College is often regarded by current students and past pupils alike as one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. According to an article from Salon Magazine, mental and physical health problems have risen steadily among university students since 2009 with the pandemic only exacerbating these symptoms. 

The Learning Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says that ”college students commonly experience stress because of increased responsibilities, a lack of good time management, changes in eating and sleeping habits and not taking enough breaks for self-care.” With the aftershock of 2020 still tangible and stress a common factor both in and out of the classroom, resources are in high demand.

Now, students at JCU have an all new platform that they can access which offers more programs than ever before. 

In late February, JCU Wellness Center and Counseling Center launched a new program for students and faculty on campus called You at JCU. The website, which is accessible via the traditional single sign-on system that users have for their Canvas and Banner accounts, features a wide variety of content catered towards students at Carroll. 

Originally, students could use the app TAO which was primarily targeted at clinicians who gave homework in between counseling sessions. However, a committee of students agreed to replace TAO with You@JCU following a review of the two programs. 

“This has been a long running process to implement and I feel that the website is super user friendly, student oriented and it’s a great resource,” Sophia Alberico ‘24 told The Carroll News. “It is fun to set goals for yourself and keep track of your progress. It is also nice to have all the resources in place.”

You@JCU distinguishes itself from TAO in many ways. According to Assistant Director of Student Wellbeing Jamie Greenwolf, it is not only easier to navigate but it also helps students set goals, establish priorities and also find resources available around campus. All of this takes place in an anonymous environment where students can feel safe and secure. 

“Before we talked with the selection committee, we got a long list of all of the possible resources,” Greenwolf told The Carroll News. “Then we went in and we worked with offices to say, ‘what is the link you want? What is the email phone number you want? What is the description you want?’”

After logging onto the site, students are greeted by their priorities, a poll open to all on the platform, as well as content catered towards the user or the John Carroll student body as a whole. On the left hand navigation panel there is also the option for students to explore other resources, perform a “self check” or set/evaluate goals for themselves. Additionally, users can also find resources specific to JCU and posts from other students using the program. 

The goals portion of the site is flexible as it offers both preset and customizable benchmarks that users can adopt. Students can opt to receive a reminder email regarding certain goals or they may track their progress at their own leisure. 

“It is intended to help you go to meet with somebody about something because it can be intimidating,” Greenwolf continued. “But if you start here, and you read this, you’re like ‘cool, okay, I kind of know what I want and now I’m willing to meet with somebody.’ It allows a little bit of pre-work to build up your confidence that you kind of know what you’re doing a little bit before you go to somebody.”

All of these resources function within one of three spheres on the site: succeed, thrive and matter. Succeed focuses on a student’s academic and work life, thrive tackles mental and physical health topics, while matter focuses on the idea of purposeful connections and identity. Furthermore, students can also find crisis resources at the top of the window if they are in a time of need.

“I like the website,” Tate Farinacci ‘25 told The Carroll News after completing a self check. “It looks nice and clean. I am looking forward to seeing if I get reached out to based on my answers [in the self check] regarding mentoring and stuff.”

Currently, the program is live to all students and is planned to be introduced to the Class of 2027 during their orientation. Those interested in the program can access it here.