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Connecting students to wellness: student parents empowering parents)

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Connecting students to wellness: student parents empowering parents)

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Content Connecting Students to Wellness:
Student Parents Empowering Parents
Capstone Project
by
Lynnette Navarro Sullivan
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
University of Southern California
A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Social Work
Fall 2021
December 2022
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................1
Conceptual Framework ..........................................................................................................7
Problem of Practice and Innovative Solution ........................................................................10
Project Structure, Methodology, and Action Components ....................................................15
Phase 1 .......................................................................................................................18
Phase 2 .......................................................................................................................19
Phase 3 .......................................................................................................................19
Phase 4 .......................................................................................................................20
Conclusions, Actions, and Implications.................................................................................26
References ..............................................................................................................................31
Appendix A. Stakeholder Analysis ........................................................................................38
Appendix B. Logic Model .....................................................................................................39
Appendix C: Theory of Change .............................................................................................40
Appendix D: Gantt Chart .......................................................................................................41
Appendix E: Competitive Analysis .......................................................................................42
Appendix F: Budget ...............................................................................................................43
Appendix G: MOU’s……………………………………………………………….……….44
Appendix H: Attendance Log………………………………………………….…………...45
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Executive Summary
The Connecting Students to Wellness Program aims to address the Social Work Grand
Challenge of Close the Health Gap on community college campuses by offering wraparound
services and decreasing negative social determinants of health to student parents through a web-
based virtual resource center. The wraparound services provided by a multidisciplinary team will
consist of prevention, early intervention, and treatment to increase protective factors and
decrease risk factors to improve student-parent wellness and academic success. To address the
health gap, the Moreno Valley College Health Center will initiate the program with the
assistance of the mental health supervisor, student peers, mental health therapist trainees, and
Bachelor of Social Work students.
The Grand Challenge, Close the Health Gap, aims to strengthen the healthcare system by
providing full access to services (Fong et al., 2018). Unfortunately, marginalized groups
experience various stressors and social determinants of health that impact their mental health.
Friedman (2015) noted that health care systems need to offer behavioral health services and basic
need resources to improve an individual's well-being. Community colleges serve
underrepresented groups such as student parents who require readily available services to
manage behavioral health challenges. McFadden (2016) mentioned that underrepresented student
groups are at higher risk of developing behavioral health challenges due to social determinants of
health such as housing and food insecurity.
Additionally, community college students are at higher risk of mental health challenges
and substance abuse than traditional university students. Rodriguez (2020) highlighted that
California community college students' mental health has declined due to the consequences of
the COVID pandemic. Specifically, student parents experience various negative social
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determinants of health and behavioral health challenges that negatively impact their academics.
Barrington (2020) stated that students' academics are negatively impacted by adverse social
determinants of health, untreated substance use, and mental health challenges.
However, many community colleges are not equipped with behavioral health staff.
Pokhrel et al. (2014) reported that community colleges often cannot secure full-time behavioral
health staff to offer therapy. The scarcity of behavioral health services contributes to behavioral
health stigma, untreated mental illness, and suffering in silence. Wolf (2018) noted that students
experiencing behavioral health challenges may not seek professional assistance due to the stigma
associated with mental health. Furthermore, community college students are likely to commute
to school, and student engagement is challenging. Whitehead (2019) stated that many community
college students are difficult to engage because many students commute to school and have the
responsibility of working part-time. Thus, the Connecting Students to Wellness program will
assist in student engagement access. The program intends to eliminate the health gaps on
community college campuses and provide sustainable behavioral health support for student
parents.
The scarcity of behavioral health services has created disparities for community college
student parents. However, in 2003, California's Proposition 63, known as the Mental Health
Services Act, increased prevention and early intervention services for at-risk groups (Department
of Health Care Services, n.d.). The proposition also provided funding to develop California's
Community College Health and Wellness program to provide resources, training information,
and connection to services. Assembly Bill 2017, Senate Bill 85, Chapter 23 acknowledged the
behavioral health challenges among community college students and allocated funding to
address the behavioral needs of students. The recent support over the years has increased mental
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health support through the health center. However, support for student parents historically is only
provided through special programs such as California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kid (CalWorks) and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS)/CARE. CalWORKs
on community college campuses is designed to assist student parents on government assistance
by providing job skill training and educational opportunities. Community colleges do not offer
wraparound services through a virtual resource center despite the additional funding and special
programs.
Community colleges struggle with the sustainability and expansion of mental health
services. Fain (2016) noted that about 57% of community college campuses could not implement
outreach efforts to inform the student population about suicide prevention, mental health
awareness, and substance abuse. The scarcity of services negatively impacts student parents'
wellness and academic success. Compromised wellness, higher rates of stress and anxiety, and
challenges to complete their educational goals are prevalent problems for student parents.
Additionally, many student parents from a lower socioeconomic status face higher rates of stress
and anxiety. These problems are substantial on the community college campus because although
mental health challenges exist, there is limited access to services and a scarcity of services.
Ramos-Yamamoto and Rose (2019) recognized the need for mental health services for
community college students, yet many community colleges do not offer onsite services. The
scarcity of services contributes to behavioral health stigma, unaddressed negative social
determinants of health, and the implementation of standard traditional mental health services.
Kalkbrenner et al. (2019) reported that various community college students experience negative
social determinants of health such as food insecurity and housing instability that negatively
impact students' mental health. Many of these challenges contribute to student parent stress and
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negatively affect wellness and academic success. In addition, student parents’ desire to pursue a
college education often contributes to a reduced income (Salle & Cox, 2019).
The systems theory stimulates change and addresses this serious problem by identifying
numerous internal and external factors impacting students' mental health and academic success.
It is a lens that allows understanding of the specific context of community colleges and
behavioral health. According to Russiano (2020), individuals behave and cope in particular ways
with their environment, including the microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems levels. A
systems theory approach also helps shape the solution by providing a framework for identifying
individual, family, and community challenges that contribute to behavioral health issues. The
program focuses on addressing the social determinants of health that are one of the many causes
of behavioral health challenges. Systems theory will allow the team to offer specific prevention,
early intervention, and treatment services to address the individual, relational, family, and
community needs. The initiation of wraparound services reinforces the systems theory
foundation instead of offering exclusively traditional therapy. The goal is to create a system of
care for all student parents to eliminate barriers that may negatively impact their mental health
and academics. As the project integrates a systems approach, a new ecosystem is developed for
student parents. The Connecting Students to Wellness Program Ecosystem develops holistic
support by addressing behavioral health needs, academic challenges, and basic need deficits.
The Connecting Students to Wellness Program plans to initiate an organizational redesign
plan to create innovative solutions for immediate resource connection for all student parents
despite their marital status or socioeconomic status. The change will occur by utilizing a
multidisciplinary team approach to help through a virtual resource center. Student parents will
have the ability to receive traditional and nontraditional behavioral health services. Student
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peers, known as wellness partners, will initiate behavioral health outreach, host wellness
activities, and conduct stigma reduction campaigns. This component is critical to building trust
with marginalized groups of students. Bachelor of Social Work students will serve as wellness
ambassadors to offer case management services to identify and eliminate social determinants of
health. The wellness ambassadors will also create behavioral health-focused podcasts, blogs, and
YouTube channels to provide psychoeducation to student parents. Marriage and Family
Therapist trainees enrolled in their master's program will offer individual, couples, and family
therapy to address behavioral health challenges occurring individually or relationally. In
addition, the team will collaborate to provide family wellness groups, parenting classes, parent
support groups, and skill-building groups. The program aims to create change by eliminating
barriers to care and identifying the root cause of a student parent's challenges.
The project was developed based on an in-house needs’ assessment, planning with
stakeholders, and interviews with stakeholders and beneficiaries. The decision to create a virtual
resource center resulted from COVID restrictions related to offering face-to-face services. The
design process was completed over a year-and-a-half period. Furthermore, the project was
tailored to meet evidence-based practice research standards. The Connecting Students to
Wellness virtual resource center aims to provide culturally inclusive, trauma-informed, and peer-
to-peer practices. The data were collected through qualitative research by conducting
ethnographic conversations to explore feelings, thoughts, and behaviors related to student mental
health and wellness. Riverside Community College has also conducted quantitative research
through a survey format in the last year to identify specific needs and wants of the student
population.
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The stakeholder analysis (Appendix A) indicated that stakeholders and beneficiaries
agreed that offering virtual services would appeal to students. Furthermore, various traditional
and nontraditional services would increase mental health awareness, build protective factors, and
potentially reduce stigma. The Connecting Students to Wellness program will benefit all enrolled
students because of the access to comprehensive resources and services. Staff and faculty will
have increased support to assist students experiencing behavioral health challenges. The program
will activate change by designating additional gatekeepers to improve behavioral health
awareness and decrease social determinants of health. The program is innovative and will make a
social impact because the resources and services are tailored for all student parents instead of
student parents from a specific socioeconomic status.
The virtual resource center proposed launch date is January 2022. The project has been
vetted and approved by the administration team. However, the website design requires attention
and collaboration with the Moreno Valley College webmaster and mental health team. The
implementation phase is the virtual resource website design and embedding the link into the
college app. The Connecting Students to Wellness virtual resource center will be introduced
through student orientations, college newsletters, emails, faculty meetings, and face-to-face or
virtual outreach. The virtual resource center's success relies on student peer-to-peer outreach,
onsite special program collaboration, and continued partnership from university and community
partners. Students can receive readily available resources and support through the virtual
resource center. In addition, student parents will receive accessible prevention, early
intervention, and treatment services by trauma-informed and culturally competent trained staff.

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Conceptual Framework
Community college student parents are at significant risk of experiencing negative social
determinants of health such as housing instability, limited support, and food insecurity. Reed et
al. (2021) indicated that student parents face unique challenges like family responsibilities and
childcare demands. These challenges contribute to low graduation rates and mental health
challenges. Raskind et al. (2018) indicated that negative social determinants of health such as
food and housing insecurity impact students’ emotional health and desire to complete their
education. Although student parents experience various concerns, community college behavioral
health support is scarce. Limited behavioral health support contributes to a lack of awareness of
services, stigma, and untreated mental health challenges. Therefore, numerous systems
contribute to student parents' wellness and academic success. According to the Systems theory,
individuals' behaviors and well-being are influenced by their family, academics, support system,
and environmental factors (Friedman & Allen, 2010). A strong emphasis on the systems theory is
incorporated into the Connecting Student to Wellness program to strengthen systems to improve
well-being and academics. The Connecting Students to Wellness program will address the Social
Work Grand Challenge, Close the Health Gap, by developing accessible services to promote
mental health, addressing negative social determinants of health, and developing collaboration
from various disciplines and community partners. A social work priority is to produce health
equity by cultivating prevention programs and attaining health care services for marginalized
groups (Fong et al., 2018). This grand challenge is vital to social work because many
community college students are underserved community members that experience poverty,
discrimination, and limited access to resources.
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Traditional university students and community college students are at risk for developing
mental illness, substance abuse challenges, and dying by suicide. Yozwiak et al. (2017) stated
that various risk factors contribute to students experiencing suicidal thoughts and mental illness.
Yet, community colleges serve diverse student populations at higher risk for experiencing
suicidal thoughts, struggling with substance use, and developing mental health challenges due to
negative social determinants of health. Katz and Davison (2014) noted that community college
students are more likely to develop a severe mental illness and challenges with substance abuse
than traditional university students. Students from diverse backgrounds may also experience
multiple social determinants such as healthcare inequality, limited support, and financial
stressors that increase the risk of developing behavioral health challenges. Yozwiak et al. (2017)
reported that college students experience suicidal thoughts due to various risk factors, which
inevitably compromise their mental health. Student parents are one of the many diverse student
populations familiar with behavioral health challenges and academic failure. Goldrick-Rab and
Sorensen (2010) indicated that student parents have a lower academic completion rate due to
financial instability and limited support. Hence, the scarcity of mental health services contributes
to untreated mental illness and poor academics. Research by Eisenberg et al. (2009) indicated
that college students' academics suffer from untreated behavioral health challenges. Lack of
behavioral health services and staff also adds to the stigma associated with mental health.
Kosyluk et al. (2016) stated that students are reluctant to seek mental health services due to
stigma.
Student parents seek education to establish security for themselves and their families.
However, student parents face unique challenges in accomplishing their academic goals. Without
an education, many student parents will continue experiencing financial difficulties. Thus,
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student parents have significant pressure to complete their educational journey to overcome
economic instability. Hinton-Smith (2016) stated that student parents face financial concerns
while enrolled in college.
Nevertheless, student parents cannot accomplish their academic goals without appropriate
support. Peterson (2016) noted that student parents need support due to stress related to
balancing home responsibilities, working, and academic demands. Additionally, many student
parents' mental health is compromised due to experiencing parent guilt, difficulty with time
management, and self-care challenges. Student parents need unique support to decrease parent
guilt, improve self-care, and manage stress (Lovell & Scott, 2020). Student parents struggle with
adversities that community college health centers can address. Community college health centers
can foster support for student parents through the steps reflected in the logic model. The logic
model (Appendix B) depicts the holistic activities that will change the community college
behavioral health department to address the behavioral health gap. The logic model highlights
the action initiated by the multidisciplinary team. The logic model inputs include the community
college health center, community partners, and the university professional programs. With the
team collaboration, the prevention, early intervention, and treatment activities will foster support
for students. The multidisciplinary team will increase the gatekeepers on campus, improve
behavioral health services, and create access to services. The outcomes include increased mental
health awareness, availability of basic need resources, reduced crisis, and increased academic
success. The Connecting Student to Wellness program aims to improve behavioral health support
and eliminate social determinants of health for student parents through the social learning theory
and the systems theory. Through the lens of the social learning theory, students will seek and
utilize services because of the influence of their peers. Student parents will also participate in
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wellness activities due to observing others engaging in healthy lifestyles. Disabato et al. (2018)
reported that students were likely to seek mental health treatment when their support system also
sought services. Applying the systems theory will create change in the student's systems by
creating safe support, stable housing, and mental health support.
Problem of Practice and Innovative Solution
The Connecting Students to Wellness program is a web-based, virtual behavioral health
resource center designed for community college student parents. The virtual resource center aims
to increase emotional support for student parents while completing their academic journey. An
increase in behavioral health services improves the Grand Challenge, Close the Health Gap,
cultivating sustainable services for marginalized groups of people. A multidisciplinary team
consisting of two student peers, four Bachelor of Social Worker students, and four Master’s-level
marriage and family therapist trainees will offer prevention, early intervention, and treatment
services through the web-based service. The virtual resource center is an embedded landing page
within the Moreno Valley College Student Health Center website. Because the resource center is
online, student parents have the flexibility and accessibility to receive immediate services and
professional connections. The virtual resource center is user-friendly, and students can access the
services according to their needs. The website layout allows students to select the service, read a
description, and click a virtual portal to immediately receive direct assistance from the
multidisciplinary team. Although the prototype is a website, student parents can access services
in person, Zoom, or telephone. The virtual resource center enables student parents to access
resources from anywhere and fosters effective time management. Student parents can utilize the
services at their convenience and from the comfort of their own homes.
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Student parents need access to resources due to high levels of stress and anxiety because
of the demands of balancing academics, home life, and work. The team will increase behavioral
health awareness, suicide prevention, stigma reduction, and normalization of help-seeking
behaviors. Thus, a web-based resource complements student parents' lifestyles and eliminates
care barriers. To execute the program effectively, establishing trust with mental health
professionals is crucial. Barnett et al. (2017) indicated that mental health promoters could reduce
health disparities by building trust between underserved community members and mental health
professionals. The innovation will disrupt the mental health gap by increasing behavioral health
awareness, reducing stigma, and promoting suicide prevention in non-stigmatizing ways to build
trust with the student population. Cadigan et al. (2020) indicated that prevention and early
intervention services would benefit community college students. The purpose of increasing
nontraditional and non-stigmatizing activities is to change the norms of help-seeking behavior.
As students learn to understand the importance of mental health treatment, a treatment team will
be available to address their challenges with basic needs, mental illness, substance use, and
suicidal ideation.
The logic model (Appendix B) demonstrates the structure necessary to create a
community college behavioral health program for student parents. As described, the program's
purpose is to increase access to prevention, early intervention, and treatment services to address
the behavioral health challenges and negative social determinants of health experienced by
student parents. Without these services, student parents may struggle with untreated mental
illness, stress, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts. The short-term goals include increasing
mental health services, reducing stigma, and enhancing access to care. The long-term outcomes
are creating healthy communities, increasing college graduation rates, and replicating the
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program at all community colleges. The proposed activities reflect the theory of change
described in Appendix C. Specific resources, activities, and services build a sustainable
environment for student parents. To eliminate behavioral health challenges, the community
college health center needs to implement a systems theory approach to encourage student-parent
behavioral change by changing their immediate environment and the larger community.
The Connecting Students to Wellness program aligns with the theory of change model as
detailed in Appendix C. The theory of change model explains that student parents experience
lower socioeconomic status and higher rates of behavioral health challenges. These challenges
inevitably impact their academics. Thus, community colleges can create sustainable behavioral
health support to increase mental health awareness, reduce stigma, and improve student parent
wellness. Community colleges that offer basic need support, wellness skills, and behavioral
health treatment create protective factors for student parents. The theory of change strengthens
the concepts of the systems theory and the social learning theory. The systems theory emphasizes
changing an individuals’ behavior by the changing systems within a person’s environment
(Schirmer, 2014). The Connecting Students to Wellness Program empowers students to improve
wellness by addressing basic needs, building support, and providing access to behavioral health
treatment. The project also reinforces the social learning theory by producing additional
gatekeepers on campus that will create a mentally healthy campus. The gatekeepers on the
multidisciplinary team will change the community college environment through social learning
theory components. According to Klein et al. (2010), peer education programs reinforce the
social learning theory because other peers influence peers through observational learning. Hence,
the program will leverage student peers to model peer support, change mental health stories, and
seek behavioral health services on the college campus. Sontag-Padilla et al. (2018) indicated that
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focused peer clubs such as Active Minds are crucial in positively changing students’ perspectives
about mental health, suicide prevention, and help-seeking behaviors.
The proposed solution will be effective because peer-to-peer models demonstrate that
student peers can increase trust with the student population and decrease stigma related to
behavioral health. In addition, student peers will assist with outreach, increasing awareness, and
co-facilitating support groups. Kognito (2019) stated that suicide prevention simulation programs
provide training to equip students to connect their peers to mental health resources after
completing the training. Social learning plays a role in the grand scheme of the systems theory
because many variables are incorporated to see changes in the student parents' wellness and
academic success. The social learning theory and systems theory components are included in the
Connecting Student to Wellness program to foster change through a socio-ecological model
framework lens. The socio-ecological model identifies interrelation components including
individual, relational, community, and societal impacting an individual’s well-being. Golden and
Earp (2012) emphasize that intervention for change requires health care providers to identify
socio-ecological factors contributing to health challenges.
While developing the Connecting Student to Wellness program, stakeholders were
interviewed to shape the program goals. As demonstrated in the stakeholder analysis (Appendix
A), stakeholders found common themes to address on the community college campus. Internal
stakeholders such as college students, academic counselors, and health center staff identified the
health gap existing due to limited staff, behavioral health stigma, and traditional mental health
services. Academic counselors determined mental health stigma and accessibility to services as a
problem. Thus, mental health professionals on campus need to be visible and available to offer
traditional mental health services and wellness activities. Stakeholders agreed that student
14

parents need traditional and nontraditional behavioral health supports such as family therapy,
individual therapy wellness groups, and basic need resources. Many stakeholders agreed that
students also require financial stability to feel emotionally well and accomplish their academic
goals. The community college internal stakeholders such as enrolled college students, the college
president and vice president, the department dean, the health center director, and the board of
trustees are crucial to allocate funding for a full-time mental health supervisor. Another vital
internal stakeholder is the financial aid office director because they will need to approve federal
funding for the two selected student peers.
To implement the Connecting Students to Wellness Program, the health center will
provide a mental health plan to upper management to justify that services are necessary. External
stakeholders are also instrumental in implementing the program because of the professional
development for the multidisciplinary team and referral to services for students. The
interdisciplinary team will need evidence-based training from the Riverside County Behavioral
Health and community partnerships to refer to long-term treatment. Most importantly, the
students'/clients’ participation and utilization of the services also impact the project and funding.
A community college can address the scarcity of behavioral resources through a team and
collaboration approach with the college and the Riverside County Behavioral Health. The
Connecting Students to Wellness Program assessment will be through selecting the
multidisciplinary team, development of wellness activities, and the function of the virtual
resource center. The Connecting Students to Wellness program complements the existing
behavioral health policies for community college campuses. Coston (2020) reported that college
students need behavioral health services due to the impact of COVID. The Mental Health
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Services Act, Proposition 63, passed in 2004, allocated funding for behavioral health services on
community college campuses. One of the mental health services act components emphasized
prevention and early intervention services in the community, including community college
campuses (Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, n.d.). The funding
produced the California Community College Health and Wellness initiative that promotes
behavioral health wellness on community college campuses (California Community College
Health and Wellness, n.d.). The Foundation for California Community Colleges (n.d.) promotes
behavioral health prevention and early intervention services. Governor Gavin Newsom signed
Assembly Bill 132, chapter 144, which allocates funding securing basic needs resources such as
food, mental health, and housing for students on community college campuses (California
Legislative Information, n.d.).
Project Structure, Methodology, and Action Components
The connecting Students to Wellness prototype linked here allows student parents to
connect virtually with the health center receptionist, a Bachelor of Social Work student, and
marriage and family therapist trainees. Student parents can also attend wellness webinars and
groups to increase coping skills and protective factors. The services will serve all enrolled
student parents through mental health education presentations, wellness groups, case
management services to identify negative social determinants, and mental health treatment.
The student peers will facilitate a Parents Empowering Parents component to create a
sense of community. In the Parents Empowering Parents component, student peers will initiate a
book exchange service to encourage students to donate their textbooks to other student parents.
In addition, students will have an opportunity to join a virtual cooking class to exchange recipes
and cook virtually together. A virtual study buddy component will encourage students to study
16

with other student parents. Another essential element is parents empowering parents to
coordinate item giveaways and exchanges. Parents can support other parents by donating items
to them. A weekly parent support group will also give parents a space to discuss stressors and
parent guilt, connect with other parents, and share resources. The marriage and family therapist
will co-facilitate the parent support group.
Bachelor of Social Worker students will serve as case managers to provide early
intervention services to eliminate harmful social determinants of health. The Bachelor of Social
Worker students will also develop onsite and offsite partnerships to enhance the virtual foodbank
and secure childcare services, academic supplies, household supplies, and essential needs
resources. The interns will attend community meetings and identify free physical health, mental
health, and financial resources for students to address the negative social determinants of health
that contribute to mental illness development. The interns will also facilitate wellness webinars
and activities for student parents. Each intern is responsible for two wellness groups. All parent
wellness activities offered Monday-Friday at 11:00 a.m. will increase coping skills. Motivation
Monday aims to improve student success strategies to increase student parents' motivation.
Tranquility Tuesday will focus on weekly guided relaxation sessions. Wellness Wednesday will
teach parents about health and wellness tips to improve mental health. Let's Talk Thursday is a
weekly check-in with health center staff to discuss the highs and lows of the week.
Master’s-level marriage and family therapist trainees will offer individual therapy,
couples therapy, family therapy, and skill-building groups. Therapists will offer traditional
cognitive behavioral health therapy and solution-focused therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
decreases negative mental health symptoms by challenging negative thoughts and creating new
healthy behaviors (American Psychological Association, 2017). Solution-focused therapy aims
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to find solutions to present problems (Iveson, 2002). Student parents can receive onsite services
to manage stress, anxiety, depression, relational issues, and trauma. The marriage and family
therapist trainees will also offer crisis intervention services to deescalate perceived crises and
evaluate students at risk for suicide. The therapist will facilitate skill-building groups Monday-
Thursday at noon. On Monday, the Managing Time group will teach strategies to balance home
life, work demands, and academics. Building Relationships on Tuesday aims to promote ways to
enhance healthy relationships with family and children. On Wednesday, the Defeating Anxiety
group focuses on ways to identify and cope with anxiety. The Improving Sleep group on
Thursday aims to implement strategies to enhance sleep.
The team will also facilitate family wellness activities three days a week at 6:00 p.m.
Parents can invite their family to attend any session to improve coping skills and protective
factors. For example, a weekly balancing stress group will focus on stress management
strategies. Inspire Thursdays will review family-focused topics that improve mood and wellness.
Wind Down Friday is another family activity that reinforces mindfulness techniques and
journaling.
The Riverside County Behavioral Health department and non-profits vetted by Riverside
County Behavioral Health will offer four evidence-based program services weekly that focus on
parenting skills, managing trauma symptoms, and decreasing depression. Mothers and Babies is
a program designed for currently pregnant or post-one-year mothers to increase coping skills and
reduce depression. Triple P is a parenting program for parents with children ages 2-17 to
enhance parenting skills. Stress and Your Mood is a program for 16-25-year-olds experiencing
depression. Finally, seeking Safety is a trauma recovery group created to decrease trauma
symptoms and increase coping skills. Reference Appendix G for the detailed memorandum of
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understandings. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) allows the non-profits to offer
specific services to enrolled Moreno Valley College student parents. The college will also utilize
community partnerships to offer monthly suicide prevention training.
All programs and services are aimed to enhance wellness and build protective factors. For
example, the Connecting Students to Wellness Program web-based virtual resource center will
launch in January 2022. A detailed Gantt Chart (Appendix D) depicts the phases of the program.
Phase 1
Phase 1, the planning and exploration phase, took place from October 2020 to December
2020. The Connecting Students to Wellness mental health supervisor collaborated with
stakeholders on campus to create the prevention activities, early intervention services, and group
therapy curriculum. The mental health supervisor was responsible for developing the volunteer
job descriptions, affiliation agreements between the university and Moreno Valley College,
training curriculum, attendance logs, referrals logs, and partnership with Riverside County
behavioral health. The Moreno Valley College research department assisted with developing
quantitative and qualitative attitudinal surveys to receive program feedback. The Moreno Valley
College has approved the utilization of Microsoft forms surveys. The Microsoft survey allows
the student to rate the presenter and provide feedback about the webinars. Click here for an
example of the webinar feedback form. The mental health supervisor scheduled planning
meetings with special programs such as CalWORKs and EOPS/CARE to create the parent
support group curriculum. The health director will secure student work-study federal funding for
two student peers.

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Phase 2
Some of the elements in Phase 2, the preparation phase, took place from January 2021 to
August 2021. Once the university's contracts were established, the health center team
interviewed two marriage and family trainees and two Bachelor of Social Work interns. All new
team members were provided a one-day training to address cultural humility, crisis intervention
skills, mandated reporting, and an overview of the program. Team members will also receive
adequate training to understand HIPAA and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act) regulations, mandated reporting requirements, boundary setting, and professionalism. Each
discipline received an additional day of training to discuss their role responsibilities. Bachelor of
Social Work interns and marriage and family therapists’ trainees obtained an extra day of
training on the health record system, reviewed the group therapy curriculum, and discussed legal
and ethical obligations. The preparation phase will continue from September 2021 to December
2021. The health center is collaborating with the student work-study program to identify two
student peers. However, until two student peers are selected, the health center collaborates with
the Active Minds mental health club peers to assist with outreach and mental health events. The
behavioral health multidisciplinary team will also develop a parent-focused wellness podcast to
increase behavioral health support and reduce stigma. A Moreno Valley College web
administrator will add the virtual resource components to the existing health center webpage.
Phase 3
The Moreno Valley College has had the opportunity to start the implementation phase
since September 2021. The mental health supervisor, Bachelor of Social Work students, and two
Marriage and Family Therapists have piloted the program by offering prevention, early
intervention, and treatment services virtually and in person. The EOPS/CARE program is an
20

onsite partner that assists the health center in offering weekly parent support groups. In the first
two weeks of the semester, all team members initiated outreach through social media, emails,
and class presentations. By the third week, all services will be available to students. The mental
health supervisor has provided ongoing weekly supervision to MFT trainees and BSW interns. A
weekly team meeting focuses on program development and material development for the
wellness podcast and web-based virtual resource center. The implementation phase will fully
begin in January 2022 to launch the web-based virtual resource center offering prevention, early
intervention, and treatment services. Parents will utilize the Parents Empowering Parents
component to create support systems, create a book exchange service, and create online studying
groups. In addition, the health center team will host weekly virtual cooking parties to encourage
parents to cook with other parents.
Phase 4
In the sustainment phase, the mental health supervisor and community partners will offer
health center staff ongoing evidence-based training such as SafeTALK, suicide prevention
training, and Mental Health First Aid mental health training. In addition, the community college
will collaborate with the Riverside County Behavioral Health to receive free training for their
staff. The peers will also receive training to recognize students in distress and connect students to
services. Ongoing weekly supervision will also occur to increase the staff’s skills and improve
professional development. Weekly supervision will occur between the licensed therapist and
students per scope of competence to meet legal program requirements.
A detailed competitive analysis (Appendix E) depicts other mental health programs
offered on the community college campus. Community colleges have vetted various peer-to-peer
programs such as Active Minds and the BACCHUS model. Active Minds is a mental health club
21

designed to encourage students to promote mental health and stigma reduction (Activeminds
n.d.). There also are existing onsite support programs for student parents, such as EOPS/CARE
and CalWORKs. California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids is a California
Community College program that helps students on public assistance by developing job skill
training and securing job placement (California Community Colleges, n.d.).
A hierarchical culture leads the community college because of the bureaucratic
organization with a specific structure, rules, and standards. Although the college system
functions with specific rules and regulations, the health center functions as a calm culture. Yu
and Wu (2009) noted that a clan culture is a collective effort to promote team empowerment and
growth. The strategies that will create program success are promoting emotional intelligence,
diversity, futuristic thinking. Tropman and Wooten (2004) defined executives as organizers and
coordinators to produce efficiency and effectiveness. Leaders are defined as innovators who
create and make positive changes to deliver efficacy and efficiency. Bennis and Thomas (2002)
noted that leaders gain skills through experiencing crucibles and overcoming adversities.
The Moreno Valley College Health Center can encourage the development of emotional
intelligence by allowing crucibles to shape leadership styles. The team will also select diverse
team members to promote cultural matching and receive feedback from different perspectives.
According to Phillips (2014), diversity in a group setting can cause favorable outcomes by
enhancing creativity and promoting new ways of thinking. Another strategy to ensure program
success and a cohesive team is to empower all teams to contribute ideas. Clifton et al. (2006)
defined a developer as an individual that promotes growth in others and a futuristic can
conceptualize numerous positive possibilities.
22

The Connecting Students to Wellness budget (Appendix F) provides detailed revenue
from the student health center budget, which will begin at $228,000. This web-based virtual
behavioral health resource will require approval from the following financial gatekeepers: the
Student Health and Psychological director, department dean, Vice President of Student Services,
President of Student Services, and the board of trustees. All members will need to approve the
budget and volunteer contracts. Volunteer contracts will also require approval from the
community college general counsel. The team mentioned above is responsible for supporting
funding that will benefit students academically and emotionally. The established student health
center will utilize reserved and newly generated student health fees to fund the program. A total
of $187,920 is required for start-up year personnel salary, including the health director, licensed
therapist, and two student workers. The health director will work 5 hours a week, and a total of
$10,000 a year is allocated toward salary. The mental health supervisor is dedicated full-time to
the program, and a total of $100,000 a year is earmarked for compensation. The two student
workers funding is from a federal work-study, and the total cost is $28,800. During the first year,
the team will focus on securing affiliation agreements with universities, developing job
descriptions for student workers and volunteers, creating training materials, developing a
program curriculum, and preparing for its launch. Once the program is ready to launch, a
necessary $25,200 expense is needed for cellphones, conferences, crisis intervention training,
medical documentation system, marketing material, group refreshments, gift cards, and office
supplies. The total amount is $213,120.
The attached operating budget (Appendix F) depicts the start-up cost. A total of $1,000 a
year is needed for cell phone costs. The mental health supervisor and director will need a work
cell phone for work-related purposes. To properly promote the program, a total of $3,000 is
23

required for printing marketing material. The marketing material will vary from posters, flyers,
calendars, and campaigns. A total of $2,000 is proposed for professional development training
when necessary. To provide adequate service, the team will attend activities to enhance their
professional skills. An additional cost of $1,000 is also included for traveling expenses. The
EHR documentation system for mental health therapists and case management interns is
estimated at $10,000 per year. The documentation system is crucial for professional, legal, and
ethical purposes. The team will also allocate $1,000 per year for food expenses. When groups
and webinars resume in person, the team would like to provide refreshments to participants. The
Connecting Student to Wellness program would also like to give incentives for attending the
group, and a total of $2,000 is allocated for gift card giveaways. A total cost of $2,000 is also
reserved for office supplies utilized by the mental health supervisor, student peers, case manager
interns, and mental health therapist trainees. The program's cost should remain the same each
year but slightly increase due to the director's and mental health salary raises.
The Connecting Students to Wellness program virtual resource center will test the design
concept by the usage and frequency of access to the virtual resource center. Our team will track
the number of students that browse the site overall and each specific tab. We will also track the
number of appointments made through the virtual appointment portal and the number of online
appointments. Each team member will be responsible for data collection through participation in
the wellness activities and groups. Team members will use an attendance log to track
participation for each webinar and group. Refer to Appendix H for an example of the attendance
log. In addition, our team will track the volume of listeners during wellness talks. An inventory
list tool will also solidify the resources utilized and offered to student parents. The goal is to
reach 2-3 students in each group and target 100 student parents per semester during prevention
24

activities. The referral tracking documents the number of referrals to therapy and case
management.
The project’s assessment method is also based on the units of service per team member
and services offered per week. The new team will consist of 6 new team members. The units of
service measurement are through the number of activities described below.
A licensed therapist will spend 40 hours a week supervising the multidisciplinary team,
implementing services, and offering training. In addition, the licensed therapist will partner with
community providers to offer monthly suicide prevention training and work with all team
members to produce a student parent wellness talk once a month.
Two student peers will collaborate to offer 10-15 hours of prevention and outreach
services. The goal is to reach 100 unduplicated student parents per semester. The average daily
attendance goal is 3-5 students. The activities will include:
• Five hours of outreach services (classroom presentations, club meetings, and social media
platforms). The two Bachelor of Social Work students will volunteer 16 hours each week
to offer early intervention services.
• Offer a total of 10 hours a week of case management services. Case managers will
receive referrals or contact students that complete the Student Health and Psychological
Services Referral form. Click Here for the Referral form.
• Referrals made to onsite and offsite resources, including the food bank and clothing
closet. The team will receive a pre-order sheet from students to receive items from the
food bank and clothing closet.
• Develop four new community partners per year
25

• Daily Wellness Activities (Motivation Monday, Tranquility Tuesday, Wellness
Wednesday, Let’s Talk Thursday)
• The two Master of Marriage and Family Therapist trainees will provide 20 hours of
treatment services each week. The marriage and family therapist trainees will offer
individual therapy, family therapy, and group therapy. The measurement for the unit of
services will include:
o Each therapist will see ten clients per week
o Amount of patient visits per month
o Each therapist will offer one skill-building group (Managing Time, Building
Relationships, Defeating Anxiety, and Improving Sleep).
o All team members will collaborate to offer the evening family wellness activities
once (Balancing Stress, Inspire Thursdays, and Wind Down Friday).
The measures described are relevant to the solution because community college students
need more readily available resources to close the mental health gap.
The long-term expected outcome is to increase academic success and decrease anxiety,
depression, and stress. Behavioral health screening and assessments such as the GAD-7, a
General Anxiety Disorder screener, and the PHQ-9 screener administered by the treatment team
will gather pre- and post-treatment measures. The GAD-7 is a General Anxiety Disorder screener
that is easily administered to identify anxiety symptoms. The measure has shown effectiveness
across various nations and groups of people (Sapra et al., 2020). The PHQ-9 is a self-
administered screener to identify the symptoms and severity of depression symptoms (Kroenke
et al., 2001). Therapists will utilize the tool at the beginning of treatment and throughout
treatment to identify changes in depressive symptoms.
26

The Connecting Students to Wellness program will reach students through collaboration
with existing programs on campus. Some existing programs include EOPS, CalWORKS, Umoja,
and Puente. Student peers will also conduct classroom presentations and outreach. In addition,
the team will utilize email blasts, social media, on-campus newsletters, and the existing college
wellness app to advertise services to students.
A program goal is to increase diversity and inclusiveness by eliminating barriers for
marginalized groups. The program staff will receive training that provides cultural competency,
cultural humility, cultural diversity, microaggressions, and implicit bias. The program will
represent various individuals from different cultural backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations,
and religions. The promotion of cultural diversity will allow for cultural matching and the
development of specific activities that are culturally appropriate. The equity and accessibility of
services address the behavioral health gap on community college campuses. Student parents will
have readily available services through a virtual and in-person capacity. The availability of
services will disrupt the disparities experienced by student parents.
Conclusions, Actions, and Implications
The Moreno Valley College behavioral health team makes program decisions through
stakeholder and beneficiary feedback. Stakeholders can complete a needs assessment
administered by the health center at the beginning of each semester. The needs assessment will
identify students' behavioral health priorities, student concerns, and an action plan to address the
behavioral health gap. Collaboration with stakeholders such as the student-associated
government and Active Minds mental health club is critical because of the peer-to-peer
component. Student peers involved in these specific onsite programs can assist with building
rapport between students and the Connecting Students to Wellness staff. Community data are
27

also essential in deciding future stakeholder needs, group development, and service options. The
Connecting Students to Wellness Program will review shared challenges among specific groups
and populations to ensure effective treatment is provided to students. The political climate may
also influence the services offered by the Connecting Students to Wellness Program.
Environmental challenges such as COVID may increase the need for mental health and essential
services. As mental health challenges become more prevalent, student parents may feel more apt
to receive assistance for themselves and their children.
Moreno Valley College plans to share the Connecting Students to Wellness program
web-based virtual resource center prototype with community colleges in local meetings and
statewide initiatives. The Riverside County Behavioral Health department partnership will obtain
information to administer during state meetings and regional initiatives such as Up2Riverside.
The goal of the Connecting Students to Wellness Program is to provide support to other
community colleges. A quarterly meeting hosted by the Mental Health Wellness Association will
allow the opportunity to share an overview of the web-based virtual resource center
infrastructure. Thus, other community colleges will have access to and knowledge of the
program's execution. The California Community College Chancellor's office will also receive a
program plan evaluation to share with state programs such as the California Community
Colleges Health and Wellness Initiative, the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the
American College Health Association, and American College Counseling Association.
Some of the limitations and risks of the Connecting Students to Wellness program
involve financial stability, sustainability with community partnerships, and ethical challenges
related to student peers and volunteers. Currently, Moreno Valley College's primary funding
source is the student health fee, which generates funds to pay for staff salaries and minimal
28

program incentives. Additionally, the program's finances will increase yearly to raise designated
staff and technology. Therefore, securing grant funding permits a reserve on the student health
budget. A strategy to mitigate this risk is to secure funding through grants, foundations, and
student equity funds. Some available funding includes Riverside County Behavioral Health
contracts and grant funding through various foundations. With additional funding, the program
can expand the team and services offered to student parents.
Another risk is the utilization of student volunteers enrolled in their respective bachelor's
or master's programs. Due to student volunteers' limited time commitment, there is inevitably a
high turnover each year. Most student volunteers will only commit to a year of the internship
because of the nature of the program’s volunteer hour requirement. With student volunteers
graduating annually, a new set of volunteers will need training each year. Volunteers will also
need frequent supervision to ensure quality service. The weekly supervision requires the licensed
therapist to schedule a minimum of one hour of supervision time with each student volunteer.
The program also requires partnerships with the county and non-profits to provide training and
services. Reliance on partnerships is also a program disadvantage. The Connecting Students to
Wellness program will need to cultivate relationships to secure the evidence-based training
services and programs described above.
The integration of a peer-to-peer component may also increase an ethical program risk.
Student peers will focus on establishing rapport and trust with their peers. However, peers will
need to abide by mandated laws and report safety issues. A peer required to report safety issues
without a student’s consent can damage the rapport with students. Thus, this may impact
developing trust with a marginalized group of student parents. Another ethical challenge that
29

may arise is integrity because of a student’s role on the campus. Students that are trained as
mental health peers may experience dual relationships.
The Connecting Students to Wellness program will continue to expand services by
securing additional full-time staff, onboarding other professional disciplines, and developing
partnerships with basic need resources. Our team will need to apply for sustainable funding
opportunities to ensure full-time staff. The team will explore grant funding through the Jed
Foundation, Riverside County Behavioral Health, and the American College Health Foundation.
The Jed Foundation and American College Health Foundation obtain various grant opportunities
to promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. The Health Center will provide
onboard master’s-level public health students with health education to prevent health issues. In
addition, health education services offer the opportunity to assist student parents in improving
their physical health. The Bachelor of Social Work interns will develop partnerships with
organizations to receive donations to enhance the food bank and clothing closet. The steps
required to sustain grants include the health center team and the college grant specialist creating
a grant proposal. Master-level public health students can join the health center team once an
affiliation agreement between the university and the college. All new elements proposed will
initiate in September 2023.
Expanding the program's quantifiable goals will include establishing four community
organizations, an affiliation agreement with California Baptist University's Master of Public
Health department, and a three-year grant through Riverside County Behavioral Health or a
college foundation. The college will reach the program goals through the assistance of change
agents, specifically the college president, the health director, the board of trustees, and the
chancellor's office. The health director can advocate and allocate funds to secure a full-time
30

mental health supervisor, grant opportunities, and mental health programming. The health
director will need to solidify the mental health programming from the department dean, college
vice president, and college president. The board of trustees is also a critical change agent because
the team will approve the mental health budget and mental health positions. Finally, a state-level
change agent is the chancellor's office. The chancellor's office emphasizes student success and
educational equity by increasing access to education for all student populations. Thus, a
sustainable behavioral health program can increase academic success.
31

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Appendix A
Stakeholder Analysis

39

Appendix B
Logic Model

40

Appendix C
Theory of Change

41

Appendix D
Gantt Chart

42

Appendix E
Competitive Analysis

43

Appendix F
Budget

44

Appendix G
MOU’s provided as requested.
Please contact Lynnette Navarro Sullivan
Navarrolynnette@yahoo.com

45

Appendix H
Attendance Log

Abstract (if available)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Sullivan, Lynnette Navarro (author)

Core Title Connecting students to wellness: student parents empowering parents)

School Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work

Degree Doctor of Social Work

Degree Program Social Work

Degree Conferral Date 2022-12

Publication Date 11/21/2022

Defense Date 12/21/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag college student success,community college students,empower parents,holistic wellness,OAI-PMH Harvest,student parents

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Enrile, Annalisa (committee chair)

Creator Email lnsulliv@usc.edu,navarrolynnette@yahoo.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112542500

Unique identifier UC112542500

Identifier etd-SullivanLy-11328.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-SullivanLy-11328

Document Type Capstone project

Format theses (aat)

Rights Sullivan, Lynnette Navarro

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Type texts

Source 20221201-usctheses-batch-993 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu