At the University of Connecticut, Black students are finding community within innovative organizations that are designed to foster connections and a sense of belonging.

In 2023, the Black Sisters Optimizing Unity & Leadership House joined the Scholastic House Of Leaders in Support of African American Researchers & Scholars as a learning community on the university’s main campus. These learning communities support Black women and men in their freshman and sophomore years.

Known as BSOUL and ScHOLA²RS, respectively, they are part of UConn’s larger system of learning communities that aim to provide support for students transitioning to college. These communities attract students with a variety of interests, from the success of Black women in higher education to environmental causes, human rights and engineering.

Data USA reports that in 2023, white students made up 50 percent of the UConn student body or 13,639 students. Black or African Americans accounted for 1,889 students, or about 7 percent. Statewide census data show whites make up about 66 percent of state residents, with Black residents at roughly 12 percent.

The gap between demographics aligns with the Encyclopedia of African American Education definition of Predominantly White Institutions, or PWIs, as “institutions of higher learning in which whites account for 50% or greater of the student enrollment”

“I don’t see people from where I’m from,” freshman UConn student Nhyria Mensah said. “It’s really lonely.”

To combat this sense of loneliness, in the BSOUL learning community, students take one class freshman and sophomore year focused on developing a professional network with alumni and building a community. The community targets academics, research and professional development.

“It launched to create an environment for Black women to be greeted with other Black women as soon as they started here at UConn,” BSOUL Graduate Assistant Tyshana Campbell said.

After its start in spring 2023, BSOUL expanded into what UConn calls a living/learning community the following semester. Such communities enable students to live together on the same floor of the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower.

When submitting housing applications, new and current UConn students can select one living/learning community they’re interested in and will be notified mid-May if they’ve been accepted. UConn charges no additional fees for students interested in participating in these living-learning communities.

Second-year BSOUL student Kamdyn Thomas said when she walks around the campus she doesn’t see a lot of people who look like her. But living on the BSOUL floor with other Black women she can walk out of her room in her bonnet without worrying about what’s going on with her hair. She’s able to text the group chat and ask the other women if they have braiding gel or even a head scarf.

“I can experience all these cultural things that are within our community,” Thomas said. “It makes my life a lot better. It’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders when I got into that house.”

Campbell and another graduate assistant teach a class to the BSOUL women on how to build up their identity, figure out who they are and discover their interests and passions.

BSOUL also hosts wellness events, monthly community meetings, events with organizations on and off campus and professional opportunities.

Much like BSOUL, the Scholastic House Of Leaders in Support of African American Researchers & Scholars, OR ScHOLA²RS, living/learning community offers classes to first- and second-year Black men.

Senior Ayoyinka Omojola says ScHOLA²RS has been a huge plus.

“It gave me friends for life,” he says. “People that I could always go to whenever. Anytime - 2 a.m. or 5 a.m. - someone’s up to talk. Those things give us a good sense of community and that’s important, especially being here.”

It’s not unusual to find the BSOUL and ScHOLA²RS learning communities teaming up to host events. And the learning communities will often collaborate with other Black campus organizations such as the Black Student Association, UConn West Indian Student Organization, the National Association of Black Accountants and others.

Long tradition

Living learning communities that foster Black community are a growing resource across the country, Oregon State University has its own living learning community for Black students. The Nia Black Scholar Living-Learning Community focuses on building a supportive and engaging community for Black Students. Alma College in Michigan has the Julius Chatman Living Learning Community for first-year students to live together and support each other while attending a predominantly white institution.

At UConn the newer learning communities come out of a longer tradition. The African American Cultural Center was established in 1968 to serve as a link between students and UConn departments such as Residential Life and Financial Aid. It also provides a support system for Black students in their academics and personal lives. Over the years, the goals of the cultural center have changed but its values and mission statement have stayed the same. The AACC is committed to creating a welcoming environment for Black students that preserves their culture and provides support in all areas of their college experience.

Centrally located on the fourth floor in the Student Union, it’s open to all students, whether that be to study, meet up with friends, host an event or talk with department staff. The center is known for bringing together the Black community by hosting the Black student organizations involvement fair, Crown Day where students can get their hair done for free, opening and closing ceremonies for Black History Month, and the Black Excellence Summit to encourage professional growth and community building.

As president of UConn’s Black Student Association, Mikayla Robinson has firsthand experience seeing how campus involvement can reduce feelings of isolation and lower stress.

“Events that bring students together, create joy, and provide safe spaces for conversation can have a really positive impact,” she said.

Every Tuesday, the Black Students Association hosts its general meetings in the cultural center, which are open to all students. Events range from karaoke night to honoring Black figures who have shaped the future.

The network of support today in UConn’s Black community mirrors an important time in the early 20th Century when Black students around the nation faced systematized racial segregation. Between 1903 and 1963, nine African American sororities and fraternities were created to build a sense of brother- and sisterhood and uplift the Black community. The “Divine Nine” as they are known, are part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and also have a presence on the UConn campus: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Iota Phi Theta.

This sense of Black community can often be expressed through the Divine Nine tradition of strolling, in which members perform synchronized steps combined with stepping in a line formation.

Recently Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated (AKA) had a new member probate at Sacred Heart University (SHU) in Fairfield, Connecticut. Newly inducted members are introduced and present their chapter history to friends, family, and other AKA members.

Sophomore Aryanna Streater says she feels strongly about being an AKA because Black students are underrepresented on campus. More than 70 percent of SHU’s student body identifies as white.

Streater talked about the importance of growing the chapter that started in 2024.

“We’re trying to bring more Black women interested in our organization,” she said. “A lot of people I know have chosen white sororities on campus because they felt as if they had no other choice since there’s not enough black faces around.”

Streater says she believes being part of a Black organization will inspire more students to get involved because their purpose is to help the community and those who look like them.

Unmet need

Even though UConn previously had a well-developed network of campus support, there are signs that the relatively new living learning communities are tapping into an unmet need amongst Black students. BSOUL Graduate Assistant Campbell says the community currently has a waiting list of 80 students.

Despite high demand, however, students may find these support systems through word of mouth rather than the university itself.

Kendrick Allonce says he’s unsure how he came across the ScHOLA²RS living-learning community his first year at UConn and adds that many of his friends were unaware of it. He says it should be advertised more to incoming students and might be used to promote the wider network of support for the Black community here.

The lack of familiar faces for incoming Black students on campus can lead to the need to act out of character to fit into white spaces. The Encyclopedia of African American Education refers to this action as code-switching, or “the process of shifting from one linguistic code to another depending on the communication setting or context.”

As a STEM major, the weight of a “mask” is something Allonce says he knows all too well.

“There are so many classes where I’m the only Black man or just Black person in general. I feel like sometimes I have to act not myself depending on the circumstances,” he says.

A 2018 study found that “For many Black students, entering into a PWI is their first time in a predominantly white environment, which can cause minority status stress.”

That’s particularly true for home students from Connecticut, where the K-12 school system is among the most highly segregated in the nation.

A study from the School + State Finance Project shows that most students attend a school district where more than 75% of the students are white, or a district where more than 75% are students of color.

More than half of all Black students attend a district where the white student population is less than 25% of the district’s total enrollment.

Alicia McKenzie sees this dynamic a lot.

“For a lot of students this may be the first time they’re in a space where they are the minority,” the African American Cultural Center director says. “They could have come from a school or community where they were the majority.”

Knowing this, the AACC hosts a welcome-back community kickoff event with food, a DJ and the Greeks strolling.

“It’s the first time a lot of our first-year students will be in a space with so many Black and brown students,” McKenzie says.

And that initial moment of connection the first weekend on campus serves as a vital foundation for many first-year Black students. Campbell says she wants students to know it’s OK to be Black on a campus with a community that will welcome them with open arms and accept who they are.

Grief is not linear. It’s like quicksand.

One day when you think you’re taking steps forward to heal from the death of someone you love, you step into quicksand. Suddenly you feel like you’re sinking, being pulled down by trauma and grief.

This is how University of Kentucky senior Caroline Cygan describes the feeling that hits when grief starts to consume her. Cygan lost her brother Christian to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, or SUDEP, in 2022. She was in her sophomore year of college as a neuroscience student. He was 21.

“Losing someone specifically during college is just so disorienting, because you feel like you’re in this whole other space while everyone else is in the college world. I remember during the first year I had a lot of brain fog because I couldn’t cope. You’re just trying your best,” Cygan said.

Like others who suffer loss in college, Cygan reached out for support from her professors while experiencing periods of intense grief – grief that would hit even years later in ways that ranged from insomnia and hypochondria to tension headaches and chest pain.

She says she did not find that support from some of her professors. And she isn’t alone.

Each year, more than 4 million college and university students “are socially and academically impacted by bereavement,” according to Evermore, a nonprofit group that focuses on helping people through grief and loss. Evermore, which advocates for higher-education institutions to adopt student bereavement-leave policies, adds that only a small fraction of such institutions – a little more than 1 percent – have formal accommodations for students.

Cygan is part of a push to adopt student bereavement policies at her university. That idea is gaining momentum throughout the U.S.

New push for student bereavement policies

Until 2011, Ball State University in Indiana was the only accredited college in the U.S. to have a bereavement leave policy for students. Meanwhile, Dr. Heather L. Servaty-Seib was a professor of counseling psychology at nearby Purdue University, conducting a study on the effects of grief on student academics.

She would find that 227 students at her university who reported experiencing the death of a family member or friend also saw a drop in academic performance during the semester the loss occurred, with lower GPAs than a non-bereaved group.

After publishing that study in 2006, Servaty-Seib began pushing for student bereavement strategies. With the help of the student government in 2011, Purdue University approved a bereavement leave policy called the Grief Absence Policy for Students.

Servaty-Seib and a colleague continued to advocate for grief policies, however, and in a Journal of College Student Development article published in 2019 they wrote that such policies show respect and empathy for students, help students succeed in the long run, promote consistency and allow students to contact a single source, rather than each of their professors, when they’ve experienced the death of a loved one.

And it’s not a minor consideration. Servaty-Seib says studies show from 37-44% of college students experience the death of a loved one during any two-year period in college.

Servaty-Seib, who’s now the senior associate vice provost for teaching and learning at Purdue, has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and specializes in the study of death and dying, called thanatology. She said in a recent phone interview that in talking to students over the years about grief, they report having difficulty getting time off from class and accommodations because the professors think they’re lying to get an extension.

Most of the time, she says, that isn’t the case.

“There’s lots of jokes out there that I see online with people saying, ‘Oh, I have a test coming, all the grandparents are going to die,’” Servaty-Seib said. “But the reason that professors only hear about it when there’s an exam is because if nothing’s happening on that day of class and students have a death,” they just won’t go to class and won’t tell the professor.

Meanwhile, many college students find that no set guidelines or policies exist at their schools to determine if they’re eligible for leave or extended deadlines. They may be instructed to consider taking an incomplete for the class, making up the work later or taking a break from college all together.

Since publishing her initial study in 2006, Servaty-Seib has advocated for student bereavement policies at Actively Moving Forward conferences, a student nationwide chapter organization for bereaved students. In 2015, she published a book called “We Get It,” a collection of 33 stories by bereaved students and young adults. In that time, Servaty-Seib’s research and policies became a blueprint for implementing bereavement policies at many other schools.

By 2019, Servaty-Seib says, 44 colleges among the nation’s 3,043 accredited colleges had adopted bereavement leave policies. Evermore puts that number at 100. Schools on the list include Boston University, University of Baltimore and Oakland University.

Purdue’s rules

Purdue’s Grief Absence Policy provides students with the number of days they can take after a death, depending on their relationship with the deceased. If the relationship isn’t specifically covered by the policy, students request an absence through the Office of the Dean of Students.

Purdue’s Grief Absence Guidelines:

To apply for the leave, students must submit a Grief Absence Request Form, which sends an absence notification to their instructors and requires documentation of the death or funeral service. If approved, students will be excused from class and allowed to make up missed work or assessments.

Servaty-Seib says she finds that professors may dislike losing control over decisions concerning classwork and attendance. But she has found that once professors learn they don’t have to determine if a student is telling the truth about a death they are more likely to support the policy.

“All we’re asking for is for the students to have the same rights” as professors, Servaty-Seib said.

Other schools have adopted similar types of bereavement policies, with some differences in the amount of days students get off or how students notify the school of a death.

Working toward a how-to guide

Today, Servaty-Seib provides advice and resources to colleges working toward implementing bereavement policies. She’s creating a toolkit in collaboration with Evermore for colleges and students to use when pushing for bereavement policies at their schools. Servaty-Seib explains that for years she would send resources over to students and college organizations looking to implement bereavement policies and this toolkit is an accumulation of that.

“It is a document that is going to walk people through, how do you build rationale and argue for the need for a policy like this on your campus?” she said, adding: “You can connect it to the mission of the institution. It helps you figure out who needs to be involved in the process – who are the voices that will most likely be listened to.”

The toolkit, which will include three parts, will provide data, policy ideas and promotion plans.

Red Douglas, the manager of Higher Education Initiatives at Evermore and a graduate student at Oakland University, is also working on the toolkit.

He says he became interested in working with grieving students after his father died while he was in college. As a graduate student, he worked toward enacting bereavement policies at Oakland. Now he works with students from other schools who are trying to get bereavement policies put in place. He says in a recent interview that the process varies from school to school.

“The University of Maryland – those girls have been fighting tooth and nail for 10 years to try to get one, and Maryland will not budge on it,” he said. “The University of Kentucky is getting really close. They were successful at Gonzaga. We are working very closely with Santa Clara as well.”

Douglas says continuing to spread the idea of bereavement policies is also important. He hopes the toolkit and the work of Servaty-Seib will continue to inspire people at different universities to push for bereavement policy.

“Are we there yet?” he asked. “No. We have lots of work to be done, but because of people like Heather … it’s allowed later generations like me and now even you, another generation behind me, to continue picking this up and doing it.”

The question is: Do bereavement policies work?

Data are lacking as to whether these policies prove effective in helping students through grief. Servaty-Seib says she hopes to conduct studies on this in the future, but for now the evidence is largely anecdotal.

A 2025 study that looks at support in general for grieving students indicates that “short-term, crisis-oriented focus often leaves gaps in ongoing emotional support for bereaved students, highlighting the need for stronger, long-term planning.”

Cygan, the University of Kentucky student, says she would like to create a bereavement policy at her school that not only helps students when they lose a loved one, but long after. She says she believes many people view the loss as a “one-time event” a young person will get over.

“But that’s the thing about grief … it’s not like that,” she said.

She recalls that around the time of her brother’s birthday last year she starting having many of the PTSD symptoms she’d initially suffered from – a phenomenon often referred to as an “anniversary effect.” Cygan says she reached out to one of her professors to ask for accommodations for a physics exam. He declined her request.

“His response was, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’” Cygan said. When she asked the teaching assistant about the response, she says, the TA responded: “‘You’ll be OK. I think the professor’s just going take it easy on people with this test.’ It just felt very dismissing. It didn’t feel like they actually understood. It felt very impersonal, and it felt like I was an inconvenience.”

Many other college students share their own experiences in online forums dedicated to dealing with the death of a loved one in college, often saying they felt dismissed by professors in seeking accommodations or extensions.

And universities that lack student bereavement leave may have a few options for students experiencing grief.

The University of Connecticut is among those institutions with no set bereavement policy, opting instead to deal with such situations on a case-by-case basis. Students are urged to meet with the Dean of Students office to discuss their options, which could include taking an extended leave for the semester, reducing their course load or requesting an incomplete for a class. The office will work with faculty to help students.

UConn’s associate dean and director of the Dean of Students office is Maureen Armstrong. She writes in an email that the office regularly meets with students who are struggling from the death of a family member or friend, whether they come in on their own or are referred.

“We will go over as many options as we can to help the student make an informed decision,” Armstrong writes. “Many students stay enrolled and work with us for flexibility on due dates when possible or the incomplete option. If a student decided stepping away is the best option, we will help them with that and go over the process of readmission for when they are ready to return.”

Armstrong says if a student misses class the office will ask professors for flexibility in making up the work. The office also refers students to UConn’s Student Health and Wellness mental health and ensures students are aware of services such as grief loss groups and counseling available on campus, in addition to yoga, meditation, pet therapy and UConn Faith. If a student has lost a parent, the discussion could involve financial aid and steps the student might take to adjust it.

She adds that the Dean of Students office helps students who have suffered a loss to reschedule final exams and that experts there often meet with students more than once.

“We also may not meet with a student right after the loss but down the road, they discover the grief is more than they can manage and we will help them,” Armstrong writes.

Other colleges have similar options, or none at all.

That’s a bit surprising to Servaty-Seib, who says that bereavement policies do exist on the kindergarten through 12 level.

As for Cygan, she’s hopeful the University of Kentucky will soon become one of the colleges that has set bereavement leave policies. Cygan says she’s in talks with the Student Government Association and plans to present a proposed policy soon. If the SGA passes the policy, it will go before the university’s board of trustees.

The proposal calls for seven non-consecutive excused absences for students who lose an immediate family member or close friend, and three for extended family members. It also asks for excused absences for significant milestones such as anniversaries, birthdays or key moments tied to a loved one’s illness or death, along with deadline extensions for assignments that fall around those dates. Professors would be asked to offer flexibility with coursework and exams during periods of bereavement, and the university would give clear guidelines on how students can request accommodations and how faculty should respond.

“The biggest thing that I want to see is that kids feel like they can navigate this better and have an immediate resource, rather than feeling like they’re just kind of more isolated and alienated,” Cygan said.

She will graduate before the policy is voted upon but says she plans on staying involved, using a gap year after graduation to continue pushing for it. After that, she plans to return to school to become a physician’s assistant. Cygan says she wants to use everything she has learned through this experience in her work as a PA.

“We talk about emotional intelligence and healthcare, but I think it can be extended so much more beyond just understanding what the patient’s going through,” she said. “Having psych knowledge, I think that we need to be approaching patient care a lot differently than we do, and actually evaluating patients’ needs.”

Resources for those seeking to create bereavement policies at their schools can be found at the Evermore HELP Toolkit

This story is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. CT Community News is proud be to a member of the Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge cohort for 2025-26.

For the last two semesters, students at colleges and universities across Connecticut have been hard at work learning the fundamentals of Solutions Journalism, and then putting those principles to work in their reporting.

It’s resulted in a major project on solutions approaches to youth mental health on campus.

The data show that the number of young people experiencing serious mental health challenges has been on the rise for more than a decade — a trend that was only exacerbated by the pandemic. A lot of journalism in that time has focused our attention on the problem. But we wanted a fresh approach.

By joining Solutions Journalism’s 2025-26 Student Media Challenge cohort we got funding to train our faculty and students on the basics of solutions journalism, and we set them loose to find out what’s working, and what’s not working, among the solutions being proposed to help stem the mental health crisis.

At Southern Connecticut State University, Prof. Jodie Gil’s Digital Reporting & Writing class tackled a collaborative project, with six students researching aspects of campus suicide prevention programs. The final story, How Connecticut is training college students to help prevent suicide, also included reporting and photography from two students at CT State Manchester, achieving one of our project goals of stimulating cross-campus collaboration.

The story was republished by Southern News, and also across several of our statewide professional media partners, WHSU Public Radio, CTNewsJunkie, and the Hartford Courant. It was also included in Solutions Journalism’s Story Tracker.

This story formed the basis of a discussion on WILI Radio in Willimantic, featuring two of the student reporters, Valentina Toro and Mackenzie Byerlee, and hosted by John Murphy, adjunct faculty at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Toro will also include her learning journey with Solutions Journalism in a poster presentation for Southern’s Undergraduate Student Research and Creativity Conference in early May.

“Through this partnership, I contributed to stories that connected campus issues to broader statewide conversations,” Toro said. “It allowed me to work alongside student journalists from different institutions, learn new approaches to solutions-oriented reporting, and engage with professional editors who challenged me to think more critically and write with greater purpose.

“Overall, the experience has helped me grow as a more thoughtful, community-focused journalist.”

At UConn, Prof. Julie Serkosky’s Publication Practice class devoted their spring semester to the project, working on eight different stories — all taking a deep dive into different aspects of campus mental health.

Senior Mikayla Bunnell focused on pet therapy, which has grown in popularity at UConn and other universities in recent years. Her story, Dog therapy catches on at UConn, other colleges across the U.S. was republished in the Hartford Courant and the CT Examiner.

Bunnell was most excited about the hands-on nature of building a solutions story, attending therapy sessions and observing interactions.

“I spent a lot of my time listening rather than asking questions,” she said. “I got first-hand experience with the solution I was writing about, which I think helped me explain the concept better and benefited my story overall.”

Every story has involved discussion and re-editing with the help of our Solutions Journalism Coordinator, the tireless Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, who has advised on how to fulfill the rigorous Four Pillars of Solutions Journalism in each piece.

Gianni Salisbury talked about the extensive research she had to do to nail down her story about approaches to student bereavement.

“For this story, I had to talk to experts for inspiration first because the solution was not obvious or previously reported on,” she said. “It was something I had to find and something only people in the field of grief and college policy knew about.”

The resulting story, Grief, loss and the college student, explains that up to 44% of college students experience the death of a loved one during any two-year period in school.

The solution highlighted: formal student bereavement policies that can guide those who are grieving and help support them as they continue their education.

Our Solutions Journalism project has also inspired us to bring many institutions across the state together to talk about the solutions approach and how it can be implemented more widely.

During a networking event at UConn Hartford in April, faculty and students from six different journalism programs convened to share what we’ve learned and brainstorm approaches to ongoing collaboration. We also hosted professional editors Greg Stroud and Robin Breeding from CT Examiner.

Our UConn and Southern students were joined by a student coordinator from CT State Tunxis and faculty from Central Connecticut State University, CT State Manchester and the University of Hartford.

Many students shared that they’ve learned and implemented a range of new techniques at the core of Solutions Journalism, including complicating the narratives, which challenges us as reporters to embrace complexity and beware of confirmation bias.

Many have also employed an interviewing approach known as “looping,” to help draw out those complex narratives.

Student reporter Sara Bedigian followed these principles in her forthcoming story on Sandy Hook survivor Audrey Nichols, who is striving to pass gun violence prevention legislation.

“When I conducted the interview with Audrey it was challenging but I used the narrative techniques we discussed, which helped,” Bedigian said. “I have not interviewed someone before who had experienced the trauma she did. When I told her about the solutions lens and how I am going to focus the story on her advocacy, it made the story easier for me to tell and for her to open up and share.”

We’ll be releasing more stories from our Solutions Journalism project in coming weeks, including contributions from Central Connecticut State University and CT State Tunxis. We will also feature more about this year of learning on our Bylines New Voices podcast.

Our stories are gathered our our Solutions Journalism landing page.

And of course thank you so much to our dedicated faculty, without whom we could not succeed on this learning journey. Marie Shanahan, Kate Farrish and Julie Serkosky of UConn; Jodie Gil and Cindy Simoneau of Southern Connecticut State University; Theodora Ruhs of Central Connecticut State University; Stephania Davis of CT State Manchester and Evan Goldstein of CT State Tunxis; John Murphy of Eastern Connecticut State University.

When Laurel Rabschutz started the University of Connecticut’s Paws to Relax program in UConn’s Homer Babbidge Library 16 years ago, she invited students to share comments about their experience. The program brought dogs to the library during finals week, allowing students to take study breaks with the animals.

Rabschutz, who worked at UConn for 30 years in Continuing Education, says students wrote about their favorite visiting dogs and how they wished the event would be held every day. But one comment in particular stuck out to her.

“Somebody wrote: ‘This kept me from jumping out a window,’ ” she recalls.

Rabschutz acknowledges this could have been a joke or an exaggeration, but maybe it was more than that. She says she was touched to think that her idea had made such a difference in someone’s life.

Paws to Relax became an instant success. Rabschutz says the second session of the program in 2010 attracted more than 50 people waiting in the library for her dog’s arrival.

Now, UConn’s program is one of several in Connecticut and many across the U.S. that are geared to college students who may be feeling the stress of taking exams or even living on campus away from their own pets.

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Back when she started, Rabschutz says, only a couple of schools across the country were bringing dogs to campuses. Dogs had often been used for therapy, at that time mostly in nursing homes or hospitals.

“We started thinking, ‘You know, students have a lot in common with those people,’ ” Rabschutz said. “They’re in an institution, they’re away from their family, they’re away from their pets. And so it made a lot of sense.”

Seeing the success of the Paws to Relax program, UConn’s Student Health and Wellness – which offers medical, mental health and wellness programs – asked Rabschutz to help make pet therapy a more regular feature on the main campus.

Now, every Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m., students can head to the Cordial House to experience pet therapy with Rabschutz, her Newfoundland, Ernie, and a variety other dogs. Pet therapy also is offered on campus at The William Benton Museum of Art’s First Thursday event. Meanwhile, Paws to Relax remains a popular feature during finals week and the dogs also visit dining halls and dorms and meet with the athletic teams.

Most of the therapy visits are in group settings, where students are encouraged to sit on the floor and are free to pet, play with and hug the dogs. The dogs often lie on their backs to get some belly rubs, and sometimes even crawl into a student’s lap to take a much-needed nap. Students come and go from the sessions as they wish. At the Benton and Cordial House, one dog at a time typically comes in, with dogs switching out each hour.

Inspired by UConn, other schools in the state, including Eastern Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University and the University of Saint Joseph, host dogs almost every week. They don’t hold as many events as UConn, however, Rabschutz says.

Does ‘pet therapy’ reduce stress?

Rabschutz got her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences with a dissertation about the connection between dogs and the self-esteem and social connection among disabled people. At UConn, she taught a First Year Experience course about the bond between humans and animals. She says it was this experience that pushed her to started advocating for more pet therapy at UConn.

Others have studied the impacts of pet therapy.

In 2015, two researchers at Murray State University in Kentucky found that AAA – or Animal Assisted Activities, including pet therapy – could be “an alternative method of stress reduction at universities and colleges; one that is inexpensive and attractive to much of the college population.”

The study measured psychological stress with a before- and after survey; and physical stress, through saliva samples, from a group of first-year college students, all women. (Researchers say they chose women because they naturally have higher stress levels than men.) Participants gave saliva samples before and after the students either colored quietly or participated in pet therapy. The researchers then measured cortisol, a hormone that’s an indicator of stress in humans.

Both groups saw a drop in psychological stress, but the pet therapy group’s decrease was 63% greater, the study says. Cortisol levels fell for both groups, according to the study.

The researchers concluded that more investigation is needed “to determine the short- and long-term psychological and physiological benefits of AAA with student populations.”

That’s because the research isn’t definitive. For example, a 2008 study indicates any benefits are short-lived: “brief exposure to a pet may have minor or no long-term health benefits as compared to the positive, long term benefits of pet ownership,” while a study conducted in 2007 suggests the opposite.

Rabschutz says other studies bolster the idea pet therapy works, including lowering one’s heart rate. A 2000 study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research indicates that “a significant decrease in blood pressure and thus all the other physiological effects can be achieved between five and 24 (minutes) of positive dog interaction.”

Based on her research into the topic and her passion for the animal-human bond, Rabschutz helped found Tails of Joy, an organization of volunteers that provide dog therapy throughout Connecticut. It’s this organization that provides many of the dogs at the UConn events.

Tails of Joy is affiliated with Intermountain Therapy Animals, an organization that registers therapy animals. To become registered, dogs must be at least 1 year old, be in good health, know basic obedience skills and be comfortable interacting with people. The group evaluates the handler and the dog as a team, and they go through a re-evaluation process every two years. The group also may simulate visits during these evaluations, to determine how the dogs and handlers deal with certain situations.

“The dogs have to be comfortable around hospital equipment, walkers, wheelchairs … somebody who’s yelling loudly, people wearing funny clothes or something flying around,” Rabschutz said. They also have to be able to leave food alone if it drops to the floor, she adds.

In its re-evaluations, Intermountain Therapy Animals takes another look at the dogs’ health, ensuring they are still fit to provide therapy. “When the dogs get older, sometimes they might start being a little arthritic or something, maybe they don’t like being petted as much,” Rabschutz said.

The organization also provides insurance for the dogs and handlers should anything go wrong. Handlers are required to keep the dogs on leash and hold onto the leash for the whole session.

Deaf dogs as therapy animals

Jan Proll and her deaf boxer Lucie are Tails of Joy members and are often at the Benton’s First Thursday events. Proll has three dogs – all deaf boxers (white boxers are more prone to deafness than other colors in the breed) – and all therapy animals.

She started her pet therapy journey with her first dog, Sophie, which she enrolled in obedience classes. After those classes were over, Sophie’s veterinarian said she thought the dog would make a great therapy animal. The rest is history.

Now, Proll rotates through her three dogs, taking them each to therapy events at UConn and to K12 schools as well. Proll says everywhere she does therapy, she sees it making a big difference in people’s mental health.

“I think it’s easy for people to relate to dogs,” Proll said. “They open up easily to them and are just very comfortable with them. They don’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or being poked fun at for being different.”

At April’s First Thursday event, Proll came with her dog Oliver, which took a particular liking to UConn freshman Nalini Coipel.

“I’ve been having a quiet day … maybe Oliver sensed that on me and was like, ‘Let me brighten up her day,’ ” Coipel said. “I think it’s really cute that they can sense that and they can connect with you like that.”

Oliver spent most of the hour he was at The Benton on Coipel’s lap. She says she felt much lighter and stress-free upon leaving than when she did when she arrived.

“I think it’s a really good distraction from everything going on,” Coipel said. “It really is just a dog that’s happy to be pet and I don’t think you have to put much thought into it. You kind of just go and you enjoy that, and you let that dog enjoy you.”

Sandra Lok also comes to First Thursday with her golden retriever, Grant. She says she has two other therapy dogs and rotates which dog she takes to each event.

Students have told her they wished there was a dog at The Benton or in the library all the time. They have even told her they wish a dog could be in the room while they are taking an exam, Lok says.

Lok has taken her dogs to the Paws to Relax program, and says that’s the event where she hears the most meaningful things from students.

“I’ll never forget, one student one time said, ‘Y’ know, I was thinking I couldn’t do my exam, but now I can do it,’” Lok said. “That’s what you want.”

Sometimes, pet therapy can make assignments and exams leave a student’s mind for a time, like it did for Lenin Narvaez, a UConn freshman.

“For the time I was petting the dog, I forgot I had a midterm tomorrow,” Narvaez said.

Narvaez says he hasn’t seen a dog in a long time, so he was glad he was able to come and pet one.

And his friend William Cheshire, also a freshman, says the dog reminded him of his own at home, something that made him happy.

Even students who don’t have pets at home feel like they are benefitting. Lia Wollerman, a junior at UConn, says this was her first experience with pet therapy.

“I don’t have pets, so I usually don’t get to go home and see my dog,” she said.

For the short time he wasn’t in Coipel’s lap, Oliver was lying with his paws on Wollerman’s legs.

“How can you be stressed when you’re looking at him?” she asked. “You get so caught up in talking to the dog in that baby voice and just trying to make them happy that it makes you happy.”

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Rabschutz says she wishes more people would research the effects of pet therapy and the animal-human bond, as most of the evidence of its success is anecdotal. But she says that even if someone’s score on a stress survey or their blood pressure doesn’t decrease much after interacting with a dog, it’s what they feel and say that really matters.

“You talk to them and they say, ‘Oh, this made such a difference,’” she said. “So I don’t discount the anecdotal. Students tell us all the time that they love this and they wish they could do it more and they wait every semester for the Paws to Relax to come around. I do think it really does help.”

This story is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. CT Community News is proud be to a member of the Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge cohort for 2025-26.

By Mackenzie Byerlee, Draven Dabrowski, Aminata Diakite, Rachel Rose, Valentina Toro and Catherine Vu | Southern Connecticut State University

When college students think about mental health resources, they might picture counseling centers, crisis lines or therapy appointments. But one of the most powerful tools against suicide might not be found in a clinic— it might start with a simple three-step conversation.

College campuses throughout Connecticut are training students themselves to recognize warning signs, ask direct questions and connect someone in crisis to professional help. The training -- called Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) -- aims to give students the confidence to be part of the statewide response to increased suicide rates.

“You don’t have to be a counselor or therapist to help someone,” said Erin Duff, wellbeing specialist, who leads the QPR training at Southern Connecticut State University. “You just have to be willing to pay attention and step in when something feels off.”

“Are you thinking about suicide?”

On an early November morning, Duff and about nine students sat around one table in a small conference room in the Adanti Student Center at SCSU. No stage, no microphones, no lecture vibe. It felt like a small group discussion, where everyone was initially nervous but also relieved to be learning about something real.

Duff said the part everyone hesitates about is asking the question: “Are you thinking about suicide?” It sounds so blunt, like crossing some invisible line.

Duff explained to the group that asking directly actually shows care. Not asking leaves someone alone with it.

These 90-minute sessions teach participants how to spot warning signs, ask direct questions and refer someone to help. During a separate session led by Allyson Regis, participants practiced how to respond in real-life situations.

SCSU has been hosting the training since 2022. In the 2024-25 school year, a total of 345 students and staff attended the training.

Other schools that have offered the training include Central Connecticut State University, University of Connecticut, University of New Haven, Quinnipiac University and some Connecticut State Community College campuses.

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center also offers the training through its Youth Suicide Prevention Center, established in 2022, which focuses on identifying suicide risk and connecting people to help. Since its founding, the center has trained more than 1,000 people.

“It’s not about treating someone, it’s about identifying risk and saving lives by asking direct questions,” said Kristen Volz-Spessard, program coordinator for the Youth Suicide Prevention Center. “One of our biggest barriers is helping people feel comfortable having these hard conversations.”

A growing problem

Suicide remains a serious and persistent public health concern in Connecticut, and beyond.

Over the past three decades, the state has seen a gradual but noticeable increase in suicide deaths across the state. Between 2019 and 2023, the state averaged roughly 370-400 suicide deaths per year, compared to about 100 homicides each year. Based on data from the Connecticut Department of Public health, suicide deaths have risen from 340 in 1990 to 391 in 2024— an overall increase of 15%.

While deaths among young adults aged 20 to 24 have declined as a percentage of total suicides, the age group still represents nearly 6% of statewide suicides, at 23 deaths in 2024. Men account for roughly three-quarters of all suicide deaths; middle-aged and older men remain the most at risk.

Suicide prevention has long been a focus in Connecticut, with targeted youth initiatives dating back to the 1980s. Now a statewide approach that reaches all age groups, the Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board (CTSAB), brings together hundreds of agencies for monthly prevention and planning efforts. It is led by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Brian Dagle Foundation.

The state’s latest Suicide Prevention Plan, among other efforts, calls for stronger coordination around campus trainings and programs.

A statewide effort

Connecticut’s prevention network also includes programs like Fresh Check Day, an interactive fair promoting mental health awareness through peer engagement. Fresh Check Day, founded in 2012 by the Jordan Porco Foundation and now managed by Connecticut Children’s, aims to normalize mental health discussions.

“The program is designed to be flexible and adaptable so each campus can shape it to meet its specific needs,” said Program Outreach Coordinator Isabella Baldino.

Several Connecticut colleges, including UConn and the state community college system, host Fresh Check days each year. CT State Community College Manchester held its event in October. Georgette Hyman, assistant director of Disability and Accessibility Services, said the framing is crucial.

“FCD is not titled a Suicide Prevention Fair, otherwise students wouldn’t likely attend,” Hyman said. “Better to market it as a Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Resources fair.”

The fair features booths, food and interactive displays—like one where students wrote affirmations such as, “I am shy, but I am not weak.”

“All booths at the event have messaging embedded that speak to suicide prevention,” Hyman said.

Other programs include UConn HELPS, a training that covers common myths, warning signs, and key resources, and Programs On-The-Go, a wellness initiative at CCSU that sends guest speakers to deliver presentations about mental health.

To save one you need to train thousands

SCSU biology major Jadelyn Garcia Medina, a junior who serves as a peer mentor coordinator and orientation ambassador, said the QPR training is a great way to better understand how to support others.

“The training is a good reminder to stay open-minded and to be kind to everyone — you never know what someone is going through, and learning different ways to support students can make a real difference,” Garcia Medina said.

Brian Quinnett, the executive director of the QPR Institute, called the training “intentionally very straightforward.”

“You recognize someone in a mental health crisis, start a conversation, and help get them to professional care,” Quinnett said.

Quinnett said the true impact is hard to count because “lives saved” cannot be tracked perfectly. The strategy is simple: train as many people as possible so help is nearby when someone needs it.

“You need to train thousands to save one, and millions to save thousands,” Quinnett said. “The more people we train, the more lives we believe are being saved.”

Collin Moffitt, Connecticut State Community College Manchester, contributed reporting to this story.

This story is supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. CT Community News is proud be to a member of the Solutions Journalism Network Student Media Challenge cohort for 2025-26.