Carson Domey
Executive Director, Coalition for Student Wellbeing
What’s your organization’s mission, and what’s your area of focus?
The mission of the Coalition for Student Wellbeing is to bridge the gap between students and decision-makers through advocacy, collaboration, and education. We focus on working to improve mental health and wellbeing on college campuses by elevating student perspectives and engaging young people in advocacy.
What led you to this work?
The Coalition for Student Wellbeing emerged from a clear need to elevate student voices in mental health policymaking. My journey began when I started advocating for expanded telehealth services in Massachusetts at a young age, fueled by personal health challenges and a motivation to push for change. Following the passing of a close friend to suicide in 2018, I began to focus on attempting to effectuate change to provide greater access to mental health care, education, and resources. Over time, I witnessed an opportunity within the mental health policy space to create a much-needed platform to help elevate youth and student voices in policymaking.
In 2022-2023, I had the opportunity to work with the Mary Christie Institute to amplify student voices through the National Youth Council on College Mental Health. This council brought together students from across the country, allowing their experiences to inform leaders in higher education and mental health. This project highlighted how impactful a platform for students could be in the policy realm.
Building on this momentum, the Mary Christie Institute awarded a grant in August 2024 to establish the Coalition for Student Wellbeing. This grant enabled us to scale our work, transition from a project to a full organization, and continue focusing on improving mental health outcomes through advocacy, collaboration, and education. The coalition now aims to serve as a bridge between students and decision-makers, with the goal of creating policies that genuinely reflect and address the needs of the student population.
What have you learned in the course of doing this work about young people’s wellness while engaging with tech and interactive media?
I recognize that the dynamics and background of the college-aged population are so variable that it is essential to center student voice in policymaking in order to design systems and solutions that best serve the population. A college campus brings together individuals from all walks of life and we need to make sure that we acknowledge that, and design programs that are inclusive of those backgrounds and perspectives.
How would you change or design technology and/or media to be healthier for kids across the developmental span?
I am a major proponent of incorporating mental health education and digital literacy skills into K-12 education curricula. This provides an opportunity to properly educate people, at age-appropriate levels, about mental health and digital wellness before they may be in a crisis. Furthermore, it prepares children at a young age to have the skills necessary to interact with the ever-changing digital world.
We know that no one person, organization, or company can successfully address the challenge alone, so it’s imperative that we collaborate to design and maintain a healthier digital experience for all young people and their families. Our Fellow Travelers blog series features colleagues from around the world who focus on digital wellness from a different perspective than the Digital Wellness Lab, enabling us to share expertise in key areas of digital wellness that we don’t explore as deeply.
Here at the Lab, we welcome different viewpoints and perspectives. However, the opinions and ideas expressed here do not necessarily represent the views, research, or recommendations of the Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital, or affiliates.