25 Weeks of Gratitude: Lyon College, Caring Campuses
The science of success – a prescription for inner peace
By Linda S. Haymes
For Marcus Swift, the Caring Campuses program at Lyon College provided something he had been searching for: answers.
Through counseling, testing and treatment made available on campus, Marcus now better understands the anxiety and attention challenges that had affected his daily life and academics.
That support became a turning point for the 21-year-old senior from Waxahachie, Texas. It helped him move forward with more confidence and a clearer sense of purpose.
Today, Marcus is preparing to graduate with a degree in Biology and a Pre-Pharmacy concentration, along with double minors in Chemistry and Animal Behavior. After graduation, he plans to take a gap year to gain laboratory experience before pursuing a master’s degree in infectious diseases.
His long-term goal is to become a global health research scientist studying infectious diseases and helping improve prevention, treatment and understanding of illnesses that affect people around the world.
But Marcus’ path to that future once felt much harder to reach.
Finding the Missing Piece
“The Caring Campuses program helped me realize that asking for help is okay and that support is available when I need it,” Marcus said.
The Caring Campuses program was partially funded by a grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas. It was designed to address growing mental health challenges and social isolation on college campuses while connecting individuals with support services that may have otherwise been unavailable.
The grant was awarded jointly to Lyon College and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville to expand mental health resources and improve access to care for students, faculty and staff.
Through services made available by the program, Marcus received counseling and was evaluated for ADHD, OCD and anxiety.
“Being able to access that support and treatment has made a noticeable difference in my everyday life and especially in my classes,” he said. “I feel like I understand myself better, have better tools to manage challenges and am in a much better place academically and personally because of the resources available to me on campus.”
Receiving diagnoses and treatment helped Marcus understand that many of the struggles he experienced were not personal failures.
“When the test results came back for ADHD and OCD, they were able to connect me with doctors who could treat me. I knew right then and there that this could have a really positive impact on both my everyday life and my academics.”
“The medication helped with the everyday challenges I was facing,” he said. “But I was also finally able to understand why I was facing those challenges instead of putting all the fault on myself.”
That understanding became a turning point.
“Knowing the reasoning behind these challenges allowed me to push forward and work toward a treatment plan,” he said.
Marcus said the counseling therapy sessions were beneficial because they helped him deal with the academic stress, which fueled much of his anxiety.
Helping Others Find Support
Marcus is deeply involved in campus life.
In addition to his studies, he works in family violence prevention, serves as a lead resident assistant, is secretary of the Social Council (the college judicial board) and serves on the Student Involvement Board.
His own experiences have made him especially aware of the challenges many students quietly face.
“As an RA, I am constantly involved with other students’ lives,” he said. “When I’m told they’re struggling with issues similar to mine, I refer them to the Caring Campuses program.”
Marcus hopes students reach out early, as freshmen, before their challenges impact their college experience.
Creating a Place to Recharge
The Blue & You grant also supported the creation of Lyon College’s Zen Den, a quiet space on the first floor of Edwards Commons where students can relax, regroup and manage stress. Marcus helped promote the space and encouraged students to use it. As an RA, he regularly shares information about the Zen Den and other campus resources.
“The Zen Den is a designated space on campus where students can go to take a break, relax, decompress or spend some quiet time away from the stress of college,” he said.
A Lasting Impact
Marcus’s story is just one example of the lives touched by the Caring Campuses initiative.
“The Blue & You Caring Campuses grant allowed students, like Marcus, to benefit from mental health services that were previously out of reach, unaffordable or unknown,” said Victoria Hutcheson, LPC, ATR, director of Mental and Behavioral Health at Lyon College.
“These services helped Marcus and other students to better succeed both in college and in life,” Hutcheson said.
The grant also helped provide free family therapy services, mental health workshops and Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training. More than 100 students, faculty and staff across the two campuses benefited from workshops, testing, therapy and medication appointments.
For Marcus, perhaps the greatest lesson learned through the program is one he hopes to carry with him for the rest of his life.
His experiences have taught him the value of listening, asking for help and showing compassion to others.
As he prepares for a future devoted to improving public health, Marcus is already changing lives by sharing the message that transformed his own: support is available, and no one has to face life’s challenges alone.
“Outside of my career, I think I’ll always want to also be involved in helping people directly.”
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Blue & You Foundation, 25 Weeks of Gratitude spotlights 25 stories of Arkansans whose lives have been impacted by Foundation-funded work.
The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas was established in 2001 through an initial gift from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Since its inception, the Foundation’s financial base has grown through prudent investment strategies, enabling the Foundation to support its mission through grants funded by the interest earned on those investments.
