Mental Health Wellness

Campaign Update (6:15 p.m.): Only a few hours left in IU Day and we’ve hit goal after goal! Thank you to everyone for your support. In honor of the $22 per donor our alumni partners are giving for every donor who gives to this campaign today, our next goal is $22,000! Let’s do this Kelley!

Campaign Update (2:30 p.m.): It’s truly an amazing and inspiring IU DAY. This initiative is a direct investment in our youth. Our goal is now $20,000. We have big ambitious plans in place and cannot wait to get started and take you along for the journey!

Campaign Update (9:30 a.m.): We are so humbled by everyone’s support today! We have a lot of plans for mental health initiatives and your gifts are giving us the momentum to ensure it will happen. Our goal is now $7,500. As Kelleys, we can address this together.

Campaign Update: Many thanks to all who have supported Kelley’s mental health wellness initiatives thus far! Because of your generous support, we have increased our goal to $4,000. Every gift matters as Kelley takes an active role in developing innovative programming focused on mentoring, maintaining balance, and making healthy choices! Thank you for what we will accomplish together! Happy IU Day!

Thanks to the kindness of a few alumni partners, an additional $22 will be donated for every donor (up to 500) that supports the Kelley mental health initiative.

The Kelley School of Business has built a legacy of delivering career-ready graduates of top-ranked academic programs, ready to succeed in our ever-changing global economy. One integral piece of the development of our students is the preparation of their lifelong wellness, in addition to increasing their awareness of global and social responsibility.

Emerging data backs up the necessity to invest in employees’ mental health and training to improve one’s bottom line and workforce environment. In a recent Forbes article, Natalie Burg states, “Mental illnesses can lead to higher healthcare costs as well as increases in employee turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism. The impact on business is estimated to be more than $100 billion in direct costs and 217 million days of lost work per year. In fact, stress alone is estimated to increase national healthcare spending by $125 billion to $190 billion a year.”

As we celebrate this IU Day with Kelley, you can help build a new legacy of preparing industry leaders with the ability to model a commitment to mental wellness. Several Kelley donors have teamed up to encourage alumni and friends to make a gift to support mental wellness initiatives at Kelley. Any donor who makes a gift to this campaign between April 4-18 will generate a $22 bonus gift courtesy of our exceptional partners, up to $11,000.

The first of these mental wellness initiatives is the establishment of a mental health and wellness room at the Kelley School of Business.  This room will enable students to learn to manage stress, take care of their bodies, and relax their minds. This resource, opening Fall 2019, is the first key element of future mental health support for Kelley students.

This dedicated space in the Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center will include:

• An area dedicated to contemplation, relaxation, and meditation
• Room with low lighting, sound, and minimal stimulating distractions
• Available resource space for new methods and continual practice in healthy living and stress management

Dean Idalene “Idie” Kesner shared, “Universities across the country are seeing an increased need to focus on student mental wellness.  At Kelley, we want to make sure that our students have sufficient skills to cope with the demands and stresses of college life and their careers afterward. The Kelley School is taking an active role in developing innovative programming focused on mentoring, maintaining balance, and making healthy choices. We are confident that these lifelong skills will allow our students to stand apart from those at other business schools and allow our students to have a significant positive impact on the organizations they join.“

Charlotte Sundel, a current Kelley student agrees: “I love our Kelley community, but truly feel that the ‘work hard, play even harder’ mentality has undermined the need for strong coping skills in our students.”

Supporting initiatives like these help equip and prepare current and future Kelley students for a lifetime of effective leadership in their career and their support of future coworkers.