Warrior Support Network (WSN)

About

The Warrior Support Network (WSN) is a training and outreach program made up of students from all departments on campus with different majors and backgrounds. Students who join the WSN want to make a positive impact on the well-being of their fellow students on campus. 

The WSN provides training in helping and communication skills as well as applied experience in providing outreach and peer-to-peer education services to their fellow students. In addition to these skills, WSN peer educators gain knowledge about mental health concerns, resources available to students, program planning, leadership, and more. These skills are useful for a wide variety of career and graduate school fields, including the helping professions, education, health promotion and healthcare, community development, leadership, and many more.

Students interested in joining the WSN will first take the WSN training offered each semester. The WSN training consists of 3 training sessions over the course of 3 weeks:

  • In session 1, students will learn about impacts upon mental health, the importance of empathy, and tangible supportive communication skills. Students will have opportunities to practice these skills during and between sessions.
  • In session 2, students learn about common mental health concerns among college students, including depression, anxiety, and substance use. Students learn specific ways to intervene with fellow peers who are struggling with various concerns and appropriate resources to refer them to.
  • In session 3, students learn about the warning signs, risk factors, and levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Participants learn specific ways they can help a peer experiencing suicidality and how to connect them to appropriate resources. In this session, students also learn about the process of change and how this may apply to peer-intervention. 

If students are interested in participating in the WSN beyond just taking the training, they will have opportunities to apply the knowledge they have learned through continued outreach and prevention services in collaboration with the Student Counseling Center as well as gain leadership experiences within the WSN program. This may include providing regular or requested workshops on various topics pertaining to mental health, wellness, and academic success. 

Additionally, the Student Counseling Center provides ongoing outreach and prevention efforts that WSN members can assist with, including alcohol and substance use prevention/outreach, suicide prevention, Fresh Check Day, and Mental Health Awareness Week.

The WSN trainings and peer-educator program are currently conducted by our counselor, Hannah Smith, LPC and may involve other members of the Student Counseling staff.

We provide the WSN training each semester, and our recruitment process happens at the beginning of the of the semester. Please email counseling@lcsc.edu by October 11th to sign up for the fall training.