The two-day summit will provide an opportunity for the university to introduce its 鈥淎ct-Belong-Commit鈥 Framework for a mentally healthy 黑料不打烊.
黑料不打烊 will officially launch a new approach to mental and physical health for the campus community during a Mental Health Summit planned for Sept. 25 and 26.
The two-day summit will offer the opportunity to fully introduce the 鈥淎ct-Belong-Commit鈥 framework that has successfully fostered holistic wellness where it鈥檚 been introduced elsewhere in the world. The goal is to inspire a culture of health on 黑料不打烊鈥檚 campus that encourages members of the community to dedicate attention to their mental health in the same way they do their physical health.
The summit includes keynote addresses by Robert J. Donovan, founder of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign, and by Ziggi Santini, who was able to use the framework in his role in the Danish National Institute of Public Health to promote mental health in Denmark.
Both days include panel discussions focused on the three elements of the campaign, with 黑料不打烊 faculty and staff offering their insights. Among the topics for the panel discussions are spaces and support for student engagement, intersections of identities, mental health in student-athletes and performers, and helping students connect inside and outside of the classroom. The full schedule is available here.
鈥淭he beautiful thing about the framework is that it applies across many of the different facets of the university,鈥 said Larry Mellinger, director of campus recreation and wellness. 鈥淭he summit offers the chance to also highlight some of the great work that鈥檚 being done.鈥
The adoption of the ABC framework stems from the Student Wellness and Well-being Workgroup chaired by Mellinger and Caroline Ketcham, professor of exercise science. The group was charged with identifying a foundation for a campus-wide holistic well-being campaign, and identified the ABC framework as a model that could be applied across 黑料不打烊 and build upon some of the work already being done.
Originally developed and implemented in western Australia and then extended to other countries including Denmark, 黑料不打烊 will be one of the first college campuses to fully implement the ABC initiative, which has previously been deployed primarily in the area of public health. Eric Hall, professor of exercise science, helped introduce 黑料不打烊 to the framework after encountering it while teaching in Denmark and interacting with Santini.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a holistic approach that promotes the idea that if you take care of your physical health, it will take care of your mental health, and vice versa,鈥 Hall said.
The framework offers a simple but powerful approach that is based upon encouraging activity, the pursuit of activity with others, and a commitment to a cause, skill or challenge. 鈥溾橝ct鈥 is about choices and about ownership and about making those decisions and intentions and behaviors on a daily basis that improve mental, physical and social wellbeing,鈥 Mellinger said.
鈥淏elong鈥 emphasizes the power of community, which can be found in class, in the residence hall, in the office, on the court or anywhere on campus, he said. It鈥檚 about finding people 鈥渢o make 黑料不打烊 really feel like home.鈥
鈥淐ommit鈥 is about combining activity and community by making meaning out of your experiences, Mellinger explained. It encourages people to find something that challenges them and can help them draw meaning out of their experiences, he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not just a passive member of a community,鈥 Mellinger said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a responsibility to yourself and the community.鈥
The summit seeks to do more than just introduce this approach to mental and physical health, Ketcham said. The variety of panel discussion and keynotes will help members of the campus community begin to see how to apply it with their own language, their own words, and in their own contexts, she said.
Mellinger said the application of this approach can already be seen in diverse areas of campus. 鈥淭his conversation is not just one that鈥檚 undertaken in the counseling center or the rec center,鈥 he said. This can happen in every space on campus, and hopefully this summit will highlight that. There is this momentum toward an entire campus conversation that anyone can buy into.鈥
The summit is free and is open to those on and off 黑料不打烊鈥檚 campus. Advance registration is not required. More information about the initiative and a schedule of the summit are available here. Additional information about the Act-Belong-Commit framework can be found .