ABSTRACT
College students' positive mental health is integral to academic success, the college experience, overall health, and success after graduation. The emerging adulthood developmental period is marked by identity exploration and transitional stress, creating a peak time for the onset of mental health disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health symptoms of this already vulnerable population. Further, higher education counseling centers are overwhelmed by their student populations' heightened mental health needs. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted New Jersey community college counseling centers' response to this mental health crisis has not yet been fully explored. This qualitative case study examined staff responses from four community college counseling centers in New Jersey to promote students' mental health through the lens of the Institute of Medicine's prevention framework, the social emotional learning framework, and a conceptual framework grounded in resilience theory. Findings from this study demonstrated the swift departmental adaptations activated to pivot services and create innovative programs to promote students' wellness. Findings also affirmed the absence of an overarching framework to guide mental health programs at the community college level and highlighted low funding, understaffing, and staff burnout as barriers to establishing universal mental health promotion practices. This study's implications for policy reform and practice suggest that embedding universal mental health promotion practices into higher education settings can reduce barriers to wellness supports and equip students with skills to mitigate adverse mental health outcomes, promoting their overall wellness and success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)