Published on: September 30, 2026
A NABITA Tip of the Week by Heather Pena, MLIS
As Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Vermont (UVM), and on behalf of our CARE Coordinators, Mister Clemmones, M.S., Bety Mayani, M.A., and Kaitlyn Root, M.A., I want to thank NABITA for recognizing us with the 2026 NABITA Best Practice and Institutional Impact Award. We are honored and grateful for the opportunity to share the UVM CARE Coordinators Program with the NABITA community.
What began as a pilot program is now a proactive and accessible approach to early intervention and case management. That evolution required us to change when, where, and how students encounter our CARE Team. Rather than primarily responding after a concern reaches us through a referral, we are creating more opportunities to connect with students earlier, meet them in spaces they already trust, and give them a greater voice in the support they receive.
Moving Beyond a Referral-Driven Model
When I stepped into my role in early 2024, I inherited a pilot program that included two CARE Coordinators. However, before I began the position, both Coordinators had left. While this presented an initial challenge, it also provided a unique opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the program’s operational needs and the essential functions of the CARE Coordinator role. From there, I was able to thoughtfully rebuild and strengthen the program’s foundation.
Our model had been largely referral-driven and responsive to concerns as they arose. After-hours referrals generally waited until the next business day, which was particularly concerning when reports involving higher levels of distress or potential self-harm arrived during nights and weekends.
We started by looking at how our structure could better support a more responsive approach. We brought the CARE Coordinators together within one office. We also established a rotating on-call structure to provide more timely support outside regular business hours and greater consistency in wellness checks and assessments.
As referrals increased, UVM invested further by adding a third CARE Coordinator. They all live on campus, ensuring a visible and accessible presence within the student community. That additional capacity has given our Coordinators more time for individualized outreach and support while distributing the demands of the on-call rotation. It has also strengthened communication and consistency across our team.
With more capacity, we could also broaden how we support students once they connect with us. Safety planning and individualized action plans help students identify trusted supports, consider strategies for reducing risk, and establish concrete next steps before concerns escalate.
Bringing CARE Closer to Students
As we became more responsive, we also wanted CARE to feel more approachable. Students sometimes viewed a meeting with a CARE Coordinator as a sign they were in trouble. We wanted to change that perception and make it easier for students to become familiar with CARE before they needed more direct support.
That meant making CARE more visible beyond our office. Through an updated website, brochures, resource cards, printable resources, “roadshow” trainings, tabling, off-campus networking, and office hours in spaces such as UVM’s intercultural centers, we have created more opportunities for students to connect with us where they already are. Students can ask questions and build relationships with the people who may later support them.
We also looked for simple, low-pressure ways for students to interact with CARE outside moments of distress. Creative programming has helped us create those points of connection. Hope Boxes encourage students to collect personally meaningful reminders of connection and support, while our postcard initiative invites students to write to someone important to them, with our CARE Coordinators mailing the postcards on their behalf.
These activities may look different from traditional case management, but they give students low-pressure opportunities to become familiar with CARE before they need more direct support.
Giving Students a Voice
Changing how students encounter CARE also means changing what happens when they reach us. Before meeting with a Coordinator, students can complete a pre-check-in about their connections, challenges, interests, and what is already working. This lets us start with information directly from the student rather than relying solely on the concerns described in a referral.
When support concludes, students receive an anonymous survey about their experience. This assessment process is still new, but it is designed to give students greater ownership over their narrative while helping us better understand and demonstrate the impact of our work. Together, these practices give students a more active voice in identifying what support may be useful to them.
A Best Practice Other Institutions Can Adapt
Our shift at UVM required more than adding staff or expanding outreach. We had to understand the role CARE could play across the student experience, including how students find us, where those interactions happen, what support looks like once they connect with us, and how we can reach students before a referral becomes the primary entry point.
Every institution will have different staffing, resources, and campus communities. But the changes we have made raise a question for other teams: how can we create opportunities to reach students earlier, make support easier to access, and involve students more directly in determining what happens next?
Leading with Curiosity
Our program’s evolution has depended on institutional investment and a willingness to keep asking what could work better, listening closely to the answers, and adjusting along the way. We are already looking toward our next area of growth: closer collaboration with faculty and academic departments.
We plan to bring NABITA’s Dangerous, Disruptive, and Distressed training to campus to help faculty distinguish between behavior that is uncomfortable or disruptive and circumstances that may present a safety concern, and to support earlier, more collaborative intervention.
Mister, Bety, Kaitlyn, and I are proud of how the CARE Coordinators Program has evolved into a visible, accessible source of connection and support before concerns escalate. We are honored to receive the 2026 NABITA Best Practice and Institutional Impact Award, and I look forward to celebrating with the NABITA community at the 2026 NABITA Annual Conference in Baltimore this October.
To learn more about the UVM CARE Team, visit our website.