Colleges and Universities
Colleges and Universities
We have greatly benefited from knowing that we can pick up the phone and call Wily with concerns about students, especially when those concerns lie outside our ability to support the student. The collaboration and creative problem solving that result have made a world of difference for our students.
Eric Nguyen, Former Director, Center for Inclusive Excellence at Northeastern UniversityPartner With Us
The Wily Network seeks to partner with public and private four-year residential colleges and universities in the greater Boston area to provide a support system for students navigating college independently. Our arrangements with partner colleges reflect a mutual commitment to student success.
Every college is different, and the Wily Network crafts individualized agreements with each Partner Institution based on the school’s needs, goals, and resources.
As a Partner Institution, you will:
Identify potential Wily Scholars
The students we work with are typically not inclined to identify themselves or reach out for help, which makes it difficult for schools to recognize how many students on their campus fit the Wily profile. The Wily team will assist each institution in identifying potential Wily Scholars.
Welcome the Wily Network Coach onto your campus
The Wily Scholars at your school will share a clinical coach(es), who will provide them with a level of day-to-day support beyond what existing campus resources can offer, while also helping them access and navigate the resources available to them on campus. Partner schools provide coaches with a place to work on campus, access to campus internet, and a liaison to serve as a point person for referrals and communications. Liaisons also convene key college personnel to introduce Wily to the broader campus community.
Other ways to partner with Wily
Invite Wily to speak to your staff
We have been hired to conduct trauma training and asked to present to a variety of departments on campus. This facilitates constructive and supportive interactions between campus offices and Wily Scholars. From the Career Center to the Dean’s Office, we can help your staff feel confident working with students managing complicated circumstances.
To learn more about partnering with us, please reach out to Judi Alperin King (judi@thewilynetwork.org).
Partnerships are established based on the availability of staff and funding.
For MIT employees, the clinical coaches of Wily are key thought partners and valued colleagues in our efforts to support our shared students. What they provide to their Scholars, our students, is a comprehensive array of services that are flexible and consummately responsive to students’ real-time and changing needs. A rare gem of a program, Wily’s partnership has been a true gift to MIT.
Miri Skolnik, Assistant Dean, Student Support Services at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyWe have greatly benefited from knowing that we can pick up the phone and call Wily with concerns about students, especially when those concerns lie outside our ability to support the student. The collaboration and creative problem solving that result have made a world of difference for our students.
Eric Nguyen (he/him), Former Director, Center for Inclusive Excellence at Northeastern UniversityFor MIT employees, the clinical coaches of Wily are key thought partners and valued colleagues in our efforts to support our shared students. What they provide to their Scholars, our students, is a comprehensive array of services that are flexible and consummately responsive to students’ real-time and changing needs. A rare gem of a program, Wily’s partnership has been a true gift to MIT.
Miri Skolnik (she/her), Assistant Dean, Student Support Services at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Coaching Relationship
Wily Clinical Coaches are graduate level clinicians with experience providing trauma sensitive care. Though coaches are guided by their backgrounds as trained therapists, they do not provide therapy to students. The coaching relationship is grounded in techniques adopted from a nationally recognized coaching model. Every coach engages in regular training related to this work, including but not limited to:
- Fostering Success Coach Training and Certification Program
- Suicide assessment & safety planning
- Trauma/adolescent neuroscience
- Sexual orientation and gender identity in coaching
- Race and social identity in coaching
The Wily Network Commitment
We will always:
- Abide by and stay up to date with all rules, procedures and expectations of the university.
- Facilitate connection between students and on-campus programs and resources.
- Provide emotional support to students and refer students to comprehensive mental health services as needed.
- Work with students one-on-one using a trauma-sensitive model to identify areas of growth within academics, housing, physical health and personal wellness, social connectedness, personal identity, life skills and campus living, and finances.
Why the Wily Approach?
Comprehensive college support programs began in the late 1990s and have proven successful in 25 states. The Wily Network has brought this highly effective movement to Greater Boston, and replicates the best practices from programs around the country. We are now one of the largest programs in the nation.
We collaborated on program development with the University of Michigan’s nationally recognized Blavin Scholars Program, and we continue to share resources with them. We also partner with the Center for Fostering Success at Western Michigan University, home to one of the largest programs for students who have aged out of the foster care system. Wily makes use of the Center for Fostering Success’ services for our paid supervision and training, as well as frequent consultation.
The Wily Network also participates in a forum of innovative organizations that work with foster care students, established through a grant from the J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation. This group includes many of the successful programs in the Greater Boston area that serve children and young adults who have been in foster care, including Silver Lining Mentoring, Doc Wayne, the Treehouse Foundation, More Than Words, CASA Boston, MARE and Plumber Home.
We are continually learning from our organizational partners, and we regularly assess and adjust our services in order to meet national best practice standards.
Partner Institutions
From finding future Wily Scholars on their campuses to inviting us to conduct trainings for their staff, our Partner Institutions show a special commitment to Wily’s mission.
Boston College
Emerson College
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northeastern University
University of Massachusetts, Boston
All Colleges and Universities
Every school attended by a Wily Scholar or Wily alum
Boston College
Boston University
Brandeis University
Bridgewater State University
Emerson College
Harvard University
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northeastern University
Suffolk University
University of Massachusetts, Boston
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Wellesley College
Partner Institutions
From finding future Wily Scholars on their campuses to inviting us to conduct trainings for their staff, our Partner Institutions show a special commitment to Wily’s mission.
Boston College
Emerson College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northeastern University
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Institutions in our Pack
Every school with a Wily Scholar or alum is part of our pack.
Boston University
Brandeis University
Bridgewater State University
Harvard University
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Wellesley College
Boston College
Emerson College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
Northeastern University
University of Massachusetts, Boston
