9.25.23

Hope’s Charge

Jessica Provines ‘01/04/06 channels her considerable professional energies as a community/clinical psychologist into broadening the bandwidths of mental health services for people not only on campus, but across the country.

At Wichita State, Dr. Provines serves as assistant vice president for wellness and chief psychologist. Tempered by her own experience with mental health challenges and the trauma of suicide loss, Provines established Health Outreach, Prevention and Education (HOPE) Services at WSU and co-founded Suspenders4Hope Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention, a strategic, research-based program with national reach.

A native of Wichita and a three-time graduate of WSU, Provines has spent nearly her entire 25-year career at Wichita State. “I fell in love with working with college students, helping them navigate this often tumultuous time in their lives,” she says. “Over my career as a clinical psychologist, I’ve lost three patients who came to me for help to suicide — each one devastating and so heartbreaking.”

With the help of her colleagues and a federal campus suicide prevention grant, Provines created Suspenders4Hope, which has developed into a far-reaching program that supports organizations of all sizes. “It’s our dream,” Provines says, “to provide starter hope kits to all patients experiencing a psychiatric emergency across the country — to bring the Suspenders4Hope program to all sectors, schools, healthcare, nonprofits, business and faith-communities to unite efforts to bring hope to people in times of despair.”

Provines is a staunch advocate of holistic well-being. While never taking her focus off the individual, she holds an all-embracing approach to mental health that considers the comprehensive whole, something she credits first learning about at Wichita State as a first-generation college student.

“As a WSU student,” she says, “I had the opportunity to work with many amazing faculty and instructors who helped shape me into the professional I am today. Not only did I gain excellent clinical training in the psychology department, but I was inspired by mentors like Don Nance, who founded T3 out of the counseling center, and Greg Meissen, who founded the Community Engagement Institute.”

As seriously as she applied herself to and excelled in her classroom and clinical studies throughout her college years, Provines didn’t skimp on the light-hearted side of campus life. As an undergrad, she co-directed a winning Hippodrome skit with her future husband — and nabbed best actress honors, too. “We also performed together in his alternative rock band at a few parties and in the old basement of the Rhatigan Student Center,” she says about her singing days with Midwest Electric. She adds with a laugh: “If I wasn’t a psychologist, I’d be a rock star. Thank goodness I chose to be a psychologist!”

For all of her rock-star accomplishments in the province of mental health, Dr. Jessica Provines is the 2023 Social Impact Award recipient. “It is a great honor to be recognized by the place I’ve called home for the past 25 years,” she says.

“I love this university, what we stand for and the transformational impact we have on people’s lives and this community. I share this award with my amazing team of outstanding professionals and with all the mental health advocates out there helping us take care of one another with compassion, love and kindness.”

The 2023 Alumni Award recipients will each be recognized at the first annual Heritage Gala on Tuesday, November 7. Learn more about this event and buy your tickets to celebrate the changemakers at Wichita State.