Dec. 4, 2024 — Graduate or professional school is a challenging experience.

For some students, it’s the first time they will be living far from family. Others are returning to school with hopes of beginning a new career as a clinician, physician assistant, or medical researcher, and many have young families of their own.

Who can better understand what students at the University of Florida College of Medicine are going through than their peers?

In collaboration with the UF Counseling and Wellness Center, or CWC, and the College of Medicine Office of Student Counseling and Development, UF Medicine students recently initiated a program to offer peer-to-peer support for all students at the college.

The Gator-2-Gator program, created by the CWC in 2020, enables students to schedule 30-minute sessions to connect with a peer to have a one-on-one discussion about anything on their mind. The program expanded to cater specifically to College of Medicine students in 2022.

Medical students Patrick Haley and Divya Mahesh first connected with Beverly Dede, Ph.D., M.A., the College of Medicine student counselor, for insights into how to offer more resources for mental well-being at the college.

“The pace of med school is so drastic, especially at the start. Sometimes it’s isolating, because you’re not talking to your family or loved ones as much as you used to, because you don’t have as much time,” Haley said. “Navigating that process is also sometimes hard for others to understand who aren’t in the same situation as you.”

Rosa West, Ph.D., LMHC, LMFT, a UF clinical associate professor and interim director at the CWC, worked with the students and Dede to establish the medical campus program and train ambassadors.

At UF Medicine, 32 student ambassadors representing the M.D., PA, graduate, and M.D.-Ph.D. programs are trained to provide personal support and share information about mental health resources.

Gator-2-Gator trains ambassadors in skills, including active listening, reflecting, paraphrasing, and asking open-ended questions. They complete a six-hour training across two sessions, during which the trainees are coached by trained counselors to role-play as ambassadors for peers. They are also provided with information about resources available on campus and locally to share with others.

Importantly, the role of the ambassadors is to offer support, West said, not to offer advice.

“These are core skills that anyone who wants to help another person can implement and use,” she said. “We credit the College of Medicine with helping us expand our efforts beyond the CWC to any department looking to adopt a program.”

In addition to the peer support sessions, Gator-2-Gator at the College of Medicine also aims to build connections between students, by hosting events like a fall pumpkin painting activity and tabling sessions to help others learn about the program.

Second-year medical student Siya Bhutani has been passionate about mental health initiatives since high school. Upon starting her undergraduate studies at UF, Bhutani began volunteering as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line. When Haley shared information about Gator-2-Gator at a tabling event, Bhutani immediately knew she wanted to be involved.

“The overarching goal of Gator-2-Gator is to reduce the stigma surrounding reaching out for help and informing students at the College of Medicine that they’re not alone,” she said. “Reaching out to an ambassador, a friend, or a faculty member is not an intention of weakness by any means. It takes courage to realize that you need help.”

Gator-2-Gator ambassador Tiffany Nelson, a UF Medicine doctoral student, knows that it can be isolating to spend 40 to 50 hours in the lab conducting research. She said participating in the peer support program and taking time to socialize has helped her understand the importance of your mental state on your studies.

“Gator-2-Gator allows us to have conversations we felt we couldn’t have before,” she said. “It’s helping us change the narrative on graduate student mental health.”