Work Well Scholar

Working Student Helpline

The working student helpline is an extension of counseling services for working students. Many working students aren’t able to avail themselves of their college counseling services due to full bookings or no availability during their free time. The helpline ensures that they will be able to avail counseling services despite their busy schedules.

Counseling/guidance services are widely available in many colleges and universities; there can be times when they are not very accessible or accommodating to some students. The Working Student Helpline is for working students who need someone who understands them and their needs, and can give them realistic and helpful advice. It's an extension to the existing counseling services colleges provide to be more inclusive of working students.

Working students experience mental health problems from the pressure of balancing work and academics, as well as the heavy workload of both responsibilities. They may also encounter conflicts with classes, peers, or work. Regardless, there are times when they want to seek out counseling, but are unable to, due to guidance counselors' lack of availability or expertise in giving advice to working students.

Colleges and Universities can hire more guidance counselors and train them to be able to counsel and empathize with working students better. Alternatively, opening more slots and scheduling options so students can have more chances to avail of counseling services. By expanding counseling services, more students will be able to avail themselves of them.

Wellness Check-In

The Wellness Check-In Program is a program designed to monitor the well-being of students and provide support. It checks on the mental well-being of the student and provides suggestions or help when needed. The program aims to reduce stress, burnout, and other mental health challenges students can face.

The program can include short online wellness surveys, optional digital mood tracking, weekly stress reminders, and monthly check-ins with a guidance counselor. The surveys evaluate things such as mental health, work-school balance, stress levels, and sleep quality. While personalized wellness plans offer useful ways to manage stress, time, and create a balance between work and school, students who are experiencing high levels of stress may be referred for additional counseling or other support services.

The program helps working students identify and manage stress before it can turn into burnout or other serious mental health issues by offering ongoing monitoring and support. Students who have regular access to counseling have a safe place to talk about issues related to their jobs, studies, money, and personal obligations without having to worry about being judged. In addition to boosting academic achievement, retention rates, and a better work-school balance.

Similar wellness services can benefit the larger student body. Regular mental health check-ins and access to counseling services may also be beneficial for students dealing with personal struggles, family obligations, or even academic pressure, creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment.

It already makes use of existing institutional resources like online survey platforms, guidance offices, and virtual meeting tools that many colleges already have. It can be implemented with little additional cost while offering significant and proactive mental health support because a majority of its activities are done online and only require a short scheduled counseling session.

Working Student Mental Health seminar

A Mental Health Seminar specifically catered to working students' mental health. It touches on the mental health struggles working students can face and offers guidance on how working students can better take care of their mental health. The seminar emphasizes that the mental health of a student is important as it can affect many aspects of their lives. The seminar aims to raise working student mental health awareness.

The Working Student Mental Health Seminar touches on the mental health challenges working students face, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout. It would discuss what can cause these mental health challenges and how working students can cope with them. The seminar encourages working students to take better care of themselves and their health. The speaker can be someone who specializes in mental health, or a working student who has overcome their mental health struggles.

Working students experience a set of mental health problems that not many other students experience. They can experience stress, anxiety, and depression from pressure, their heavy workloads, and fatigue. Burnout from overworking themselves with minimal to no breaks between classes and work. The seminar especially caters to working students who neglect to take care of their mental health.

Other students would also be able to attend the seminar, although they don’t experience the exact mental health problems as working students, they can relate and empathize with their mental health problems, and may benefit from attending the seminar, as well as be able to apply any takeaways they have from the seminar.

Colleges can check if students are interested in the seminar by passing around surveys or interest checks via email/posters around campus. The venue can be face-to-face or online, depending on the budget and number of attendees. Ideally, it could be held once a school year.