By Chris Dawe, AVP Health & Wellbeing
When I arrived at the University of Houston (UH) in fall 2022, I quickly discovered that we didn’t have a lot of great data on which to build our strategy. As it was for many, things had been a little disrupted in the past few years, and access to the limited amount of pre-pandemic data about our students’ health and wellbeing wasn’t going to be very helpful for decisions moving forward. I was learning that there was an institutional culture of low response rates on many different surveys. 2019 NCHA response rates were extremely low, making that aging data even less valuable.
So, we needed to do something different for our next step. I had been connected for years to some amazing colleagues who were part of the Action Network for Equitable Wellbeing (ANEW) and its predecessor, the 20 x 30 Network. I knew they were working on tackling this kind of challenge, and I had learned about some of the successes for the leaders implementing the new WISHES (Wellbeing Improvement Survey for Higher Education Settings). Our Director of UH Wellness, Reuben Parrish, had also been aware of this Network and survey, and together we decided this was the approach for us to try. We reached out and asked to join the upcoming Launch Lab that was starting in Aug 2023. The concept of working with a cohort in a shared learning environment was a big draw.
As still the new guy at UH, with a massive response to student suicides underway, diving into our first full year as a JED Campus, and a new divisional strategic plan being launched, we were spread a little thin and running behind – some of you may be able to relate! We scrambled to get our materials submitted and joined the first discussions. Amazing colleagues leading the discussion, and a fabulous group of colleagues across the country all working towards similar goals was exhilarating. And overwhelming. And a humbling learning experience. We were a small but mighty group at UH and we learned that we weren’t alone. The power of the Launch Lab was evident, especially when we couldn’t pull all the right people to our UH table to start. The key was just getting to the table and starting.
We quickly learned that within this larger national Network, we also had a little subgroup of Texas colleagues who were sharing our journey. Together we learned. Together we got the first implementation of WISHES in the field. And then the learning continued.
What was working well? What variables could we tweak to increase that response rate? What were we learning already from our first sample of students? And what would we do with that data to make concrete evolutions in our health and wellbeing programs and services?
We’re certainly not yet where we want to be. We most definitely have better data and we’re utilizing it to tell the story of our students’ health and wellbeing, and we’re actioning that knowledge in our planning for the upcoming year. The storytelling is becoming powerful to draw more of our UH colleagues into the conversation. We’ll have more partners in this work and learning journey moving forward. And we’ll be making better decisions to impact our students.
The power of a growing network of Texas colleagues utilizing WISHES and this shared improvement journey together will be exponential. We’re looking forward to having some of the powerhouse, well-resourced colleagues to learn from, and some of our upcoming colleagues who will join us with more work yet to do. Together, we’ll build the power of a Texas collaboration that elevates our impact on student health and wellbeing beyond anything we could ever do alone. Join us and let’s make a difference!