THE LEADER IN ADVANCING BEST PRACTICES
IN DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Nikki Brahm

36 POSTS 0 COMMENTS
Students and theater professionals at California State University, Fullerton participate in the first reading of the new musical “The Boys and the Nuns.”
Current

Latino-LGBTQ+ Experiences Take Center Stage in Music Workshop

Nikki Brahm -
Installation view of the Cara a Cara/Face to Face exhibit, featuring portraits by Chicano Artists from the Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia Collection at UT Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art.
Current

University Museums Awarded Funds for Latino Art Curation, Advancement

Nikki Brahm -
Students participate in the LGBTQ+ Pride March at Pennsylvania State University on April 12, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Patrick Mansell/Penn State)
Current

Rallying Campus Allies

Nikki Brahm -
Point Foundation Increases Support as LGBTQ+ Scholarship Applications Continue to Rise
Current

Point Foundation Increases Support as LGBTQ+ Scholarship Applications Continue to Rise

Nikki Brahm -
Current

Resource Hub Sees Spike in Demand as Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Grows

Nikki Brahm -
A new study is delving trends into reproductive health among Deaf and hard of hearing women.
Current

Reproductive Access: Study Explores Health Care Barriers for Deaf Women

Nikki Brahm -
Ruth Nicole Brown, PhD, professor and Department of African American and African Studies chair at MSU, meets with students.
Current

Expanding Boyer’s Model to Better Recognize Diverse Faculty Roles

Nikki Brahm -
Uncategorized

New UMN Medical Campus to Focus on Rural Health

Nikki Brahm -
Faculty, community members, and students gathered at New College of Florida to protest the ousting of the college’s president and several board of trustee members and their replacement by anti-DEI allies of DeSantis. (Photo courtesy of United Faculty of Florida)
Magazine Articles

UPDATE: The War on DEI

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Veteran Healers

Nikki Brahm -
Uncategorized

Researchers Call for Enhanced Obesity Training in Medical Schools

Nikki Brahm -
Oregon’s Three Sisters mountains are some of the highest in the state, with perpetual snow cover and glaciers that are shrinking every year. One of the projects a part of the JFI is looking at how receding glaciers impacts underrepresented communities. (Photo courtesy of Mark Carey)
Magazine Articles

Institute Spearheads Racial, Climate Justice Projects in Pacific Northwest

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Invisible Labor

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Engaging in Productive Dialogue

Nikki Brahm -
illustration of different types of houses
Magazine Articles

Universities Strive to Close Diversity Gaps in the Real Estate Industry

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Business School Strategies to Advance Women in MBA Programs and Leadership

Nikki Brahm -
One day after the mass shooting incident at Michigan State University in February, a University of Florida (UF) student called the UF Police Department (UFPD) concerned about a classmate who was researching guns and ammunition. Instead of just police responding to the call, a trained behavioral health specialist was also dispatched. “Our clinicians and officers spent three hours with that person to really flesh out why he was searching what he was searching,” says Meggen Sixbey, PhD, assistant director of the Behavioral Services Division of UFPD and a co-responder. “Do we have evidence to be concerned? In those three hours with him, they learned that he was in fear of his own safety [due to] things that were going on in his own life.” Without UF’s co-responder approach, Sixbey says, the situation could have escalated quickly or ended differently, and the student may not have received appropriate help. Due to widespread concern around mental health and fears of escalation caused by law enforcement response, partnerships between police and behavioral health specialists are growing across higher education campuses. Experts see this collaboration as a way to aid the most vulnerable by connecting them with needed resources and support. Collaborations differ campus to campus based on institutional needs. While some new programs, like the one at UF, dispatch counselors directly to the scene with police officers, others do not involve immediate on-site clinician response to dispatch situations. The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, for example, works with both municipal and campus police to provide mental health support services to students, all of whom live off campus. University case managers help officers on the scene when there is no perceived imminent danger. Additional support is provided by the Campus Assessment, Response & Evaluation (CARE) Team, which is a common type of program at colleges and universities. The goal is to reach students before their situation becomes critical. The CARE Team reviews referrals for urgent mental health support among students and connects them to campus resources such as case management and additional counseling services. When assessing a threat, each situation is evaluated based on the NABITA Risk Rubric, a tool used in triaging mental health concerns with an interdisciplinary team approach, says Jan Gascoigne, PhD, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, and associate clinical professor. “Often the situation is determined not to be a threat but really just someone who is struggling and needs help,” she says. “We’d rather try to work with that person, figure out what’s going on, and get them the help they need without having to escalate to a police intervention. Our campus police have the same philosophy.” New programs expand mental health services in dispatch situations, with projects being introduced at Johns Hopkins University, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oregon, Colorado State University, and California State University, Long Beach. During a six-month trial in the city of Denver, in which mental health specialists were paired with police to respond to calls involving trespassing and other nonviolent events, a 34 percent drop in crimes was reported, or approximately 1,400 fewer criminal offenses, according to the Stanford University report “A Community Response Approach to Mental Health and Substance Abuse Crises Reduced Crime,” published last year. UF’s program launched in July and is the first in the nation led by a campus police department, Sixbey says. Calls are answered by UFPD, which contacts clinicians when there is a mental health component. Situations might include, for example, a student who threatens suicide, someone who was just fired from their job, or an individual whose property was stolen. It’s essential to decriminalize mental health, or mitigate criminal offenses in such calls, Sixbey says. It’s also important to de-escalate situations with clinically trained professionals to help reduce hospitalizations, which are often traumatic, she says. The UF team is looking for more effective ways to enhance efforts to assist underrepresented individuals because the relationship between these communities and law enforcement has historically been strained, a circumstance highlighted by recent social justice activism and political attention paid to policing. In addition to a campus climate survey, UF is conducting focus groups to see how underrepresented communities on campus view the program. Preliminary feedback points to possible changes in police uniforms, where officers would wear a pin or patch to identify themselves as Crisis Intervention Team trained, which means they have received mental health instruction to guide interactions. Individuals surveyed also showed interest in making the clinician the lead responder instead of an officer. This model was used successfully a couple of months ago, Sixbey says. A faculty member of color called regarding a Black student who made a concerning statement about suicide and left the classroom abruptly. The caller didn’t want police to go to the student’s home because they were aware he had experienced past interactions with law enforcement, but the caller still felt a wellness check was warranted. Based on the information provided, the clinician was able to strategize and lead the interaction. They found that the fears the instructor had regarding the student’s mental health were not present and that he was thankful for the tailored response. “Why a program like this is so beneficial, especially to underrepresented populations, is simply because it provides an additional resource which is an alternative to law enforcement response,” Sixbey says. “Even the best law enforcement officer with an abundance of mental health and crisis intervention team training is still an officer. When you can bring a mental health worker to the scene, it can shift the dynamic and allow for a noncriminal approach to a noncriminal matter.”
Magazine Articles

Counselor-Police Response Partnerships Benefit Students in Crisis

Nikki Brahm -
Professor Erim Gómez poses with his beard mug at UM. Items in the image signify his Mexican heritage, including his guayabera, or traditional Latin American shirt.
Magazine Articles

Wildlife Biology Professor Weaves Indigenous Heritage into Lessons

Nikki Brahm -
poster with various writing on it
Magazine Articles

UPenn’s ‘Eidos’ Project Tackles LGBTQ+ Health Inequity, Discrimination

Nikki Brahm -
food pantry
Magazine Articles

Community Colleges Help Vulnerable Students Access Food and Housing

Erik Cliburn -
woman sits in a classroom with a person's profile in the foreground
Magazine Articles

Equity in the Classroom Leads to Greater Student Success

Nikki Brahm -
group of diverse people holding hands over a table
Magazine Articles

Religious Diversity on Campus: INSPIRES Index Helps Schools Assess Their Support

Nikki Brahm -
Two people in wheelchairs sit at a conference table
Magazine Articles

A Catalyst for Innovation: (dis)Ability Design Studio Debuts

Nikki Brahm -
Students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Nursing participate in a health outreach event on campus.
Magazine Articles

Nursing Schools Teach Advocacy Skills to Help Advance Health Equity

Nikki Brahm -
Photo of a woman picture from the neck down wearing a nametag to emphasize the importance of accurate name pronunciation.
Magazine Articles

Navigating Names

Nikki Brahm -
Brittney Dixon teaches a class at the University of Florida. Dixon was hired as a result of a program by the College of Public Health and Health Professions to support a critical need for diverse research and instruction. (Photo courtesy of Jesse S. Jones/UF Health)
Magazine Articles

Innovative Funding Helps Health Professions Research College Raise $1 Million, Advance...

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Programs on the Rise to Help Younger Generations Achieve Financial Literacy

Nikki Brahm -
A recent report from The Trevor Project finds college students who identify as LGBTQ+ and had access to mental health services through their schools were 84 percent less likely to attempt suicide in the past year compared to LGBTQ+ students who had no access to help. (Photo courtesy of The Trevor Project)
Magazine Articles

Suicide Risk Greater Among LGBTQ+ Students with No Access to Mental...

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Kinesiology and Health Promotion Program Embeds DEI Throughout Curriculum

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Introductory STEM Courses Drive Out Underrepresented Female Students at Higher Rates

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

As Cybersecurity Field Heats Up, HBCU Partnership Addresses Workforce Diversity

Nikki Brahm -
AAPI

Newest National Resource Center at University of Arizona to Focus on...

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Fast-Track Education Programs Help Address National Teacher Shortage

Nikki Brahm -
AAPI

Experts Call for Increased Asian American Studies to Counter Ignorance and...

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Study Finds Access Disparities in Dual Enrollment Programs

Nikki Brahm -
Magazine Articles

Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Calls Attention to Other Debt Relief Programs

Nikki Brahm -

CURRENT ISSUE:

JUNE 2023

Download the PDF

View Digital Edition

Archives

Subscribe