Campaign raising awareness for college student mental health

Campaign raising awareness for college student mental health

Back to school season also includes college students. UNC Charlotte students moved in this past weekend, and many other schools here in the Carolinas are headed back soon. WCNC Charlotte’s Brea Smith live for us this morning, and Bria, we, we know going to college can be a big adjustment for a lot of people, and you actually spoke with local counselors about how students can sort of keep their mental health in check. What do they tell you? Yes, Ben and Lisa. Well, local experts say that transition from high school and to college can cause many mental challenges like perception versus reality and full responsibility. In a high school student where your teacher, you know, knows your name, knows your parent guardian name, knows what you’ve been up to for the last 4 years, um, now you need to go knock on the door versus them knocking on your door. Um, it’s intimidating. But you knock once and the next time the door’s already open. Adore Kate Regan, the director of counseling with Atrium Health’s Queen’s University Counseling Center, says we’ll remain open for students who need help with life transitions college brings. Perception versus reality is a huge struggle, um, for, for all of us. Right, but I think that our college age is certainly can fall to that trap. Regan says the university conducted a student study to test the idea of perception versus reality and how it impacts students’ thoughts. How many people do you think on this campus? Um, belongs to 5 or more clubs and then the reality was, or the perception was like, 0, 80% of people do. — The reality was like
— 20%. A National Education Association study shows more than 60% of college students meet the criteria for a mental health issue, whether it’s due to the pressure of good grades, joining clubs, substance abuse, and anxiety, to name a few. When we think about anxiety, it’s It’s not the enemy. Anxiety is actually a survival instinct, um, and it’s, it’s our brain doing a little bit too good of a job trying to prepare us for all the possible outcomes. Brigan says at Queen’s University there are several outlets for help if needed. There’s academic advisors, there’s spiritual advisors, there’s the residents life advisors, um, there’s just heavily invested faculty members and staff members that just want to be a part of the students’ lives. Now if you are a college student and you need counsel or just someone to talk to, counselors do encourage you to rely on campus resources. Ben Lisa, and Bria, can you speak to some of those other resources that are available to students if they or a student they know need some assistance? Yes, Lisa. So here at Queen’s University specifically the counseling center does have an on-call 24/7 crisis counselor. So if you’re someone who finds yourself in an issue or needs some assistance or another student, you can definitely contact that hotline or that crisis hotline number on the counseling center’s website.

Back-to-school season includes college students, and there’s a new push to raise awareness of mental health issues impacting them. #News #Education #Health

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