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Help Yourself Campaign @ the UNT Libraries

Students can face many challenges and situations while in college. We can help you help yourself. Guide created and maintained by Brea Henson.

What is the Help Yourself Campaign?

The Help Yourself Campaign (HYC) connects all UNT students to books (physical and electronic) in our collection and digital resources that they can use as educational resources and bibliotherapy. The HYC aims to cover a variety of health, identity, social, and wellness topics that may be difficult for individuals to ask questions about or discuss openly with others due to contextual factors in their lives. All students, regardless of their experiences, are welcome to use these resources for their education, bibliotherapy, and wellness needs.

Each guide page directs students to books (physical and electronic) in our collection and digital resources available in the UNT Libraries. The contact information for campus support offices that provide personal assistance with the topic is listed on the left-hand side of the page. Many of these campus support offices provide collection purchase recommendations and digital resource suggestions like websites and podcasts. The Outreach and Instruction Librarian also works with these campus partners to develop outreach programs to help connect students to library resources and support offices that are welcome to all students regardless of their experiences.

We understand it can take time before individuals might be ready to talk to a person, so we aim to help you help yourself until you are ready for personal help in your journey. We aim to take an intentional and holistic approach to supporting your wellness and student success. 

A list of all campus support offices is listed on the Campus Resources tab. If you need help that is not provided on campus, the "List of Local & National Resources" tab has a list of Denton/DFW organizations that provide compassionate, intentional care and have been vetted by employees at UNT.  

LGBTQ+, Sexual Orientation, & Gender Deities Help Yourself Campaign at the UNT Libraries banner with subject heading, call numbers, and online resource url and qr code.Mental Health Help Yourself at the UNT Libraries banner with subject heading, call numbers, and online resource url and qr code.Food & Housing Insecurities Help Yourself at the UNT Libraries banner with subject heading, call numbers, and online resource url and qr code.Sexual Assault & Intimate Partner Violence Help Yourself at the UNT Libraries banner with subject heading, call numbers, and online resource url and qr code.Substance Abuse & Rehab Help Yourself at the UNT Libraries banner with subject heading, call numbers, and online resource url and qr code.

How to Find Books

Books listed on the HYC topic pages can be searched for using subject headings and keywords in the UNT Libraries' catalog. To find physical books in the library, use the book's call numbers to find books at Willis Library 3rd floor and Sycamore Library Mezzanine. Signage is provided in these locations to help you locate books quickly. Each library has self-checkout machines if you would like to check out books discretely, or you can visit our service desk for friendly assistance. Patron records, including checkouts, are not shared with third parties unless under a government-issued subpoena.

The content provided in this guide and within the UNT Libraries collection is for informational and educational use and should not be considered legal advice. Students can receive legal advice from Student Legal Services. 

History of the Campaign, UNT System Values, and UNT Wellness

The Help Yourself Campaign was launched during the 2016 Fall semester for the annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. The campaign was started by Dr. Spencer Keralis, the former Department Head of the Digital Humanities and Collaborative Programs (DHCP) at the UNT Libraries. Dr. Keralis mentored Brea Henson, current HYC Coordinator, on outreach and community building. 

DHCP was dissolved in Spring 2018. Brea Henson aims to continue and expand the campaign through campus community building and outreach. 

UNT Values

  1. Courageous Integrity: The HYC aims "to build [a] trust[ing]" and compassionate network between students, the UNT Libraries, UNT campus student support offices, and local communities "through consistent actions that are honest, transparent, and authentic," at times requiring vulnerability and emotional labor.
  2. Be Curious: The HYC encourages students to "engage in new experiences for learning and growth" around their health, identity, and holistic wellness.
  3. We Care: The HYC's outreach and praxis is informed by evidence-based mindfulness principles, trauma-infomred approaches to librarianship, the pedagogy of kindness, and "Whole Person"/"Whole Student"/"Whole University" praxis used in librarianship and social work. The HYC seeks to "cultivate authentic connections [with campus student support offices] that have a meaningful impact" on students. The HYC "share expertise and resources" from campus student support offices and librarians in order to "contribut[e]" to student success and wellbeing. The HYC hopes to "help at least one person every day" through direct and indirect engagement and outreach. 
  4. Better Together: The HYC provides access to information that supports "an inclusive environment of respect, belonging, and access for all" students at UNT. 
  5. Show Your Fire: The HYC Coordinator, Brea Henson, aims to "be prepared, be present, and actively participate" in discussions with students and campus support offices about their wellness needs, provide "enthusiastic engagement" in face-to-face interactions, and recommend helpful HYC resources. 

UNT Wellness

The HYC aims to support the "physical, social, emotional, environmental, intellectual, occupational, creative, financial, [and] spiritual" wellness for UNT Students by providing access to educational information, bibliotherapeutic resources, contact information for specialists in providing care, and compassionate collaborations.

Student Success Initiative

  1. Proactive and Holistic Care: The HYC Coordinator works with support and success offices, local offices, and organizations to connect students proactively to the resources and people who can help them. Through intentional tabling, collaborative events, strategic purchases, referrals, and access to information on the HYC guide, the HYC Coordinator and HYC partnering student support and success offices are part of the holistic care network at UNT. We aim to meet the unique needs of each student we serve.
  2. Proactive and Holistic Care: The philosophy behind the Help Yourself Campaign is that if students are not holistically well, they cannot succeed in their coursework and may not achieve academic success. The topics of the HYC were identified as areas that students can struggle to find reliable information about, discuss with their personal support networks, ask for professional help on, and locate people who can provide professional help. 
  3. Proactive and Holistic Care: UNT Libraries understand it can take time before students feel comfortable or ready to talk to a person for help. UNT Libraries aims to help students help themselves by providing bibliotherapy resources and contact information for student support and success offices when students are ready for personal help in their care and healing journeys.  
  4. Proactive and Holistic Care: All work to provide HYC is trauma-informed and backed by research and praxis in trauma-informed librarianship, whole-person librarianship, whole-student librarianship, whole-university librarianship, and social services in academic libraries.

Resources Available to Student Support Units

Student-serving campus organizations may request copies of our outreach card with QR code for your office by emailing brea.henson@unt.edu. We appreciate your help in spreading awareness of our resources to the broader UNT community.

Notices about Third Party Information

As of April 2021, only UNT resources are provided on theses pages and third-party information has been removed unless the organization is an academic or a government organization or a certifying professional board. All third party resources, including non-profits and philanthropies, have been moved to the "Local & National Resource" tab. 

Further as of April 2021, only non-profits and philanthropies will be accepted as additional resources for the Help Yourself Campaign. 

Disclaimer about third-party resources: The additional resources have been selected for their educational content and potential free services only. Each resource is vetted for accurate information as well as ensuring the company or organization aligns with the UNT mission and values. When possible, non-profit status is provided. No financial agreements or contracts were signed for providing information. The UNT Libraries does not endorse any third party company or organization listed as a potential resource nor can the UNT Libraries recommend services provided by any third-party company or organization, though some many have existing contracts with UNT Denton or UNT System. The guide editor maintains the right to remove companies or organizations at their discretion without notification. Using third party information provided or services advertised on company or organization websites are at the individual's discretion. 

Copyright © University of North Texas. Some rights reserved. Except where otherwise indicated, the content of this library guide is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Suggested citation for citing this guide when adapting it:

This work is a derivative of "Help Yourself Campaign @ the UNT Libraries", created by [author name if apparent] and © University of North Texas, used under CC BY-NC 4.0 International.