With the signing of the Okanagan Charter last year on April 26, 2023, the Case Administration and Resource Education (CARE) Team and Case Management became one of the new services offered at Northern, beginning in Sept. 2023. 

The CARE Team and Case Management Services are offered to students alongside other services provided through NMU WellBeing, however, focus on a wider range of topics. 

“I focus on the wellbeing wheel and all of those areas, whereas the WellBeing Center just focuses on physical and mental wellbeing,” Case Management Services Director Emily Meier said. 

The Wellbeing wheel encompasses eight different areas of well-being, including financial, environmental, emotional, spiritual, social, physical, career and intellectual wellness. 

“If you were really struggling with financial well-being, like if you are worried about where your money for food is going to come from, I can solve that by teaching you about the Food Pantry on campus or about the Mobile Food Pantry,” Meier said. “Or with intellectual wellbeing, I can teach students how to sign up for the tutoring program.”

To help students build success in areas on the Wellbeing wheel, Case Management focuses on setting S.M.A.R.T., or Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely goals while overcoming challenges and increasing connections to provide better support and building skills to achieve total well-being. 

In order to build and achieve success, Meier said the CARE Team is composed of numerous departments.

“The CARE Team has people from the Dean of Students, the Counseling Department, the Health Center, the Success Advisors, the police and Housing and Residence Life, and we work together to bring more information in,” Meier said.

In addition to professional staff, Meier explained three interns work to provide these services to students. 

While the CARE Team and Case Management Services have only been available since last fall, Meier said they have seen rapid growth and positive feedback from students. 

“We worked with 50 students in the first 90 days, so we have, on average, three to four new students coming to Case Management per week,” Meier said.

Students can sign themselves up for Case Management or can also choose to receive services after being referred by someone. 

“We get referrals from anyone on or off campus, so if your parents were concerned about you, they could fill out a referral form for you,” Meier said. 

According to Meier, referring a student does not mean they have to or will seek help from Case Management, however.

“Everything the CARE Team does is voluntary. It is really to get students to know that this is available,” Meier said. 

In addition to being optional, Meier emphasized that students do not get penalized for being referred by someone.

“Students who get referred to the CARE Team do not get in trouble, they get help,” Meier said. “I really want to hammer that home because I know some students are like ‘I feel like I am tattling if I am referring them to you.’”

Steps for the referral process can be found on their website. Referrals can also be done anonymously. 

While this is only the second semester with the CARE Team at NMU, Meier feels students who have utilized this service have made great progress.

“I am proud of the progress that each one of the students that I have worked with has made,” Meier said. 

Looking toward the future, Meier hopes to spread the word about services offered by the CARE Team and increase the number of students utilizing these services.