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Josué Martinez’s office looks like none other on �Թ�tv’s campus. It is a comfortable, quiet retreat, with a mesmerizing focal point: a sculpture of shifting sand that emits a soft, pulsating light. “It’s a reminder to breathe,” says Martinez, the director of counseling services.

That’s the simple goal of the University’s Center for Wellness and Spirituality—to give students an opportunity to take a pause. The center, located on the ground floor of Delaney Hall, was designed as an oasis from the pressures of life and school and a hub of support for navigating those challenges. It is a fitting use for the building, which was home to the CSFN Sisters for more than 20 years and is named in memory of Sister Michaelann Delaney, a teacher and University leader remembered for her creating spaces where faith and community were nurtured. The Center for Wellness and Spirituality continues that legacy, strengthening the �Թ�tv community through its holistic approach to mental and emotional care. 

�Թ�tv students “are on a path to discover their identity and capture what it means to them to exist as a human,” says Martinez. “The center is designed to help them on this journey, looking past an academic lens to a wellness lens, addressing all aspects of their life.”

Mental health is a vital issue for college students nationwide, according to a 2025 study by the Healthy Minds Network. The survey found that nearly 40 percent of college students nationwide experience moderate to severe depression. More than 75 percent of the students surveyed reported that mental or emotional challenges had impacted their academic performance and two-thirds reported sometimes or often feeling isolated from others. “There was a time when students could just go to school and be students,” Martinez says. “Now students are navigating ‘Where do I live? What do I eat? My mom wants me home to care for grandma and I also have to work two jobs to pay for this text book or that lab fee.’”

At �Թ�tv, the Center for Wellness and Spirituality helps hundreds of students facing those and other challenges every year. The center, which opened in 2024, was built around the chapel in Delaney Hall that the Sisters once used daily for prayer and reflection. The �Թ�tv community and its neighbors are welcomed to Catholic Mass three times a week in what is now known as the Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd Chapel. Other students come to Delaney Hall for counseling and addiction recovery services—especially important for students without healthcare insurance that covers such assistance—or to visit the “Zen Den,” a serene space for meditation and other self-care. (There is also a popular massage chair, equally in demand among students and faculty and staff.) 

The Center for Wellness and Spirituality is also home to the Essential Needs Pantry, providing students with access to basic supplies, including hygiene products and infant care necessities. The University is currently in the process of expanding the available food assistance and plans to offer cooking and nutrition classes in the future.

The staff of the Center for Wellness and Spirituality also works to spread the word about the services available. Nationally, just over half of students are aware of the support available to them, according to the Healthy Minds survey. �Թ�tv’s outreach efforts include EASE—an acronym for “embedded access, support and engagement”—which places a clinician in classroom buildings as a resource for faculty, staff and students, and Take a Pause events in Campus Center, a time for conversation, mindfulness, and fellowship, as well as free food and games.

“We’re trying to meet the students where they are,” explains Martinez. Mental and emotional support services “should always be confidential,” he says, “but they shouldn’t be a secret.”