Drexel’s Recreation Center now offers a new way for students, staff and visitors to maintain healthy minds in the same place where they attend to the health of their bodies. The new MindKare™ mental health kiosk is now up and running in the center’s lobby—and it’s the first such kiosk at any university.
Taking care of mental wellness is vitally important for college students, many of whom experience anxiety and depression. As the New York Times reported last week, nearly one in six college students has been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety within the past year.
The MindKare kiosk offers users quick, simple self-assessments to anonymously gauge their risk for mental health concerns including anxiety, depression, alcohol, eating disorders and more.
An online version created by Screening for Mental Health, Inc. (SMH) has been available for Drexel students for several years, and is available at DrexelMindKare.org. A collaboration between Drexel, SMH and the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS), the kiosk in the Recreation Center helps raise awareness and emphasizes that mental health is part of the whole picture of personal wellness.
Along with wellness initiatives including Jersey, the on-site therapy dog in the Recreation Center, it’s one of many ways Drexel is trying to help students maintain health in both mind and body.
Through the “A Healthier U” employee wellness initiative, in cooperation with Drexel’s HR department, the Recreation Center kiosk also offers guidance to faculty and professional staff who want to check up on their own mental health.
An additional kiosk is being installed for patients and community members at the College of Nursing and Health Professions’ Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services Center in North Philadelphia, as part of the center’s renovation and expansion.
Read more about the MindKare kiosks and how and why they have come to Drexel in DrexelNow.
Drexel students in need of help can email Counseling and Health Services to make an appointment for counseling at Counseling@drexel.edu, or call 215.895.1415 for the University City campus or 215.762.7625 at the Center City Campus. The peer counseling helpline is available Sunday through Thursday between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. at 215.895.1523.
Employees can learn more about employee assistance benefits at healthadvocate.com/drexel or by calling 866.799.2728.
Members of the Drexel community can access additional wellness resources at http://drexel.edu/healthieru/.
The City of Philadelphia DBHIDS offers the free screening tool online to all Philadelphians at http://healthymindsphilly.org/screening.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is always available at 1.800.273.TALK (8255).
