Health, Wellness, and Safety
Health, Wellness, and Safety
RIT wants our students to not only be physically healthy and safe, but to think about their wellness on a broader level. It is important that students know how to access health and wellness services and get connected to resources and activities that support their well-being.
Parent Tips and Conversation Starters
It can be difficult hearing that your student is sick, is struggling, or isn’t happy. Even if they are far away from home, you can support them by helping them understand how to seek help when they aren’t feeling well, making an emergency plan, and asking open-ended questions to get at the root of any issue.
Tips
- Make sure your student provides emergency contact information at www.rit.edu/studentcontact. The contact identified will be the person RIT reaches out to in the event of an emergency.
- Talk with your student about health insurance and how to use it.
- Make sure your student understands how and where to refill prescriptions.
- Your student should make all of their own appointments, but you can help them understand what questions to ask.
- Remind your student of common safety tips: lock your door, don’t leave valuables unattended, and be aware of your surroundings.
- If your student brings up a sensitive topic, listen carefully without interruption or judgement.
Conversation starters
- Who do you have listed as your emergency contact?
- What will you do if you are feeling sick?
- What are you doing to stay active and involved this semester?
- What is the hardest part about staying healthy on campus?
- How do you get home when you have an evening class?
- What do you do with your laptop when you are studying somewhere and have to use the restroom?
Health and Wellness Resources
The Student Health Center provides primary and urgent care services to RIT students, ranging from support for acute medical concerns to sexual health and immunizations. The office has limited commonly prescribed medications on site and can assist with prescription delivery options for students who must fill prescription medications away from home. Information on the university-sponsored health insurance plan can be found on the Risk Management and Insurance webpage.
Counseling and Psychological Services
Counseling and Psychological Services offers short-term, goal-focused individual therapy, group therapy, crisis support, and psychiatric services in an open, safe, and confidential environment. If your student regularly sees a professional for counseling or needs long-term or specialized treatment, we recommend continuing treatment with their current provider or contacting our Case Management team for off-campus options.
The Case Management team assists students in connecting to resources on and off campus, as well as helping students navigate complex personal problems including health insurance, food and housing insecurity, financial concerns, and more. As it takes time to connect off-campus, early planning is encouraged for students who may benefit from these additional resources.
Disability Services employs an interactive, student-centered process to determine and approve reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Accommodations can help mitigate barriers in any facet of the RIT experience, whether academic, residential, or co-curricular, and may support needs related to mental health, learning, chronic illness, communication, mobility, and more. Students are encouraged to connect with the Disability Services Office as early as possible, as accommodations are not retroactive.
Our multifaceted approach to student wellness encompasses all aspects of personal well-being, including physical and emotional health and a range of innovative and inclusive programs, services, and education. This includes intramurals, outdoor recreation, required wellness education courses, and more.
Safety Resources
Public Safety patrols campus seven days a week, 52 weeks a year and provides services dedicated to creating a safe community for the RIT campus. All officers are trained in emergency medical procedures, CPR, automated external defibrillators, American Sign Language, and crisis intervention. Services include:
- Escort service
- Blue-light courtesy call boxes
- Crime prevention awareness programs and informational displays
- Bicycle registration and engraving
- Lost and found
- Motorist assists
- Apartment lock-outs
- Fire evacuations
- Emergency first aid
- Security surveys
- Victim and Witness Assistance
RIT Alert is used to immediately notify the campus community in significant emergency or dangerous situations involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students, faculty, and staff occurring on or near campus. Students’ cell phone numbers are automatically transferred into RIT Alert from the Student Information System (SIS).
The Tiger Safe app gives students access to an emergency button, Public Safety phone numbers, escort services, lock services, and more.
There are a number of methods that students can use when they need to report an incident, including concerns about another student, crimes or policy violations, or a Title IX concern.