To the UC Davis Community:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the one in five Americans who live with a mental health condition, but it’s also the moment to acknowledge that awareness alone is not enough. We must act, both as individuals and institutions, to better understand and foster mental health. It’s a shared responsibility — one that involves individuals, families, schools and the community working together.
At UC Davis, we are committed to fostering a culture that prioritizes mental well-being and advancing research that deepens our understanding and improves the treatment of mental health conditions.
The data make the case for this work clear. College students are far more likely to experience mental health issues than other adults. Nationwide, only about a third of college students report positive mental health. UC Davis reflects this trend, with one in three students reporting that they experience some serious psychological distress.
These disparities are even more pronounced for first-generation students, LGBTQ+ students and women, who experience severe depression and suicidal ideation at roughly twice the rate of their peers.
Mental health cannot be separated from the rest of student life.
When we discuss mental health, it’s important to remember that the challenges our students face extend beyond individual experiences. Systemic barriers and environmental factors play a significant role in shaping mental health outcomes. Economic pressure, political polarization and even climate anxiety are all contributing factors to mental health challenges faced by our students.
These pressures are even more pronounced for students who are food and housing insecure. Data from the University of California show that as food and housing insecurity increase, so do rates of depression and anxiety among students. These pressures compound, with students who are experiencing both food and housing insecurity reporting 2.5 times the rate of depression of their fully financially secure peers.
When I arrived at UC Davis, I convened a task force focused on student mental health. Since then, we have steadily expanded counseling capacity, launched programs supporting mental health and continued to invest in research that helps us understand and treat mental health conditions.
Strengthening support across campus
One of the most significant signs of this commitment is our expanded counseling capacity. From 2020 to today, we have nearly doubled the number of counselors, supporting our students by creating more availability.
We have expanded access through the Community Advising Network for students from underserved communities who have historically faced higher barriers to care. This initiative supports students with services ranging from informal consultation to therapy, addressing concerns ranging from time management to experiences of violence.
Our support extends to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Walker Hall hosts a dedicated space for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who face barriers that could prevent them from seeking care. Located alongside the Graduate Student Association Pantry and other full spectrum support, Bai-Yin Chen, a psychologist specializing in graduate student concerns and issues, offers counseling support unique to the needs of these students.
Our International Student Support Group offers another unique model for student support. Designed for international students navigating stress, anxiety and questions of belonging, the program brings students and therapists together to develop session goals side by side.
Bardia Salehi Rad, a graduate student in mechanical engineering who came to UC Davis from Iran in August, says the group reminds him and his peers that they matter here and are heard in ways therapy alone cannot replicate. He points to the program’s collective partnership model, through which students act as co-architects of their own care, as critical for developing a sense of belonging and connection.
Across campus, Question, Persuade and Refer suicide prevention training is now part of new student orientation and required for all Student Affairs staff, so some of the first people students encounter on campus can recognize warning signs and respond.
All of these services rest on improving students’ basic needs through a model that combines immediate relief with pathways to long-term stability. The Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center provided food assistance to more than 12,000 students last year and helped enroll more than 1,000 students in federal nutrition programs such as CalFresh. The Basic Needs Center is also piloting AggieFresh, a program to extend CalFresh-equivalent support to students who are ineligible for federal support but demonstrate need. To meet the demand for housing assistance, the Center also offers the UC system’s only fully in-house, College-Focused Rapid Rehousing program, providing support to students who are unhoused or at risk of becoming so.
At UC Davis, we know that meeting basic needs is critical mental health work.
Meeting students where they are
Some of our most promising programs reach students outside clinical walls.
In partnership with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden and Healthy UC Davis, Student Health and Counseling Services providers can now prescribe time in nature. The program, called Nature Rx, provides patients with a prescription card and a QR code that offer guidance on spending intentional time outdoors.
Nataniel Klapperich, a fourth-year psychology major graduating in the spring, has been a part of the Nature Rx program this year, which encourages students to spend time in green spaces and away from technology to battle burnout and anxiety. Klapperich said they have seen how this “positive psychology” approach, which encourages holistic care and mindfulness, is enhanced by spending time outdoors.
The Empowering Connections Grant program offers another creative and effective way to support student mental health. Research shows that finding community is one of the most effective ways to support mental health, making clubs and campus activities critical. Because dues, gear and travel costs can make it impossible for some students to participate, the program covers students who want to join a club but cannot afford it. This year, the grant covered 140 students facing these financial barriers.
Investigating factors that impact mental health
Across our campus, UC Davis researchers are examining mental health conditions and how we can improve treatment.
UC Davis Health is a national leader in understanding early psychosis, in which symptoms often first appear between the ages of 15 and 25. Through our clinics, our interdisciplinary team is testing a stepped-care model that begins with the least intensive treatment and adds intensity only as needed. By providing a combination of supportive education, peer and family support, case management and more, these programs are giving new hope to patients across our region.
At the Center for Neuroscience, Professor Jennifer Whistler’s lab is reframing how we think about addiction and the brain. Her team’s work on opioid receptors aims to design pain therapies that mimic the body’s own endorphins while helping prevent the cycle of tolerance, dependence and addiction that has impacted so many individuals and families.
Other UC Davis teams are widening the lens. Researchers from the TEEN Lab and the Department of Human Ecology drew on data from more than 10,000 adolescents to map how loneliness and home conflict in early adolescence predict later patterns of aggression and victimization. This critical work helps schools, clinicians and parents intervene early to provide services and support for these adolescents.
Our research into mental health extends past adolescence. Tomiko Yoneda, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Letters and Science, working with a team across the world, found that fostering positive emotions and shared feelings plays an important role in protecting the physical health of people as they age by reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The study, the first of its kind outside of a lab setting, demonstrates how older adults can make choices influencing their happiness and improving their health.
In the College of Engineering, Professor Erkin Şeker is unlocking new understandings about how the gut microbiome and nervous system communicate. His work, building microfluidic technology, is mapping clinical implications for conditions ranging from anxiety to depression to neurodegenerative disease. The basic insight is striking: mental health does not begin and end in the brain.
This work reflects a broader commitment: advancing mental health research that moves into practice — deepening our understanding of how to approach and design support that can encourage healthier outcomes.
Aggies supporting Aggies
Some of the most powerful work on this campus is done by students themselves.
Working in Student Health and Counseling Services, Aggie Mental Health Ambassadors are trained peers who conduct outreach across campus, connecting fellow students to resources and serving as the human face of the Aggie Mental Health website, our central hub for mental health information.
Shiloh Colongon, a fourth-year psychology and human development major graduating this spring, is an ambassador. She says growing up in a conservative Filipino American household where mental health was not often discussed taught her how important it is to help students overcome stigma around seeking care for issues like burnout and depression. Through tabling, direct conversations with students and events like Therapy Fluffies, where students can pet dogs and talk, the ambassadors make seeking help less intimidating.
A closing thought
I sometimes hear from my peers that mental health is something my generation kept to itself, and that the current generation should just “tough it out.”
I want to make it clear: asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It is one of the most vulnerable things a person can do, and I admire our students seeking support. Younger generations are more willing to name what is difficult and speak openly about challenges that earlier generations often carried in silence. That is a huge step forward, and we should treat it as one.
UC Davis is here to support you. Please visit the Aggie Mental Health website if you need mental health resources or someone to talk to. The UC Davis Fire Department’s Health 34 program is available 24/7 by phone or in person in moments of difficulty. Its team of educators and providers offers non-judgmental, rapid support for challenges ranging from non-emergency roommate conflicts to panic attacks and housing insecurity.
Universities have an obligation to meet the needs of the whole student: their intellectual ambition, physical health and emotional well-being. At UC Davis, we are committed to building a campus where every student can thrive and where seeking support is recognized for what it is.
A sign of strength.
That is the awareness this month calls for, and the action it demands of us.
Sincerely,
Gary S. May
Chancellor