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Three Recorded Sessions Available
Reimagining Student Mental Health Support in the Digital Age

October 1, 8, & 15, 2025

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Join us for a timely and thought-provoking series exploring how community colleges can evolve their mental health and wellness strategies in an increasingly digital world. These sessions will examine the role of technology, social media, and culturally responsive practices in shaping the next generation of student mental health support.

Through real-world examples and actionable tools, participants will walk away with practical ways to reach students where they are—while staying grounded in connection, trust, and equity.

Webinar Date & Topics

View Recording | Download Slides PDF

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Session Description

Anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief now affect nearly one in three California community-college students (Healthy Minds Network, 2023), often long before they reach a counselor’s door. At the same time, almost half of young adult learners already turn to ChatGPT-style chatbots or wellness apps because they’re free, fast, and private. In this training session, we aim to translate the latest college campus data into an easy “stepped-care” pyramid that shows where self-help AI and app-based tools can safely sit and when a human professional is still a must. Together we’ll weigh real-world successes against documented risks, review technology safety checklists, and study campus cases that effectively blend technology with in-person care. You’ll leave with some best practice guidelines to pilot the right tools for your own campus.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the mental health needs of community college students and identify where AI or mental health apps could help.
  • Evaluate meaningful use of any AI or app for cultural responsiveness and safety.
  • Create a plan to launch or improve tech-enabled mental health supports for students on your campus.

View Recording | Download Slides PDF

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Session Description

Instagram stories, TikTok challenges, YouTube shorts, and Discord threads have replaced flyers and list-servs as the places where today’s community-college students swap advice, vent, and look for help. More than 90 percent of college students scroll multiple platforms daily, yet colleges still struggle to translate that attention into meaningful mental health support. In this training session, we will assess how effectively campuses are meeting students where they scroll. We’ll examine what actually moves the needle for diverse students, highlighting identity-affirming storytelling, culturally familiar metaphors, and co-production principles. Along the way we’ll identify common pitfalls and map practical fixes that weave social media into a stepped-care ecosystem to better support the mental health needs of students. 

Learning Objectives:

  • Analyze current social-media usage patterns among community-college students to spot gaps and opportunities in your campus outreach.
  • Differentiate the documented benefits and risks of social-media engagement for student mental health, and apply an equity lens to evaluate which content strategies foster connection.
  • Design or refine at least one culturally-responsive and student co-created social-media initiative to advance mental health help-seeking on your campus.

View Recording

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Session Description

As mental health needs among California community college students continue to rise, campuses are rethinking not just what services they offer but how they invite students into care. With nearly all students online yet still reporting increasing mental health needs, a critical gap has emerged. Communication strategies feel increasingly digital, but students are still looking for connection that feels human. In this training session, we’ll explore how diverse students actually want to be reached, examining preferences like texting over calling, group chats over emails, and peer referrals over flyers. We’ll highlight culturally grounded communication models that can help reframe outreach as a shared act of belonging, not just a service referral. And we’ll spotlight where connection is already happening in student clubs, affinity spaces, and classrooms. Together, we’ll map simple, scalable ways to center relationship-driven support even in a tech-saturated world.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe at least two culturally grounded models that can inform inclusive, relationship-based outreach strategies.
  • Recognize the risks of defaulting to digital-only communication and propose ways to reintegrate connection through peer, classroom, or affinity group settings.
  • Design or adapt one scalable, culturally responsive mental health communication strategy for your own campus role.

Meet the Presenter

Dr. Ritchie Rubio profile picture

Dr. Ritchie Rubio, PhD

San Francisco Department of Public Health

Dr. Ritchie Rubio, PhD, is a clinical and research psychologist, systems leader, and equity advocate with over 25 years of experience in public health, education, and mental health systems across the Philippines, United States, and New Zealand. He currently serves as Director of Practice Improvement and Analytics for the Children, Youth, and Families System of Care at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. His work focuses on advancing trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices through implementation science, evaluation, and workforce development. Clinically, he specializes in supporting immigrant and multicultural children, youth, and families using an integrative approach that includes psychodynamic, family systems, expressive arts, and cognitive-behavioral therapies. He teaches as an adjunct professor at the Wright Institute, University of San Francisco, and Pepperdine University. Dr. Rubio also trains providers nationwide and internationally on trauma-informed telehealth and culturally grounded care. His publications and presentations address racial and ethnic disparities, culturally adapted care, and trauma healing practices. He has been recognized by the American Psychological Association with the 2023 Practice Award, 2024 Leadership in Education Award, and 2024 Teaching Excellence Award. A former Ford Foundation Fellow, he completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a Child and Family emphasis at the California School of Professional Psychology. Originally from the Philippines, he immigrated to the U.S. at age 25 to pursue his doctoral studies.

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