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Lauren Folloni, LICSW, MSW, MA

Your partner in fostering a mentally healthy campus

Supporting the people who make higher education possible

Today's staff, faculty, and campus leaders face unprecedented demands as they support increasing student needs, navigate enrollment trends and financial constraints, and sustain thriving campus communities. Drawing on more than 20 years of higher education leadership experience and clinical expertise as an independently licensed social worker, Lauren helps colleges and universities build mental health literacy, strengthen workplace wellbeing, and create healthier campus cultures.

Lauren offers engaging, practical training experiences designed specifically for higher education professionals. Programs can be delivered as workshops, retreats, or professional development series and are customizable to your institution's unique culture, goals, and challenges.

Contact Lauren today

Services Overview

Custom for your Campus

Every campus faces unique challenges, priorities, and opportunities.

In addition to evidence-based programs such as Mental Health First Aid and QPR, Lauren designs customized workshops tailored to your institution's specific needs.

Together, we can create programming that addresses topics such as:

Supporting students in distress without working beyond the expectations of your role
Faculty wellbeing and resilience
Trauma-informed higher education
Psychological safety and workplace culture
Burnout prevention and employee retention
Difficult conversations and de-escalation
Supporting employees through change and uncertainty
Mental health literacy for supervisors and leaders

Workshops are interactive, practical, and grounded in both current research and the realities of campus life.

Mental Health
First Aid

Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based training that teaches participants how to recognize, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges.

During this 6-8 hour workshop, participants learn how to:

Identify common mental health challenges
Respond to someone experiencing a crisis
Provide support in the moment
Connect individuals with appropriate resources

Mental Health First Aid helps faculty, staff, and campus leaders feel more confident supporting student mental health. Participants earn a three year certification upon completion of this course.

Ideal for:

Faculty
Front-line staff
Campus leadership teams

QPR Gatekeeper Training

QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) equips participants with practical skills to recognize warning signs of suicide and respond effectively when someone may be at risk.

During this 90 minute workshop, participants learn how to:

Recognize signs of suicide risk
Initiate a supportive conversation
Connect individuals to professional help
Respond confidently in challenging situations

QPR is a powerful addition to campus-wide mental health and suicide prevention efforts and can be delivered to all members of the campus community.

Ideal for:

Front-line staff
Faculty
Department heads/chairs
Student leaders & student employees
Administrators

Where Mental Health Expertise Meets Higher Education Leadership

Lauren Folloni, LICSW, is a higher education leader, educator, trainer, and social worker, with more than 20 years of experience supporting students, faculty, staff, and institutional leaders across colleges and universities.

Lauren's career has been dedicated to helping higher education institutions create environments where people can thrive. She has held senior leadership positions in student mental health, crisis intervention, academic advising, student success, accessibility services, and student support, giving her a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing today's colleges and universities.

As a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW), Lauren also maintains a clinical practice, providing psychotherapy to adults experiencing a wide range of mental health concerns. Her clinical expertise, combined with extensive leadership experience in higher education, allows her to bridge the worlds of mental health and education in a way that resonates with campus professionals.

Lauren is a certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor and certified QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Gatekeeper Instructor. She has trained hundreds of faculty, staff, administrators, and students to recognize signs of distress, respond effectively, and build stronger cultures of support within their institutions.

In addition to her leadership and clinical work, Lauren is an experienced educator. She has taught undergraduate and graduate students at multiple institutions and currently teaches graduate-level social work courses. She brings a practical, engaging, and learner-centered approach to every training and workshop she facilitates.

Lauren holds a Master of Social Work from the University of New England and a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration from Boston College.

" Lauren did an excellent job keeping the group engaged in the content. She has a clear passion for mental health and used her own personal experiences working with others to help us apply these concepts to real-life situations. I would highly recommend taking this course with Lauren to anyone and look forward to taking more mental health-related courses with her."

Pat M. University faculty