

assault as a bystander is to:

– Notice the event

– Identify it as an emergency

– Take responsibility

– Decide how to help

– Act to intervene

General Strategy

• Step in and ask if the person needs help

• Don’t leave

• Have a buddy system, and let your friends know if you’re worried about them

• Ask directly, “Do you need a ride?”

• Find their friends or call 911

• Distract the perpetrator so there’s time to intervene

Specific Steps

For each scenario:

Would you intervene? If so, how? If not, why not?

Scenario 1

Your friends, Anna and Christine have been hanging out, but you know (because Anna told you) that they haven’t had sex. Before you went out tonight, Anna said, “Whatever happens, don’t let me sleep with Christine tonight.” Now, several drinks later, Christine wants Anna to come home with her – and Anna insists she wants to go.

Scenario 2

Walking home late one Friday night, you are embarrassed to find a couple making out against a wall on your way back. But, as you draw nearer, you see that the man is holding the woman against the wall…and you think you can see her struggling and hear her whimpering, maybe in distress. Just as you notice this, the man turns, and seeing you, says, “Walk away.”

Activity

HOW TO GET HELP

How to Get Help – Any Personal or Wellness Issue

• Call a friend

• Talk to your RA (or Area Coordinator if you are an RA)

• Call for a Counseling Appointment (510-430-2130)

• Visit the Student Health Center (1-877-MILLS KP) @ CPM 117

• Call the Triage Advice Nurse (after hours/ weekends) (1-877-MILLS KP)

• Call Public Safety (510-430-5555)

• In Emergency, call 911 on a landline or 510-777-3211 (on your cell phone)

• Call a hotline (see resources online at Mills/Wellness)

How to Get Help – Sexual Violence

Call: • Public Safety (510) 430-5555 • Dean of Students/Acting Dean (510) 430-3189 • Title IX Officer (510) 430-2333 • Oakland Police (9-1-1 on a landline) or (510) 777-3211

from a cell phone • Other DSL Resources:

– Wellness Manager (510) 430-2260 – Asst. Dean/ Director of Counseling & Psychological Services:

(510) 430-2262 – Asst. Dean/Director of Student Support Services: (510) 430-3241

• See additional resources online at Mills/Wellness