University Student Mental Health
University Student Mental Health
There are new efforts to improve and expand university mental health services.
In these uncertain and anxiety-provoking times, our universities have an increased responsibility to support student mental health and wellbeing. This is not about the issues of "spoiled and coddled" Gen Xers, helicopter parents, and the endless debates over the use of trigger warnings in higher education. This is about having a positive impact on not only our future workforce, but also our future leaders and change agents.
William Pang, a second-year student at McGill University in Montreal, wrote a moving NYT op-ed piece "The Season to Be Stressful" (December 19, 2016). He discusses his experience of learning to deal more effectively with overwhelming anxiety exacerbated by the highly competitive atmosphere of his university. He states, "I don't think we should demonize an entire generation as reliant and narcissistic. We should instead celebrate a generation that is coming to realize the importance of initiating conversations about our mental health." It is dismaying to read through the NYT comments to Pang's op-ed piece with so many people basically telling him to buck up and become an adult.
The photo above is of me with the amazing UK nurse and PhD student Josephine NwaAmaka Bardi with her social media campaign, "Raise Awareness of Mental Health in Higher Education" (#RAMHHE) I met NwaAmaka Bardi this past September in Seville at the 5th Annual International Health Humanities Conference: Arts and Humanities for Improving Social Inclusion, Education and Health. She also works in the area of mental health cafes as an effective alternative community mental health service. London's Dragon Cafe is a good example of a creative, welcoming, and supportive community cafe with a focus on mental health and wellbeing. It would be great to have a similar community cafe open to university students.
Universities UK is developing a mental health framework for universities to embed mental health and wellbeing across all university activities with the goals to decrease stigma and increase access to a variety of mental health and wellbeing services. (See: "New Programme to Address Mental Health and Wellbeing in Universities" December 2, 2017.) They point to the need of "getting universities to think about mental health and wellbeing across all their activities, from students and teaching, through to academics and support staff." It doesn't end with the provision of mental health and support services for students but needs to permeate the entire campus.
Doris Iarovici, M.D., a psychiatrist at Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services has written a book titled Mental Health Issues and the University Student (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). Although geared towards college mental health professionals, it includes useful information on the variety of mental health issues that our students face in universities—from anxiety, drug and alcohol problems, sexual assault, eating disorders, and relationship problems, to depression, suicide, and schizophrenia. She concludes by stating, "If we provide a range of services, including individual, group, and community programs, we will be in step with the goals of health care reform to focus on both prevention and optimizing outcomes." p. 219
William Pang, a second-year student at McGill University in Montreal, wrote a moving NYT op-ed piece "The Season to Be Stressful" (December 19, 2016). He discusses his experience of learning to deal more effectively with overwhelming anxiety exacerbated by the highly competitive atmosphere of his university. He states, "I don't think we should demonize an entire generation as reliant and narcissistic. We should instead celebrate a generation that is coming to realize the importance of initiating conversations about our mental health." It is dismaying to read through the NYT comments to Pang's op-ed piece with so many people basically telling him to buck up and become an adult.
The photo above is of me with the amazing UK nurse and PhD student Josephine NwaAmaka Bardi with her social media campaign, "Raise Awareness of Mental Health in Higher Education" (#RAMHHE) I met NwaAmaka Bardi this past September in Seville at the 5th Annual International Health Humanities Conference: Arts and Humanities for Improving Social Inclusion, Education and Health. She also works in the area of mental health cafes as an effective alternative community mental health service. London's Dragon Cafe is a good example of a creative, welcoming, and supportive community cafe with a focus on mental health and wellbeing. It would be great to have a similar community cafe open to university students.
Universities UK is developing a mental health framework for universities to embed mental health and wellbeing across all university activities with the goals to decrease stigma and increase access to a variety of mental health and wellbeing services. (See: "New Programme to Address Mental Health and Wellbeing in Universities" December 2, 2017.) They point to the need of "getting universities to think about mental health and wellbeing across all their activities, from students and teaching, through to academics and support staff." It doesn't end with the provision of mental health and support services for students but needs to permeate the entire campus.
Doris Iarovici, M.D., a psychiatrist at Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services has written a book titled Mental Health Issues and the University Student (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). Although geared towards college mental health professionals, it includes useful information on the variety of mental health issues that our students face in universities—from anxiety, drug and alcohol problems, sexual assault, eating disorders, and relationship problems, to depression, suicide, and schizophrenia. She concludes by stating, "If we provide a range of services, including individual, group, and community programs, we will be in step with the goals of health care reform to focus on both prevention and optimizing outcomes." p. 219
