Thursday, February 15, 2018 Health Center increases student outreach
During the fall semester, the University Health Center had impressive success in its educational and promotional outreach with an estimated 20,463 student interactions. This number was calculated through the use of HuskerScan at most peer educator events and estimated headcounts at presentations and other events.
The Health Center largely attributes this achievement to a restructured peer educator program, a streamlined presentation request process and active participation in welcome-back events.
By organizing 64 educational outreach events last semester, the Health Center educated students on 15 distinct topics, including alcohol, tobacco cessation, stress, sexual consent and more. Significant events included the annual Love Your Body Day and National Depression Screening Day events hosted by Counseling and Psychological Services. The Health Promotion & Outreach department’s new peer educator program organized the remaining events.
The combination of wellness advocates and healthy huskers into one peer educator group last fall led to a smaller, but more dedicated group of students. Involved students worked more hours at the Health Center, which not only allowed them to receive more robust training but also made them feel more invested in their role on campus. As a result, the program resulted in a higher volume of student interactions at outreach events.
In total, the Health Center gave 33 presentations to student audiences last fall. Presentation topics included an overview of CAPS and Health Center services, depression and anxiety, cultural adjustment for international students, alcohol, stress, suicidal ideation, healthy relationships and more. A new integrated presentation request form debuted last summer, making it easier for students, faculty and staff to request presentations while simultaneously improving the tracking for the Health Center.
The Health Center participated in 25 events hosted by other organizations across campus, including Greek Life Orientation, Transfer Student Welcome, Rock the Block, Big Red Welcome, CEHS Welcome Week, College of Architecture Ice Cream Social and more. The Health Center had been involved in some of these events previously, but many events were new opportunities for marketing Health Center services—especially to freshmen.