Vermont Colleges School Students on Wellness as Mental Health Concerns Mount

As crisis calls to its counseling center rose during the pandemic, Norwich University administrators started looking for new ways to ease the adjustment from home to campus.

"Students were at a place where they couldn't really handle what was going on in their lives," said Nicole Krotinger, director of counseling and wellness at the Northfield military college.

Health providers knew that students nationwide were struggling with conditions such as anxiety and depression — problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 lockdowns. Post-pandemic, that unease persists.

Norwich's response: a new class, held in a 200-person auditorium, that teaches skills such as mindfulness, conflict resolution, problem solving and stress management. In the semester-long, for-credit class, called Resilient Bodies, students aim to develop skills that can head off problems before they derail learning. They break into groups to explore scenarios — for example, an argument with a roommate — and discuss strategies for managing their feelings.

"These are skills that are valuable to you as a person who wants to be a leader someday," said Kylie Blodgett, an assistant professor of health science at Norwich who helped create the curriculum last year. Faculty and staff are welcome, and sometimes they participate. "These skills can serve you wherever you are in life, and you can practice them and get better at them," Blodgett said.