Helping college students learn how to deal with the stress of college & life while improving
their mental health

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KAN•NECT, founded by two Rochester Institute of Technology faculty, is developing a mobile application to help college students develop and maintain healthy emotional states in response to the unique stressors found in higher education that have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Features That Matter

What does Base Campus offer?

Improve how you respond to stress

Learn how to respond to and cope with your day-to-day stress

Develop new skills

Check in, do some activities, earn points and badges and explore new worlds! You get to move ahead and explore new landscapes and worlds, along with meeting others along the way!

Personalized assessment of how you are doing

Content created by experts in their respective fields, always up-to-date and current

Validated content

Experts in mental health, wellness, stress management, time management, gender, and many other topics provide content to the app. Content is updating continually to stay up-to-date and relevant.

Personalized Progress

Track your progress over a week, month or year to see your improvement and how your mental health is

See how you are doing

See how you’ve been doing, and how others across your campus are doing!

Customized Content

Based on your answers, content will be customized exactly to you and what you need

Content just for you

Explore the customized content, in the form of videos, articles, activities, exercises, and general tips on how to relieve stress and live a healthier life.

Strategies to deal with stress

Develop proven strategies to deal with stress at school, at work, and life

Developing good stratgies

Developing good strategies is key to creating a more production and healthier life

Encouraging Affirmations

Get reminders and encouragement to log in and see what Base Campus has in store for you for right now

Base Campus will be there!

Push notifications and encouraging affirmations can remind you to check in and earn points in your journey

The Problem

Stress on College Campuses

College Students are distressed now more than ever and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. The National College Health Assessment data demonstrates a significant increase in students reported stress. College campuses are struggling to meet student needs and to fully engage students in better ways to manage stress. College students are emerging adults with developing brains and often lack skills in emotion regulation and impulse control. This coupled with the increases in reported stress, college students are dealing with subsequent symptoms of anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide leading to poor academic performance, delayed graduation, and withdrawing from school.

The Solution

Base Campus

Where your journey to emotional wellness and coping begins is an intuitive, sophisticated digital tool using gamification strategies to motivate and reward use.

Base Campus helps college students develop and maintain healthy emotional states and build resilience as they navigate the complex demands of higher education through curated education, personalized feedback and skills. Base Campus incorporates evidence-based health psychology frameworks, assessments, and therapeutic strategies focused on improving college students’ ability to regulate emotions and impulses. Reframing how they react to stress and ultimately reducing stress, improving emotional intelligence, and improving their ability to function personally and academically under stressful situations.

Who we are

Working with college students, we have seen the increase in mental health issues over the last few years in particular. Many of these students have grown up during a pandemic, and many lack the skills needed to deal with stress and many of life’s problems. Depression and anxiety are at an all time high, and universities don’t have the capacity to handle it all. We realized that there is something we can do to help, and that is where Base Campus came from.

Nicole Trabold PhD, LMSW
Co-Founder
Research Assistant Professor, RIT

My professional journey has followed a non-traditional trajectory filled with robust experiences in social work practice and interdisciplinary education and research. I received my Masters in Social Work from The University of Michigan, and my doctoral degree from the University at Buffalo. I completed a mid-career National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowship in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester. I have over 25 years of experience in social practice and higher education, where I have delivered, developed and implemented various health and mental health interventions. I am currently Research Faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology where I am collaborating with my colleague to develop innovative digital solutions to address the growing mental health needs of college students.

Keli DiRisio BFA, MS, MFA

Co-Founder

Assistant Professor, RIT

My undergrad is from RIT in graphic design, and then I proceeded to receive my MS in Print Media. My professional journey started when I was working in the design industry, with a variety of clients. I eventually owned my own studio and a video production company, creating educational DVDs for children. I realized my love of teaching over the years as I was often an adjunct at RIT. I decided to return to RIT for a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design so I could pursue teaching as my career. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at RIT, and am fortunate that I can use my experience in the industry to help up-and-coming designers. With a focus on User Experience and User Interface, I am fortunate to be able to collaborate on such an important project as Base Campus to help students learn about the cope with their mental health.

Helping college students learn how to deal with the stress of college & life while improving their mental health