Kidding Around: Using Play to Enhance Students’ Well-Being and Learning

Abstract

The perceived mental health crisis on college and university campuses worldwide has been the subject of much public discourse in the past decade.  Often, the conversation gains volume after the occurrence of tragic events such as a campus shooting or mul-tiple suicides at a university and quietens between these events. Fortunately, although the tendency of these conversations is that they happen reactively in response to tragic events, many university administrations have not let the dialog cease on campus but have encouraged it in a structured manner, leading to the development of new men-tal health strategies.  Many of these mental health strategies urge all members of the campus community, including librarians, to assume a role in ensuring the emotional and mental well-being of students and other staff members at the university.