The mission of the C.A.R.E. Team is to serve the University community by:
- Effectively responding to referrals of students, faculty and staff who are experiencing distress, engaging in harmful or disruptive behavior or who are at risk of jeopardizing their academic success or employment security;
- Providing policy recommendations that further prevention, intervention and response efforts for the community and its members; and
- Fulfilling the University’s obligation to operate a behavior assessment and management process consistent with best practices for higher education.
C.A.R.E. serves as a point of referral for all individuals who are concerned about the physical, emotional, academic or financial health of another individual. C.A.R.E. can assess the situation, offer support and provide information regarding appropriate resources on and off campus. C.A.R.E. provides ongoing policy and procedure recommendations. For students, notification to a student’s parents/guardian by the University’s attending physician or administrator may occur when deemed necessary.
This multi-disciplinary approach to identifying and developing plans of remediation also include services in intervention from local psychiatric facilities to include Linden Oakes Hospital, Naperville, Illinois, which provides 24 hours/day, 7 days/week inpatient and outpatient services. C.A.R.E. may require a mandatory evaluation, with a recommendation from the facility that the individual referred no longer poses a threat to the campus community. C.A.R.E. members consist of faculty, staff and administrators from many disciplines around campus including Campus Safety, Health Services, Student Affairs/Residence Life, Human Resources, and Academic Divisions.
C.A.R.E. information is posted on the University’s main Website, in the Emergency Response and Recovery Plan and reviewed during on-going violence prevention initiatives, through PowerPoint and personal awareness presentations, to include students, faculty, and staff.
All immediate life threatening situations or observations should be reported immediately to Campus Safety for prompt intervention.