Mental Health on
College Campuses
What is Mental Health?
Mental health is our social, emotional, and psychological well-being. It deals with how we act, how we think, and how we feel throughout our lives. It shows us how we deal with our stress, with how we interact with other people, and what choices we make. No matter if you're an adult or a child, Mental health is important to everyone.
Mental Health on College Campuses
College campuses are areas where Mental health is often overlooked. The students go through much stress and anxiety when going through finals week and midterms. Often times, students don't seek help because they don't know where or are afraid to be seen going to a health center.
In a Journal of College Student Development titled, Mental Health Priorities: Stigma Elimination and Community Advocacy in College Settings, it states that "Low rates of psychological help-seeking among college students have been attributed to a lack of awareness about on-campus resources and to mental illness stigma.". This states that resources are not being publicized to the students on campus by the college and this results in low rates of help-seeking college students. Thus, more resources need to be promoted to the students by the colleges to counteract this problem. It can be from simple fliers mounted around on boards in halls to info banners on colleges websites. Making the information of these resources more accessible is another must. Allowing anyone who needs the information to be right at their fingertips.
A statistic from Active Minds, a non-profit organization whose goal is to raise more mental health awareness among college students, show that 2 out of 3 students with anxiety or depression don't seek medical treatment. Another statistic by Active Minds show that 39% of students in college experience a huge mental health issue.
My opinion
I feel as though many resources on our campus are not promoted as much as they should. Clubs and organizations should definitely be more publicized just as much as CAPS. CAPS, Counseling and Psychological Services, is a place on campus where one can get mental help. It is located in the health center building on the 2nd floor. More organizations and help lines should be publicized during finals week and during midterms. Often times you hear practically everyone say that their finals week or midterms week has been a super anxious and stressful time. So the colleges should know about what the students are going through and how they're feeling so they can get a sense as to how much they should promote their mental health resources.
Mental Health Resources
CAPS:
- Phone: 323.343.3300
- Location: Station 4 (2nd floor), Student Health Center (main walkway across from Biological Sciences)
Additional resources
- 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 800.273.8255.
- Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Access Center 24/7 Helpline at 800.854.7771.
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
Sources
“Facts.” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, adaa.org/finding-help/helping-
others/college-students/facts.
Henriques, Gregg. “The College Student Mental Health Crisis (Update).” Psychology Today, Sussex
Publishers, 18 Nov. 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-knowledge/201811/the-
college-student-mental-health-crisis-update.
“Mental Health Guide.” RSS, collegestats.org/resources/mental-health-guide/.
Michaels, et al. “Mental Health Priorities: Stigma Elimination and Community Advocacy in College
Settings.” Journal of College Student Development, Johns Hopkins University Press. 2715 North
Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Tel: 800-548-1784; Tel: 410-516-6987; Fax: 410-516-
6968; e-Mail: Jlorder@Jhupress.jhu.edu; Web Site:
Http://Www.press.jhu.edu/Journals/Subscribe.html, 31 Oct. 2015, eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1085068.
“Statistics.” Active Minds, www.activeminds.org/about-mental-health/statistics/.
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