"Let's Talk About It" - Mindful PR Campaign for Belmont University Counseling Services
For a semester long project, group paired together to work with Belmont University's Counseling Services as a community partner for a Public Relations Campaigns class.
LINK TO PRESENTATION: "Let's Talk About It"Campaign Presentation
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Belmont University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is a Christian college that prides itself on a strong sense of community, connections, and core values. In the Fall of 2021, currently, 8,750 undergraduate students attend Belmont University. Belmont University’s gender ratio has been consistent with women to men being 66:34. Belmont provides many resources and opportunities to its student body. Belmont Counseling Services is one of the astonishing resources that Belmont provides within its community.
Belmont Counseling Services is an on-campus mental health facility available to Belmont University students for free. They offer many different services for resources, while also offering a variety of off-campus services students can look more into as well.
Belmont Counseling Services is committed to providing unrestricted, convenient access to professional mental health assessment, emergent care, short-term treatment, and wellness education, as well as referrals to off-campus specialists and services. This essential program equips students to manage life transitions as well as serious emotional issues. BUCS's collaborative efforts across campus and within the larger mental health community of Nashville ensure that Belmont students directly experience a sense of community that values safety, personal integrity, and care.
In today’s society, therapy is not as openly discussed on college campuses. When looking at the student ratio of the overall population at Belmont University, it only slightly changes in regards to those who go to counseling services. Where it concerns men, stereotypically, mental health is not a priority. There are many stigmas when dealing with encouraging men to go to therapy or talk openly about their emotions. Unfortunately, these stigmas carry over into everyday life and are not excluded at Belmont University.
Belmont University Counseling Center is staffed by professionally trained and licensed clinicians who have special expertise in working with college students. They are also a training site for master’s and doctoral level students pursuing clinical degrees. The head director, Katherine Cornelius, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received her Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University and Master of Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee. Counseling Services at Belmont consists of 11 other staff members that include therapists, doctoral practicum students, and graduate clinical interns.
Belmont Counseling is starting to advertise two new and important apps: TimelyCare and Therapy Assistance Online (TAO) are two apps that help with mental health. TimelyCare is 24/7 therapy, this is critical if a student is having a breakdown or panic attack after hours and needs to talk to someone immediately. TAO is another online service that students can access to find tips and techniques for self-care.
OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT:
The current priorities of Belmont Counseling services include increasing participation with the TAO (Therapy Assistance Online) and TimelyCare student assistance programs and to increase the commuter and male population counseling visits.
RESEARCH
In the Fall semester of 2021, a student team called Mindful PR in Belmont University’s Public Relations Campaigns class paired with the Belmont Counseling Services Department. The team had a meeting with the head of Counseling Services, Katherine Cornelius, to listen to her requests and objectives that Mindful PR could help with throughout the semester. Cornelius also listened to Mindful PR’s input given from the student body to help decrease stigma on therapy, increase knowledge about their services, and help the individuals feel more welcomed into Counseling Services as a whole.
Even with the list of resources and opportunities Belmont Counseling Services has to provide for students, many students were unaware of the services that have been implemented. When collecting initial research, the group created a survey before meeting with Cornelius. The group discovered that a number of the student body thought that Counseling Services only provided individual therapy. Mindful PR was determined to raise more awareness on what amazing services their community partner provides that seem to slide under the radar to a majority of the students who attend Belmont.
The team’s initial research survey was taken from a small sample group of Belmont student’s asked uncomplicated questions about Belmont Counseling Services, such as, “Did you know Belmont had counseling services?” “Where is the counseling center?” “Have you ever been to a session?” “What could the counseling center do at this moment to improve?” Most of the observations and responses received back were as expected. The overall consensus is that those who have been to the counseling center enjoyed therapy and found it a positive experience, but most of the student population does not know what services are offered, so they end up dismissing a visit. Many comments about what the counseling center could do to improve were more advertisements about what resources/services they provide for the students, or in other words, not keeping the services so reserved.
Another form of primary research Mindful PR conducted was directly from the students themselves. The team compiled a list of questions that the group felt would get the best results about how the students are feeling, do they take care of themselves mentally, and how well they know Belmont’s Counseling Services. The main question asked was if the students knew of the assistance programs TAO and TimelyCare, free through Belmont. The majority of individuals that were interviewed said no. The team also inquired about their personal feelings toward therapy and what they felt a stigma on therapy is in our present society.
For the team’s secondary research, the group analyzed the colleges in the Nashville area, as well as other states, to see how their counseling services are compared to Belmont University. Lipscomb University and Vanderbilt University both have counseling centers that open by 8:30 a.m. and are closed by 5:00 p.m. every day and are not open on the weekends. No exceptions are made for any situation. However, if there is a serious problem, Lipscomb University has a system where the student may call the president of the university through a private number, and then he may connect the student to a counselor. Another college the team researched was Georgia Southern University, they have a very clear-cut way to make appointments and are very student-oriented. Georgia Southern also has a 24/7 text therapy line as well as group sessions focused on the individual and several resources of all kinds, very similar to Belmont.
Belmont’s Counseling Center is very similar to Georgia Southern University as they offer a variety of services. These include one-on-one and group sessions, individualized care programs, apps such as TAO for self-care, and TimelyCare for 24/7 therapy assistance. The 24/7 TimelyCare is a relatively new program for students and those who take advantage of the app have nothing but positive reviews about how TimelyCare has helped them.
Cornelius provided Mindful PR with statistics regarding regular counseling and TimelyCare data. In a normal academic year, BUCS sees a 70:30 ratio of female to male visitors. During the month of August 2021, there were 47 registrants of actual accounts made. Of those individuals, 11 students scheduled an appointment, with 62% being female and 38% male.
PLANNING
After the research, the team started to develop a plan of action. The team communicated during weekly meetings throughout the semester during class time and exchanged text messages with the use of a group message thread; by doing this the group was able to effectively communicate.
When developing a plan, Mindful PR had to be attentive about who was the primary demographic. After looking at primary/secondary research, the team came to the conclusion that the student population at Belmont University is the main target public to reach during this campaign. The group worked tirelessly to create plans to share with Cornelius about achieving the objectives that were created during the various Zoom meetings. With the use of the information accumulated, Mindful PR developed the following objectives:
Objective One: To increase the number of Belmont University students who create their TAO account from 114 registrants in August to 137 registrants (20%) by December 1, 2021.
Objective Two: To increase the number of students who create their TimelyCare account from 47 registrants in August to 61 registrants (30%) by December 1, 2021.
Objective Three: To develop, by December 1, 2021, a set of recommendations for Counseling Services to help further promote their services to students at the university.
Objective Four: To create a promotional video including interviews with current students being asked Counseling Services and mental health-related questions for BUCs to put on their social media by December 1, 2021.
Objective Five: To increase by 5% the number of males that come to counseling services by May 5, 2022.
IMPLEMENTATION
The following strategies were developed by the team to promote TimelyCare and TAO:
Promote awareness during campus interviews of the location of Counseling Services and other benefits they offer to the student population.
Promote BUCS by acquiring an “It Must Be Wednesday'' table two weeks in a row by providing QR codes and business cards with information about TimelyCare/TAO.
Picking a prime table location for “It Must Be Wednesday” where most students pass to have optimal engagement with the study body.
The following tactics were developed by the team to promote TimelyCare and TAO:
Belmont Counseling Services posts reminders on their social media account to let the student public know that these events were occurring.
A video compilation is created of the campus interviews and those will be used on the BUCS Instagram page to help bring awareness to Counseling Services in a fun way.
The following tactics were used to develop a set of recommendations for Counseling Services:
Hosting an event called ‘Cookies and Concerns’ where students wrote down comments, compliments, or concerns they had with the Counseling Services on campus in exchange for a free cookie and/or sticker.
Compile a list of concerns/comments that were made at the ‘Cookies and Concerns’ event for Belmont’s Counseling Services team.
Brainstorming tactics to reach commuter students during a meeting with Cornelius.
The following strategies were developed by the team to create the promotional video:
Interviewed students during the Convocation hour where no one has class so it allowed them to have more time to speak to Mindful PR.
Created a list of questions that would further our research as invocate a humorous edge onto the conversation so no one felt uncomfortable.
The team sought out a variety of students from different years as well as a variety of males and females.
The team’s main goal was to spread more knowledge regarding Belmont Counseling Services. The team knew that one of the best ways to achieve this objective was to promote Counseling Services through the platform “It Must Be Wednesday” and directly to the student population. Before Mindful PR was able to acquire their own table at “It Must Be Wednesday,” Counseling Services requested the team come and help promote TimelyCare at their own table. The team went and helped with distributing business cards with TAO and TimelyCare QR codes, as well as enthusiastically encouraging students to check out the table while in line for free coffee.
Mindful PR then decided to focus on reaching out to the “It Must Be Wednesday” team to get their own table and an implementation process was put in motion. On Oct. 20, Mindful PR put together their ‘Cookies and Concerns’ table. The table was filled with TimelyCare and TAO QR codes for the students to scan, cookies for students to grab, and a basket filled with paper where students could write any concerns, questions, or compliments for BUCS. The event was promoted on all of the team members' social media and the BUCS Instagram story as well. The event exceeded expectations with around 100 students stopping by the table and around 40 students leaving a “concern” for the center.
Along with the “It Must Be Wednesday” event, the team also went around campus interviewing students receiving their opinion on therapy, and asking them about BUCS. During the interviews, the students were asked general mental health and self-care questions. Along with their opinions on the Counseling Center as a whole and whether or not they had TimelyCare and TAO. These individual interviews were then compiled together to create a video to use for the Counseling Services Instagram and other social media platforms.
EVALUATION
When looking back on the goals and objectives Mindful PR created with Counseling Services, the team, currently, has met 4 out of the 5. Objective 5 won’t be evaluated until the end of the spring 2022 semester.
Objective One: To increase the number of students who create their TAO account from 114 registrants in August to 137 registrants (20%) by December 1, 2021.
Objective Two: To increase the number of students who create their TimelyCare account from 47 registrants in August to 59 registrants (25%) by December 1, 2021.
Objective Three: To develop, by December 1, 2021, a set of recommendations for Counseling Services to help further promote their services.
Objective Four: To create a promotional video including interviews with current students being asked Counseling Services and mental health-related questions for BUCs to put on their social media by December 1, 2021.
Objective Five: To increase by 5% the number of males that come to counseling services by May 5, 2022.
Objective 1 was to raise the TAO accounts by 20%. The total number was 500 accounts which raised the number of accounts by 30%. The objective was exceeded. Objective 2 was to increase the number of TimelyCare accounts by 25%. The total number was increased to 513 registrants 127%. Objective 3 was met by sitting down with Cornelius and assessing the counseling service’s goals and what the team has observed for possible goals and making a list of overall goals for the semester. Objective 4 was met by the team going around campus and interviewing students about mental health and self-care, then editing then clips into a promotional video. Objective 5 will not be able to be evaluated as the end evaluation date is the end of the spring semester.
The team found working with the Belmont Counseling Center very enjoyable and a wonderful experience to open the conversation about mental health. The Counseling Center was very open to the team’s suggestions and also expressed gratitude for the team’s assistance in spreading the word about the new app at the “Cookies and Concerns” event. Cornelius stated that during January, her staff will be taking a winter retreat where they will showcase our work and discuss more in-depth about how to implement the list of recommendations we provided them with. In addition, the representatives from TimelyCare expressed serious interest in our campaign and mentioned wanting to use it as a blueprint to implement into other schools across the country.
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