A new café is being built on campus. However, this café will not serve coffee and baked goods to students — instead, it will offer a forum for students’ thoughts and feelings.
    The University Life Café, a new interactive Web site for students, will launch in the next few months.
    “The Web site is developed with a café theme to represent students coming together to share ideas,” said Barbara Pearson, assistant director of Counseling Services.    Pearson said the purpose of the site is to promote mental wellness, and to encourage help-seeking behaviors for K-State students and faculty.
    She said the University Life Café will provide a bridge to reach the student who would not typically connect with a counselor and to connect with other students.
    Pearson said the site was created after Counseling Services received a grant from the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services through the Garrett Lee Smith suicide prevention program. Pearson said the goal was to develop an innovative online program for the K-State community.
    “Once we got the grant, we wanted to make it coconstructed by students,” Pearson said. “We really wanted a huge student voice.”
    After listening to students’ ideas, Pearson said the result was a Web site that features articles written by students and faculty, art and writing contests, K-State events, videos and a blog.
    “Engaging students through the Web in ways students are familiar is likely to help reduce the stigma of seeking information and encourage help-seeking behavior that can lead to a more satisfying college experience,” Pearson said.
        The site will contain a listing of K-State events, since Pearson said students really wanted an all-inclusive place to look. There will be professional information and tips for people to use in their problems. Students also can help each other by contributing and talking about things together.
        “Other students reading these articles then could realize that the experience similar problems and not feel isolated,” Pearson said.
        Brent Anders, electronic media coordinator in the Office of Mediated Education, is serving as a videographer and consultant for the site. He is shooting a series of dramatized videos, which he said show how Counseling Services can help students in different situations.
        Anders said the site is about different people coming together in a place where they can release feelings and help other people. He said the site is peer-oriented, since students can look at the site and see how it applies to their lives.
        “There’s so much more to it — to really help people,” Anders said. “We’re making this Web site that’s more of a social site.”
        Ciara Warden, senior in psychology, has been part of student advisory board that provided input and helped develop the Web site. She said the creators of the site are really interested in the personal stories of students to show their points of view and what is really happening in their lives.
        Examples could include stories about friendships, breakups, life trials and encouraging moments. Pearson said the group is in desperate need of student-submitted works on anything involved with college life.
        “Everyone’s really excited, and I hope more students get involved because it’s a really great student community,” Warden said.
       Pearson said the University Life Café will launch in the next several months at www.universitylifecafe.org. To contribute to the site, articles can be e-mailed to univlifecafe@ksu.edu. People can call Pearson at 785-532-6927 with questions.

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