Postsecondary Spotlight on Mental Health and Wellbeing

May 7, 2:00 pm ET

How can you support colleges and universities to provide a spectrum of mental health and wellbeing supports critical to student success? Join us as we share learnings from two years of supporting a cohort of 10 higher education institutions.

We will discuss the interplay of mental health and basic needs like food and housing, as well as the role of expert technical assistance providers, campus capacity supports and specific population needs. Our focus will be providing insights you can implement directly: both programmatic options and key levers for funders aiming to support efforts to improve postsecondary mental health and success.

While others are welcome to attend, this event is intended for members and education grantmakers.

There is no cost to attend this Grantmakers for Education program. Registration closes 15 minutes prior to the program time. By registering for this program, you agree to our Learning Environment Commitment. Thank you for your patience; we review each registration in advance.

About the Series

Started in 2024, the Postsecondary Access and Attainment (PSA2) Impact Group’s Postsecondary Spotlights webinar series explores high-impact topics on student retention, graduation and institutional success. Topics include peer advising, student mental health and wellbeing, scaling training programs and more. This series is designed to connect funders to promising practices transforming higher education and to provide guidance on often-overlooked opportunities to invest in today’s college students. See other events in the series here.

About the Speakers

Jenny Achilles
Senior Director and Chief Program Officer
Trellis Foundation

Jenny Achilles joined Trellis Foundation (then Trellis Company/TG) in 2013 with nearly a decade of higher education service in various capacities, including student affairs and study abroad advising. She serves on local and national committees, such as the Funders Collaborative for Higher Education in Prison & Reentry Support, the Texas Rural Funders Membership & Dues Task Force, and co-chair for the Grantmakers for Education Postsecondary Access & Attainment Impact Group.

Dr. Leticia Duncan-Brosnan
District-Wide Director of the Student Advocacy Network
Alamo Colleges District

Dr. Brosnan attended St. Mary’s University for her Bachelor’s degree in Multinational Organization Studies, her Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and her PhD in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University- College Station. Dr. Brosnan has over 34 years of experience as an educator and counselor working with community-based Federal TRIO Programs, the Alamo Colleges, and at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She specializes in student success and support programs. She is a graduate of Leadership UTSA and WPASA – Women’s Professional Academic and Synergistic Leadership Academy. She has been awarded with the Leadership Award, the Student Affairs Award, the Ambassadors Award, and the University Diversity Award. She has worked on several community-level and university-level committees to support diversity and also student success. Dr. Brosnan is the District-Wide Director for the Student Advocacy Network in the office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Success at the Alamo Colleges District. This position allows her to bring her experience to advocate for students and bring additional resources to support their success at the Alamo Colleges.

Jennifer Esterline
Senior Vice President for Child and Family Strategy
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

Jen works with the Meadows Institute’s Center for Child and Family Wellness to develop and implement the Meadows Institute’s statewide strategy for student and educator mental health across the education continuum, including K-12 and higher education.

Jen has spent the last twenty-five years working in nonprofit and education policy, first as a program and development director for nonprofit and higher education institutions. She later served as program officer and then executive director of the KDK-Harman Foundation, a family foundation based in Austin. In 2011, Jen founded the Texas Education Grantmakers Advocacy Consortium (TEGAC), a grantmaker collaborative that has grown to over 60 private family, corporate and community foundations across the state working to promote, protect and improve Texas public and higher education through advocacy and public policy. In this role, she worked closely with Texas philanthropists, education advocates, and policymakers to identify and develop policy solutions for the state’s most critical education challenges.

Leilani Lamb
Director of Cross System Policy and Practice
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

Leilani Lamb, MPAff, MPH, is a Director of Cross System Policy and Practice at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. Leilani has years of experience working at the intersection of higher education programs, health systems, and K-12 policy. Mental health is critical to student persistence and achievement across the education continuum, but students do not exist in siloes. Leilani works with partners across systems to translate their evidence-based programmatic successes into sustainable, scalable transformations that support the health and wellbeing of students in their communities.