New Book Offers Mental Health Tool Kit for Students

Author knew campuses needed resources for students’ mental health: this book is his solution

For James Geisler, executive director of wellness services at Sacred Heart University, mental health counseling isn’t just a career but a lifelong passion. It’s this underlying passion that is on display in his first book, Thrive Year One: The Essential Mental Health Workbook for First-Year College Students. 

The book begins by reminding students of their resilience, challenging them to reflect on how they’ve navigated past challenges. This notion is incredibly important to Geisler, who believes that speaking about fear and desensitizing some of the angst students face is essential to helping them thrive as they begin their college experience. 

“For some students, this is the first time they’ll deal with failure, personal expectations or new fears. This book is a guide to learning how to live and work through these issues,” Geisler said. 

The book is filled with prompts and questions to challenge young adults on the precipice of a new, life-changing experience like going away to college. Geisler has expertly tailored the questions, reflecting the issues he has seen most often in his career. Prompts such as, “How do we deal with failure?” “How do we define our fears?” and “How can we give ourselves positive affirmations?” help students start their journey of self-discovery on the right foot. 

For Geisler, publishing Thrive was not a pet project but a genuine response to the issues he has faced in the four years since taking over as executive director. “When I came to SHU in 2020, there was a nationwide mental health crisis on college campuses; this crisis was further expedited by the pandemic. While we were doing the right thing by talking about it and recognizing that there was a problem, I noticed that no one was taking any action to combat the crisis. The answer is proactiveness, not reactiveness,” he said. 

With Thrive, Geisler becomes a strong voice in the ongoing conversation about mental health struggles, providing tangible resources for the students he said have been overlooked in discussions on combatting the issue. 

“In the effort to decipher and fix the problem at hand, counselors, parents and teachers at both high school and college levels have tried to find solutions, but in all the discourse, it’s the student who is left caught in the crossfire,” Geisler said. He hopes the book will provide a foundation for collegiate mental health and become a resource for all students plagued by negative thoughts in their day-to-day lives. 

Geisler’s message is straightforward, yet profound. “We can no longer afford to be reactive to the mental health struggles of our students,” he said. “Members of this generation are not just open to talking about mental health—they’re ready for change. It’s up to us to provide them the tools to thrive mentally and emotionally as they embark on this new chapter. By investing in their wellness today, we are shaping the leaders of tomorrow. The time for action is now. This is the future of education, and it starts with mental health.” 

Thrive is available to purchase on Amazon. Parents of students who have worked with the book believe it is an invaluable resource. One mother who posted a review on Amazon said, “Helping college-bound kids manage their expectations, anticipate the hardships that await and learn adaptive ways to work through them is so important. There are so many mental health challenges on college campuses right now, and college kids will benefit so much from this workbook.”