Group Members: Miquela Ramirez, Benard Kamala, Leah Furry, Shunjin Seng, Jshun Jolly
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Mental issues are a major concern for school communities especially over the holidays and cold weather. The pressures surrounding students for academic performance, social dynamics, and other factors can affect students’ well-being. Despite some awareness, we believe mental health problems are still not addressed enough among schools. This affects students socially, academically, and their overall mental health in a negative way.
Recognizing the growing issue which is affecting the community in a multitude of ways and that is mental illness. Obviously not in a good way because it truly disrupts not only the person going through it and makes their life experience not nearly as enjoyable as it would be, on top of that sometimes the people around them end up suffering as well. There’s also the fact it’s internal and not external which makes it even more tricky and frustrating because u know well the person is suffering but that thought in the back of their mind can insinuate that the person is just weak” minded” or “weak willed.” Sometimes students do not always feel safe to ask about these issues and that is where it is nice to have resources available.
For our group, we had four of us in total come together and meet up on campus. More specifically, we decided to meet at the Student Union building because that is where we found the most students would be present. We found it would be better to distribute some QR codes and stickers that we had instead of a table, like we originally had planned. That way students felt a little more open to receiving the information. The ultimate goal is to educate students on mental health resources even if it is just a few. We are proud of the mentality we shared and felt while it is a small step to be open, it is still a step regardless. The end goal was to leave students informed, happy and create a small win.
Our sources provided a lot of solution suggestions, but many were things the college could do to support the students. Through the volunteering project we did, it helped show that it’s not only the college and professors that have to put their part in, people need to support other people at the college. In the multimedia celebration, it’s apparent that when we did this volunteering project it seemed uncomfortable to us and the people on the receiving end at times. Although overall, everyone seemed to receive it well. Yes, the college should have enough counselors not overloaded with too many students and the professors should keep an eye out for signs of serious mental health issues as well. But, students should also do their part in the form of checking up on their friends and classmates at the college, checking in on themselves, and having an awareness of what mental health resources the college provides and even demanding the college for more resources.
When we were brainstorming we had talked about a few ideas such as helping the environment on Green River, to helping the homeless community but in the end we decided as a group that we would focus on the mental health awareness on the green river campus. We thought this would be a good subject to touch on especially since it is around the holidays and winter, when some people’s mental health tends to get more affected. Although the other ideas we had come up with probably would have been very effective, we think it is always good to remind people that there are resources to help you all around.
Our solution implementation simply involves various strategies like peer support, therapy sessions, building community and support networks, medication management, and finally, lifestyle changes in the campus depending on the individual’s diagnosis and needs.We felt the need to promote mental health awareness on the campus, like how we did as a team last week we distributed stickers and cards with QR Barcodes containing information about mental health to the students.
In conclusion, mental illness is a health concern that can affect individual daily life, relationships, and overall well being. It is important to seek treatment that will reduce the mental illness around the campus and promote welfare of the students.
Abrams, Z. 2022, October 1. Student mental health is in crisis. Campuses are rethinking their approach. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/10/mental-health-campus-care
Clark, C. 2020, June 23. Importance of Mental Health Services on College Campuses. Timely Care.