First-year students show the highest levels of loneliness, with belonging gaps surfacing in the first weeks of the semester, long before they present as clinical need. Yet most institutions wait for students to raise their hands. By the time a student schedules a counseling appointment, the window for early intervention has often passed.

We’ll explore what proactive belonging strategies look like in practice and how campuses are building connection before students are in crisis.

Join us to learn how to:

• Recognize how belonging gaps form in the first weeks of the semester
• Build early connection strategies across the full campus, including orientation touchpoints, residence life partnerships, and faculty engagement
• Extend your counseling center’s reach by shifting from reactive crisis response to proactive, campus-wide belonging initiatives

Speakers