Five years into adopting the Okanagan Charter, the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus is advancing as a health-promoting university, with ongoing efforts expected. The Charter is an international pact to integrate health and well-being into campus culture, influencing health promotion globally. U-M’s dedication is highlighted by its theme year, Human Health and Well-Being, a key component of the Look to Michigan Vision.
Key achievements include the addition of the 988 national suicide and crisis lifeline to Mcards for students, faculty, and staff across all campuses. U-M has standardized course drop deadlines and enhanced registration transparency in its 19 schools and colleges. New student bereavement guidance and a floating holiday for employees to celebrate personal events have been established. The university’s alcohol hosting policy now incorporates harm-reduction language.
Collaboration with the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching has produced “An Instructor’s Guide to Promoting Student Mental Health and Well-being.” A Mental Health Continuum of Care was formed for better resource navigation, alongside the Mattering at Michigan initiative to enhance community value. Large-course wellness check-ins and the Experience Rx social prescribing program have been expanded. A partnership with The Jed Foundation (JED) through the JED Campus program focuses on mental health and suicide prevention infrastructure improvements.
The Well-being Collective, established after U-M’s Okanagan Charter adoption, spearheads these initiatives, leveraging expertise from students, faculty, and staff for system-level changes. Collaborators include University Human Resources, MHealthy, and student governments. Provost Laurie McCauley and Vice President for Student Life Martino Harmon are executive sponsors.
UM-Ann Arbor was among the first U.S. institutions to adopt the Okanagan Charter in September 2021. Interest in campus health promotion is spreading; UM-Flint recently adopted the charter, joining Ann Arbor and UM-Dearborn in the Michigan chapter of the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network. Joe Zichi, leading the Well-being Collective, is the chair-elect.
“The university made a bold move when we adopted the Okanagan Charter,” stated Robert Ernst, chief health officer and co-lead for the Year of Human Health and Well-Being. “We were still deep in the pandemic with very real threats to our physical safety. But we knew even then how critical mental health and well-being are to our ability to thrive.”
“At Michigan, we have leaned deeply into the partnership between student and academic affairs, which allows us to optimize our systems and policies through a lens of well-being in some really novel ways,” Ernst added. “We are a national model, and we will keep this momentum for years to come.”
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