Category:

RESPOND

RESPOND is a program designed to teach the campus community (students, faculty, and staff) how to recognize and respond to mental health concerns.

The core content includes a brief overview of mental health problems on college campuses, discussion about stigma and culture, an overview of signs associated with mental health problems.

The course is organized around the acronym RESPOND:

Recognize signs
Empathize
Share concerns
Pose open questions
Offer hope
Navigate resources and policy
Do self-care

The core content includes a brief overview of mental health problems on college campuses, discussion about stigma and culture, an overview of signs associated with mental health problems. Mental health problems are defined broadly to include both subclinical concerns as well as mental illness. The remainder of the course is focused on how to effectively respond with basic listening and empathy, risk assessment at the lay level, support, referral, and taking care of self (including appropriate boundaries based on role or personal preference). The training also addresses issues such as how FERPA works when mental health concerns exist, HIPAA where appropriate, and very briefly Title IX and confidential sources. The course is designed to be interactive and utilizes a variety of videos, roleplay, and other activities.

The program was originally designed to be a full 8-hour training, but a 4-hour version has been developed along with a 1-hour overview. RESPOND can be customized for any campus utilizing the materials. The PowerPoints have templates for local resource and policy slides and a variety of printed materials are also available be customized for your campus.

RESPOND can be licensed to campus mental health centers in Missouri at no cost, but does require a signed licensing agreement. For campuses outside Missouri, RESPOND can be licensed for a one-time fee of $1,200 for private institutions or $500 for public institutions. This provides teaching notes, all videos, PowerPoint slideshow, handouts, and activities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

RESPOND was developed by Dr. Christy Hutton at the University of Missouri – Columbia. The program was developed by gathering feedback from several campuses across the mid-west, ranging from a small rural state school to the flagship, University of Missouri.

To keep fidelity with the program as designed, we do not recommend making changes to the program content included in the PowerPoints/teaching notes. However, your campus can make aesthetic/design changes to the PowerPoints, door signs, brochures, certificates, or other print materials to match your campus colors or branding standards.

Originally, the program was designed to be facilitated by mental health professionals, but we have enhanced the teaching notes to make it accessible to public health professionals and other student affairs partners (especially if co-teaching with counseling staff).

Campuses should not utilize undergraduate students as facilitators for the 8-hour or 4-hour RESPOND, ONLY the 1-hour overview (with supervision). In some cases, graduate students in counseling psychology or social work programs may serve as facilitators, but we would again strongly recommend that they co-facilitate with a campus mental health professional.

Given that RESPOND was originally designed to be licensed to counseling centers and implemented by mental health clinicians, no additional training or certification is currently offered. We recommend that non-clinical individuals either co-facilitate with a mental health professional or engage in other training opportunities to further develop their knowledge around mental health concerns.

Contact and License RESPOND

Questions? Ready to license RESPOND? Reach out to our staff!

pip@missouri.edu