Mental Health & Well-Being Resources
At the School of Public Health (SPH), we value each individual’s complete holistic health and well-being. SPH and the University of Minnesota (U of M) offer a variety of support services for our students through providing mental health, well-being, food security, and financial resources.
If you are experiencing a crisis, you can call the U of M Crisis Line at 612-301-4673 (available 24/7), U of M Textline 24/7 by texting “UMN” to 61222.
Mental Health Resources
You will find the most up-to-date information about U of M’s mental health services at mentalhealth.umn.edu. Additional campus departments may also be of support in times of need:
The Disability Resource Center works with students, faculty/instructors, staff, and guests with documented disabilities to facilitate access on an individualized, case-by-case basis.
The Aurora Center serves all victims/survivors/concerned people of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and sexual harassment at the U of M.
The Student Parent Help Center (SPHC) helps student parents in achieving their dream of a college degree. SPHC has a long history of serving all parenting students, including moms, dads, and adoptive siblings and other relatives.
Let’s Talk is a program that provides informal virtual and in person drop-in consultations for U of M students throughout the academic year. SPH’s Ned McCully hosts Let’s Talk sessions. A more in depth description of Let’s Talk including hours, additional locations, and counselor bios can be found here.
Note: Let’s Talk is not a substitute for formal counseling and does not constitute mental health treatment, but counselors can listen to specific problems, provide support, help explore solutions and give information about other resources.
A number of SPH staff are trained Mental Health Advocates and can help direct you to resources. Look for the ‘Student Mental Health Advocate’ signs on staff doors.
Current Mental Health Advocates:
- CeCe Altenhofen (SPH Student Services), alten020@umn.edu
- Zobeida Bonilla (Epidemiology & Community Health), zbonilla@umn.edu
- Emily Dunsworth (Recruitment & Admissions), edunswor@umn.edu
- Lynn Eberly (Biostatistics & Dean’s Office), leberly@umn.edu
- Lauren Jones (Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), lljones@umn.edu
- Marlin Farley Jr. (Epidemiology & Community Health), farle128@umn.edu
- Stuart Grande (Health Policy & Management), sgrande@umn.edu
- Stephanie Hagel (Health Policy & Management), shagel@umn.edu
- Kelli Johnson (Health Policy & Management), johns706@umn.edu
- Darren Kaltved (Career & Professional Development Center), dkaltved@umn.edu
- Sarah Keene (Rothenberger Institute), skeene@umn.edu
- Victor Massaglia (Career & Professional Development Center), victorm@umn.edu
- Ned McCully (Environmental Health Sciences), nmccully@umn.edu
- Chris Miller (Health Policy & Management), mill3394@umn.edu
- BiKé Ojomo (Office of Academic Clinical Affairs), bojomo@umn.edu
- Jennifer Porter (SPH Student Services), rachm001@umn.edu
- Marta Shore (Biostatistics), shore007@umn.edu
- Keelia Silvis (Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity), silv0159@umn.edu
- Mercedes Taneja (SPH Student Services), estra021@umn.edu
Well-Being Resources
BeWELL defines wellbeing as a sense of wholeness and harmony that, in addition to physical and mental health, encompasses a number of other factors. Wellbeing in interprofessional health students may call for a greater need to emphasize stress reduction, self care, and resilience-building in order to find balance. BeWELL is committed to providing space, activities, and programming to support the cultivation of community and wellbeing in interprofessional health students at the University of Minnesota.”
RecWell offers a variety of ways to aid in wellbeing including: Exercise (cardio equipment, swimming, etc.), Play (Adaptive sports, intramurals, etc.), Restore (outdoor trips, massage therapy, etc.), Learn (Swimming lessons, fitness lessons, etc.), and Work (multiple positions both indoors and outdoors).
Additional wellbeing resources include: Massage Therapy, Meditation, Study + Community Spaces, Wellbeing Resources and YOU@UMN.
Food Insecurity Resources
Food insecurity can be defined as lacking sufficient and consistent access to nutritious food to live a healthy and active life. The University of Minnesota and SPH is committed to combating hunger on its campuses. The Care Corner Initiative is a new program, designed to address hunger in its health science student population. Care Corners are currently located as follows:
- Mayo Building, Hallway near Rooms A110 & D199
- Health Science Education Center, Room 7-110
Financial Resources
There are various financial resources available to students. Drew Smith is SPH’s Scholarship Coordinator and can answer any question you may have at sphscholarship@umn.edu. Additional resources:
To request student emergency funds, contact One Stop Student Services at onestop@umn.edu.
For international students experiencing an emergency, visit the ISSS Emergency Funds page. Eligible students must be in F-1/J-1 visa status and enrolled for the current term.
Apply for financial aid through the FAFSA. Must be a US citizen or permanent resident. Please refer to Onestop for more information.
One Stop offers Financial Wellness Counseling to discuss money management, loans, credit, banking and identity theft. Boynton Health also offers free, confidential financial and credit card debt counseling through LSS Financial Counseling.
SPHC offers child care grants, resources for family housing, and other support services for student parents. Graduate and professional student parents can contact the SPHC at sphc@umn.edu or at (612) 626-6015.
Affinity Groups
Student Counseling Services (SCS) offers a range of online educational workshops, affinity groups to connect and create community, and counseling groups for increased support in moving toward healing or change around specific challenges.
