Supporting Student Wellness on Both Sides of the Desk

Academic libraries often rely on student employment for essential functions. These students face unique stressors, experiences, and mental health and wellness challenges. This presentation will look at one library’s efforts to support the unique wellness needs of student employees. Learn how conversations with student employees opened the door to policy and procedure changes, training opportunities, and initiatives like creating buttons and stickers, designing displays, and translating outreach materials to Spanish. We’ll talk about neuroinclusive and trauma-informed approaches to supporting student employees, mistakes made along the way, lessons learned, and future plans.