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Chancellor Justin Schwartz on Thursday announced a new initiative aimed at strengthening CU Boulder’s ongoing commitment to student mental health and wellness.

Schwartz has charged Sona Dimidjian, professor and director of the��Renée Crown Wellness Institute, with leading the effort, which is expected to result in a set of recommendations for specific implementation actions and a collaborative plan for assessing impact over time. The goals of the initiative are to strengthen collaborative, comprehensive and effective programs and policies that mitigate risk and promote student flourishing.

“The work must be centered on our students,” Schwartz said. “We highlight student flourishing because it is about more than just avoiding mental health crises. We want our undergraduate and graduate students to thrive holistically.

“We know student mental health is a national endemic challenge. We want to take a unique leadership role in modernizing how we address those challenges.”��

CU Boulder is currently in the design and planning process of this initiative, and the campus will continue to share milestones as the scope, structure and timeline are refined. Guided by the Crown Institute’s participatory design cycle, the initiative will be co-designed with undergraduate and graduate students to ensure the campus is making both immediate and enduring impacts for the community.��

As part of the effort, CU Boulder is in the process of partnering with the nonprofit��. The initiative will also include the formation of an advisory group of key partners that includes deans, faculty and other leaders from across campus, including Health and Wellness Services and Student Affairs. ��

“The opportunity to partner broadly across the campus with leaders who are dedicated to student well-being, with faculty who are renowned scholars, and with students who bring essential perspective and expertise is unique,” Dimidjian said. “Together, we have an opportunity to take stock and move forward in a collaborative and empirical way. We are grateful for the opportunity to do this work and believe that it can be uplifting, engaging and impactful.”

The Crown Institute, founded in 2019, makes including young people as both participants and designers of its work a standard practice in all of its initiatives.��

“The Crown Institute’s continued commitment to student-led health and wellness is invaluable to providing��a space for the ideas and initiatives students are passionate about,” said Aris Larson, CU Student Government health and safety chair.��“We are thrilled to be a part of these efforts to ensure that students thrive here at CU. I’m excited for the investment in student mental health Chancellor Schwartz is making through this new initiative.”

The Crown Institute is also a key player in Flourishing Academic Network (FAN), a national group of centers, institutes and universities devoted to the concept of student flourishing in higher education. The approach shows up in the classroom, as well as through a course on flourishing that Dimidjian taught in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.����

“I entered this course expecting to study an abstract concept and left not only with a deeper understanding but also with tools to support my own flourishing and that of those around me,” said CU student��Brittany Molitor, who has taken Dimidjian’s course.��

Dimidjian said a key aspect of the new initiative will be to identify the ways in which CU Boulder can strengthen some of the robust programming that already exists on campus and also gaps that can be addressed. CU Boulder in 2023��signed on to the Okanagan Charter, pledging a commitment to take a holistic and sustainable approach to becoming a Health Promoting University that considers the intersections of people, place and the planet.

“We have made a lot of progress in elevating the university’s focus on student mental health and well-being, and there is so much we can do in partnership with the Crown Institute, students, faculty and staff,” said Associate Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellness Jessica Doty, whose team established the CU Well-Being Collective to spearhead the campus’s Health Promoting University efforts.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs D’Andra Mull endorsed the effort as complementary to the goals of the Division of Student Affairs, which are to champion holistic student success, meeting students where they are and providing the varying and individualized support that students need to grow, develop new skills and thrive throughout their time at CU Boulder and beyond to graduation and into their careers.����

“We are proud to be part of this initiative to uplift the collective commitment to student success and well-being,” Mull said. “Student voice will play a critical role in this initiative, and we share our students' dedication to creating an environment that centers their well-being as they care for themselves, support each other and as we respond to evolving needs.”