4A – Forming an Opportunity Belief

4A – Forming an Opportunity Belief 

            I feel that there is an unmet need for people that reach out for help dealing with mental health struggles at the university. Numerous students become very stressed throughout the semester and begin to experience severe anxiety or depression. This is a potential problem for anybody that studies or works on the university campus. One in four students has a diagnosable mental illness (https://www.csc.edu/bit/resources/statistics/).  Because so many people begin to struggle and need help, the mental health counseling center becomes limited very quickly and not everyone is able to receive help. As of now, professors have minimal information about where to search for help a student that is struggling mentally, however, it does not fix the main problem that there aren’t enough resources for so many students. I have had friends that have not been able to make an appointment with the counseling center because of the high demand. I believe that there is at least 70% that the opportunity exists. 

Interview #1 – 21-year-old female, Psychology & Biology major, pre-med track

1.    Have you ever experienced stressful situations while your time at the university? If so, how often do you encounter these stressful situations and how do you deal with them?

a.    “Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty frequent. At least every other week. I guess I would talk to my friends about it because they would probably understand and relate to how I’m feeling.”

2.    Have you had any mental health struggles that have affected your school or social life?

a.    “Yes, I can get overwhelmed easily and it can stop me from getting work done and stop me from wanting to do anything like go out. It can sometimes shut me down. You can’t focus on anything.”

3.    Do you feel like you are well informed of the possible options you can take to deal with stress, anxiety and/or or other mental health struggles? 

a.    “Not really. I think they try by doing the wellness events but I don’t really approach them or ask them anything which could be partially my part. I also, have friends that have tried to get help from the university and couldn’t get an appointment and even if they were able to, it was kind of a one-time thing. Not something that could help you in the long run.”

4.    Have you ever tried making an appointment with the counseling center on campus? If so how was your experience? 

a.    “No, I haven’t based on what I’ve heard from other students. I did try to make an appointment outside the university and all were occupied for months and wouldn’t take certain insurances.”

5.    Do you think there are any issues with the way the university handles students with mental health struggles? 

a.    “Yes. The culture here is that everyone is stressed and everyone thinks it’s supposed to be that way. But I think that professors should consult or maybe understand what the students are going through and be more considerate of what they need. For example, extend assignment dates because some students need more time due to their stress and anxiety levels. Plus, the wellness center is kind of far away. I personally wouldn’t know how to make an appointment if I wanted to. I think there are also stigmas about getting help, although not always intentional.”

Reflection: She was very open about the interview which made it easier to get more insight.  I found it interesting when she talked about the “culture” that everyone on campus is stressed but that nothing is done about it.

Interview #2 – 23-year-old male, Graduate student, Engineering 

1.    Have you ever experienced stressful situations while your time at the university? If so, how often do you encounter these stressful situations and how do you deal with them?

a.    “Yeah I’ve been in some stressful situations, but its less often than when I was an undergraduate student. I just try to take breaks and try to relax.”

2.    Have you had any mental health struggles that have affected your school or social life?

a.    “Like I said, not so much now but back during my undergrad, there were a few times where I got behind on assignments because of the stress.  I also had some anxiety before exams that kind of just added to the stress.”

3.    Do you feel like you are well informed of the possible options you can take to deal with stress, anxiety and/or or other mental health struggles? 

a.    “I remember seeing on the syllabuses about the wellness center but it was pretty vague and teachers just seems to skim over it.”

4.    Have you ever tried making an appointment with the counseling center on campus? If so how was your experience? 

a.    “No I haven’t tried to. I’ve just kind of try to deal with all that on my own, I don’t know if that’s the best way but that’s just what I do.”

5.    Do you think there are any issues with the way the university handles students with mental health struggles? 

a.    “Yeah I feel like the teachers should maybe try to relate with the students a bit more. It can be a stressful period in life and unfortunately, I’ve heard many sad stories about students really struggling to get by. Luckily now I find it easier to manage the stress maybe from just experience”

Reflection: Since he is a graduate student, I saw that he seemed less stressed than when he was an undergrad, which means that age difference could affect how they deal with mental health issues. However, he still felt that the school doesn’t necessarily do enough to help. 

Interview #3 – 18-year-old female, Cognitive Psychology major

1.    Have you ever experienced stressful situations while your time at the university? If so, how often do you encounter these stressful situations and how do you deal with them?

a.    “I’ve only been here for one full semester so it hasn’t been too bad yet. I have an older sister in her last year that goes here and she seems stressed a lot of the time.”

2.    Have you had any mental health struggles that have affected your school or social life?

a.    “No not really, I wasn’t that stressed during high school. So far my classes haven’t gotten so bad but I figure once I get to the harder classes it’ll get worse.”

3.    Do you feel like you are well informed of the possible options you can take to deal with stress, anxiety and/or or other mental health struggles? 

a.    “Um not really. They told us about the wellness center during preview but that’s about it I think.”

4.    Have you ever tried making an appointment with the counseling center on campus? If so how was your experience? 

a.    “No I haven’t felt a reason too.”

5.    Do you think there are any issues with the way the university handles students with mental health struggles? 

a.    “So far I haven’t had to deal with anything but from what I’ve heard from some older friends is that they’re stressed the majority of the time here. I’m kind of worried I’ll get stress out too but hopefully, I’ll learn how to deal with it.”

Reflection: She seemed to know less about the situation probably because she is younger and hasn’t had many experiences dealing with stress and anxiety. I still noticed that she wasn’t too aware of all the options that are available to those who need the help though. 

Summary

            Overall, my view hasn’t changes: I think that there is still an unmet need for those students that need help dealing with stress and anxiety. However, I feel that the main target group are undergraduates. Graduate students probably still need it, but less than the students still in their undergrad. I think that maybe the opportunity is about 60% there but I feel that is still enough to say there needs to be a change. The university should offer more options for students in search of help. Also, they should make it easier for students to get informed about the viable options. Adapting, could help students get through their classes and be more successful.