Cook Counseling Center team recognized for pioneering resiliency model

The Trauma Resource Institute has recognized a Virginia Tech team as institutional ambassadors for the pioneering implementation of the Community Resiliency Model to support campus mental health.

The award recognizes the university as the first institution of higher education to integrate the resource so comprehensively in campus mental health services.

The Community Resiliency Model (CRM), developed by the Trauma Resource Institute, helps individuals and communities build emotional resilience. The model teaches skills so users can regulate their nervous systems and increase connection with others through shared language about sensations of stress and well-being.

Erica Berry Coates, Community Resiliency Model coordinator for Cook Counseling Center, collaborated with Jon Dance ’23, M.P.H. ’24, a doctoral student in foundations of education, to integrate the model's skills into mental health services in the Blacksburg, Roanoke, and greater Washington, D.C., area campuses. 

Approaching the project from multiple angles, their work has provided students, faculty, and staff with practical tools to enhance the community's resilience to stress and overall well-being. 

Campuswide rollout builds community resources

Thanks to a generous alumni donor passionate about supporting mental health, Coates facilitated the Trauma Resource Institute to train staff across Hokie Wellness and the counseling center and leaders in Residential Well-being to become the Blacksburg campus' first CRM teachers in October 2022.

Since then, the Cook Counseling team has trained eight more teachers in other departments and reached over 12,000 people from over 50 departments with the model's programs. Those teachers began systematic plans for teaching CRM Zones and skills in residence halls, First-Year Experience courses, student organizations, faculty and staff departments, and conference trainings. 

The teachers have trained staff, faculty, and students in these techniques so the entire campus community can benefit from the resiliency skills. Workshops, seminars, and individual counseling sessions have been tailored to incorporate CRM, making it a cornerstone of Virginia Tech's community mental health strategy. 

Tailoring the model's content for the university community, the Cook team developed modules for the university’s online academic platform Canvas, created graphics featuring the Virginia Tech therapy dogs to make the zones relatable, and collaboratively developed a sensory bike to bring mindfulness practices to wherever students are.

Co-designed by Dance, his public health team, Berry Coates, and students in Martha Sullivan’s Industrial Design class, the bike is designed to engage students in exploring their own nervous system responses through sensory experiences. The bike has been used in classrooms, outreach events, and wellness fairs to introducing students to core CRM skills. 

Student leaders within the Residential Well-being program use the model's language and skills routinely with students who are feeling stuck in their low or high zone. CRM language infuses many wellness programs to simplify talking about the autonomic nervous system as a mental model for multiple dimensions of well-being.

“CRM gives a common language to talk about mental wellness, practical tools, skills, and a renewed sense of hope,” Dance said. “You can recognize and name the natural cues in your body when you’re experiencing joy, entering survival mode, or even just OK.”

Tracking increased student well-being 

As the model has been adopted, student participants have reported improved stress management, better coping mechanisms, and a greater sense of community support. Skills taught in the model help students navigate the challenges of university life while giving them tools to handle future stressors.

The team designed a theory of change to hypothesize how shared nervous system concepts within a group create community resilience. A group of researchers have analyzed survey results to investigate if this theory of change applies to groups who regularly apply CRM concepts. 

Part of the analysis tracked group members who participated in a workshop together and used icebreakers in class to stimulate brief reminders and discussion of key concepts. Among student participants, 98 percent used the skills regularly and 94 percent reported either more understanding of one another or enhanced resiliency in managing challenges. 

With results like those in mind, Coates and Dance continue to explore ways to expand use of the model to build resilience and connection throughout the Virginia Tech community.

Students can find CRM experiences though GobblerConnect beginning in late January. Interested faculty and staff can join CRM trainings this semester

• Jan. 27, 2-3 p.m., online
• March 6, 1-2 p.m., online
• April 16, 1:30-2:30 p.m., in person at the North End Center