SAN ANTONIO – The Alamo Colleges District received a $200,000 grant to fund a plan focused on improving mental health and well-being across the different campuses.
“We are going to do surveys and focus groups and find out exactly what our students and faculty and staff need,” Nina Wright, senior program officer for Grants Development at Alamo Colleges Foundation said.
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The grant from the Trellis Foundation will help in many ways.
“The grant is going to provide us to get extra clinicians on board to be able to support us,” said Aisha Woods, a Ph.D. personal counselor at San Antonio College.
Funding will also go towards training faculty and staff as well as a public awareness campaign.
Last year, Alamo Colleges provided counseling services to 3,000 students.
“One of the big challenges we are still seeing is the fallout from this COVID-19 pandemic,” Woods said.
Woods says it’s been difficult for some students to return to in-person classes.
“There’s a lot of anxiety about walking into spaces that are small, condensed, with no mask requirements,” Woods said.
Meanwhile, other students are facing different challenges that are impacting their mental health.
“A lot of students are holding two or maybe three jobs,” Woods said.
Alamo Colleges was among 10 awardees across the state.
“The ultimate goal of the project is to make sure we are taking care of our students,” Wright said.