Liz Schropp was being built up by the School of Dentistry before she ever stepped foot on campus.
In anticipation of Schropp’s arrival this past January, the Dental School constructed a new health and wellness suite within its Office of Student Affairs specifically for her work. Schropp was hired as the school’s first embedded health and wellness counselor, a position she says exists at fewer than 10 dental schools in the U.S.
Schropp has held a variety of counseling and programming roles in both the public and private sectors, working with school-age children, military families, the queer community and other groups, and supervising graduate students. She says she always felt most compelled by direct, one-on-one interactions.
“I like being able to immerse myself in one population and really understand how they work, how they function, the stressors they have — getting to walk a little bit in their shoes,” she says.
In this Marquette Today Q&A, Schropp shares how she found that immersive experience at Marquette and the programs she’s implemented in her first months in the new role.
It was a priority for Dean (Elsbeth) Kalenderian to create this counselor position. Why do you think it’s important to have this resource for dental students and residents?
A counselor in this setting is kind of a new concept that I think a lot of dental schools — and the dental and medical fields in general — are starting to gravitate toward because they recognize that even though students here might have access to counseling services on campus, being in such a high-demand program really creates a barrier itself. When I was working in a public school system, the barriers might have been financial or transportation related. But here, it’s more capacity, time and overall energy to access resources. I think a large piece in the dean encouraging this program was to respond specifically to the students’ needs. And I think it’s a reflection of Marquette’s values overall, caring for the whole person.
The health and wellness suite at Marquette’s School of Dentistry offers privacy for students and residents who visit Schropp.
Did you notice your impact right away or has it taken some time for students to adjust to you being here?
Any time you’re starting in a mental health role, there can be a lot of misunderstandings or a lack of knowledge about what mental health and wellness really looks like. On one hand, there was a lot of anticipation for this role to come in and have an immediate change. It was also the anticipation that a role like this represents different things to people. But it’s a huge cultural shift as well. So, one of the first things I said to people when I first came in was that the change will be much more gradual than you think, but it will happen.
One thing I knew with these students is there’s so much that they don’t have control over: their academics and their clinical work, working with patients and all the expectations from faculty. Obviously, those are necessary for them to really achieve that clinical excellence that we expect. But I wanted to offer something in this role that was the opposite of that, which was completely student-led, really highlighting their agency. I knew that was going to be the way to foster the most trust with the students, too; telling them that I am here and I will show them that I’m consistently here and whenever they’re ready, I will be available.
And have they shown they’re ready to share with you?
I think the changes have been gradual. I started tracking resource utilization in May, and from May to September, we’re up over 143% in utilization. In the programming or events I’ve held, around 500 faculty, staff and students have utilized those resources, so that’s exciting to see overall. But more of the anecdotal or qualitative evidence I feel is helpful is whenever a student says something like, “It means a lot having you here.”
What are some programs you’ve been working on?
When I first started here, I did some focus groups with the students to really understand what the landscape looked like for wellness. One thing they noted was experiencing the difficulties of first year, leading to a deficit that they maybe fell into, and how it was difficult to find help crawling out of that deficit. The Peer Mentor program is a big part of alleviating some of those stressors. It’s the second year of the program, and this year we had almost three times as many applicants for peer mentor roles because our students recognize the impact it can have.
We have several other programs either underway or in the works. This past spring, we did a stress management series during midterms and finals to help support all aspects of health — not just the mental focus, but understanding different study habits. I think that’s a great opportunity for us to learn about shared and differing personality traits and behaviors at the school, and how that’s something to be celebrated. We also had Emily Raclaw from the On Your Marq program talk about how our brains work. We had Melissa Schneider from the Counseling Center come and talk about overall wellness and healthy eating habits. It’s cool to see students learn that wellness doesn’t just mean going to therapy, but it’s the small things, too.
Is there anything that has surprised you about working here?
I am such a nerd for behavior traits and those types of things, so it’s been fun to see some of the repeated traits that I see. I’m always so blown away at how detail-oriented everyone is and how internally motivated people are. Having worked with so many different populations, I know that’s not an inherent trait a lot of people have, and so it always makes me really admire the students here.
Something else more personally is the sense of pride I feel working here — being in an environment that’s so important and so competitive and seeing how much work the students put in every day to be the best version of themselves. I got to attend my first white coat ceremony, and I was so moved to see this moment all the students had worked so hard for, and to see how proud everyone was of them. And to know that their impact is going to be so great, even after leaving Marquette, and that I get to be a small part of that journey, I just feel really excited about.
