Members of the Hendrix College SOAR Team
for 2022-23 gather in the Student Affairs area of the Student Life and
Technology Center (SLTC). / Courtesy photo
CONWAY, Ark. (August 29, 2022) – The 2022-23 Student Outreach Alternative
Resources Team (SOAR) kicked off its 2022-23 academic year with 26 members
completing certification in the following programs:
- Mental
Health First Aid, a process
for providing help to someone who is developing a mental health problem or
experiencing a mental health crisis. The training helps these peer mentors to
identify, understand, and respond to signs of addictions and mental illnesses.
- One
Love Campaign is a series
of short and shareable digital content in five unique chapters that shine a
spotlight on unhealthy or emotionally abusive relationship behaviors—or the
gray area between love and control. The training teaches peer mentors how to
safely intervene and educate peers when factors indicate “That’s Not Love!”
- ASIST, the implementation of LivingWorks
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, is a two-day interactive workshop
in suicide first aid. ASIST teaches participants to recognize when someone may
have thoughts of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support
their immediate safety. Studies show that the ASIST method helps reduce
suicidal feelings in those at risk.
- Substance
(visual identification and symptom identification)
provides information regarding identification and prevention of compulsive drug
or alcohol use that leads to significant disruptions in daily living, including
loss of education or work, relationships, and health.
- Campus
Safety (for Hendrix
College) includes the process of collaboration between members of the SOAR Team
and the campus Public Safety staff to protect the rights, responsibilities, and
health of the residents on campus as well as the physical campus.
- Emotional
Intelligence, a
session assisting SOAR Team members in enhancing their capacity as individuals
to recognize their own and others’ emotions, to differentiate between different
feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to
guide thinking and behavior.
SOAR Team members
also received information regarding:
- Safe
Zone (LGBTQ+), a resource
for powerful, effective, LGBTQ+ awareness and ally training; it provides
terminology and definitions to assist individuals in better understanding the
changing culture of identity in society.
- Title
IX, which protects people
from discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities. SOAR
mentors learn how to identify acceptable versus unacceptable actions and
behaviors and to make sure that campus policy and procedures are followed by
students and those affecting life in the campus community.
Comprehensive
certifications were received by students Janiya Ashford, Joey Beard, Chiara
Bunting, Alexandria Cade, Cierra Daniels, Dominic Diamond, Ta’Mya Dotson, Ethan
Epperson, Makenzie Henderson, Gillian Henneberry, Julie Hooper, Victoria Horan,
Zacchaeus Knowles, Nate Lemke, Alicia McCloria, Areej Mukhtar, Megan Pelley,
Sam Pierce, Olman Pineda, Marah Rice, Curtis Rubarts, Monique Williams, and
Kylon Williams.
Mental Health First
Aid certifications were also received by staff members Mike LeBlanc, assistant dean
of students; David Bugh, director of Public Safety; Jessica Gray, Public Safety
officer, Jessica Fulbright, Title IX coordinator and education coordinator; Nathan
Van Soy, director of student accounts; Kristi Crowley, women’s lacrosse coach;
and Taylor Frombaugh, women’s lacrosse assistant coach.
In addition, ASIST
Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Suicide Management certifications were received
by Director Bugh and Shondell Ollison, Public Safety officer.
About SOAR
SOAR
is a student–led program operating under the guidance of the Office of Student
Outreach Services (SOS). SOAR is made up of returning students who are campus
leaders wanting to make a difference in the lives of incoming students by
serving students as peer mentors – not in the academic sense, but in the social
world of the Hendrix College community.
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in
Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as one of the
country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That
Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its
academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a
fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.