Jaime Park, Sara Miller

Elizabeth Sogunle
ENGL395
Problem Definition Essay

Mental Health Education and Assistance on College Campuses

Our group set out to improve mental health care on college campuses. Through our

empathy and background research we discovered that many students were not seeking help for

mental health problems or were having difficulty accessing resources. Mental health

encompasess our social, physical, and psychological well-being and impacts one throughout

every stage of life (What is Mental Health 1). It is determined by a variety of factors including

biological conditions, life trauma or stress, and family history. For college students, mental

health affects their social, academic, and vocational wellness. Many students report feeling

overwhelmed and having difficulty balancing the aspects of their life. We found that college

students need a way to access mental health care because there is both a lack of knowledge of

mental health and resources and the educational methods employed by the administration are

fairly ineffective. College students as a whole would primarily benefit from increased access to

mental health. In addition, students of different multicultural background who experience

concerns different from the general student body would benefit. Finally, the administration could

focus their funds into more effective educational methods to improve the mental health of the

student body.

Mental health is pressing issue on college campuses. The average college student often

feels overwhelmed by the pressures and expectations arising from academics, social circles, and

health. Despite universities running educational programs to inform students and provide

resources, many students do not seek help. One in four adults ages 18 and older have a
diagnosable mental illness. In addition, nearly one third of college students have reported

depression that impacts their function and 80% have felt overwhelmed. (The Issue: Student

Mental Health 1) According to Ray Nardella, Resident Director at the University of Maryland,

College Park, mental health conditions have been increasing across all aspects since he began

working in student affairs. This includes everything from anxiety to suicides. Among these

students, many do not seek help.

One of the most significant factors preventing students from seeking mental health care

on college campuses is stigma. Family and friends, cultural expectations, and self-stigma can all

contribute to a persons resistance to accepting and seeking mental health treatment (Watson and

Corrigan 1). In fact, stigma is the number one reason why students do not seek mental health

services (College Students Speak: A Survey on Mental Health 4). Secondly, mental health

resources on campus are difficult to attend and hard to obtain. Counseling services have waiting

lists weeks in advance and have limits to the number of private sessions one can do. Finally,

campus education on mental health remains ineffectual. Most students do not know about many

of the campus mental health resources. In addition, the methods by which the administration

educates people on mental health is ineffectual. The primary methods used are flyers and posters,

which is relatively difficult for students to digest information.

Stigma is a mark of disgrace and reproach (Healthypeople). Stigma is a contributing

factor on college campuses on why people do not reach out to get mental health help. One of our

interviewees stated that mental health was not a problem in the community that he is a part of

and due to that, he did not understand what the problem was. In another interview, an

interviewee stated that he didn't see the point of increasing funding to mental health initiatives on

campus. In society today, many people have different perspectives on what mental health and
what it isn't. In many instances, people do not believe that it is a health issue that needs a lot of

attention. We saw this same rational in some of our interviewees. Mental health is often not taken

seriously due to the different stigmas that are placed on mental health.

Improving mental health on campus benefits multiple groups. College students will

benefit from improving the mental health systems that are currently on our campus. With mental

health care students are less likely to drop out of school and have better grade point averages

(The Issue: Student Mental Health 1). Improving the mental health on campus also benefits the

way that students will interact with each other. Often times, students who face mental health

illnesses tend to shy away from social interactions they deem unnecessary. Its possible that their

illness leads them to become more isolated, which in turn worsens the illness.

Within these students, students of various cultural backgrounds are also impacted.

Multicultural students face many issues such as prejudice, stigmatization, and cultural aspects

that impact their decision to seek help. We found that the culture that a person comes from

impacts their ability to find access to mental health help. Not only that, but also it makes it harder

for people to get diagnosed with mental illnesses. From one of our interviews, an interviewee

stated the stress and the pressure that comes from her family simply based off of the culture they

are from. Many cultures do not recognize mental health to be an actual problem to be focused on

and one that needs medical attention. Its often normalized as just having a bad day, or being

too sensitive about something. In families and homes where the parents have immigrated to the

United States, children who may go through mental health illnesses would be ridiculed by the

parents if brought up. In an interview conducted with a daughter of a first generation immigrant

(thus making her second generation), the interviewee often said her depression and anxiety was

looked down upon by her parents. She said her parents often recalled their own hardships to
compare with hers, and they would bring up that they never suffered from depression despite

going through tougher times. Due to this, students from different cultural backgrounds often

have mental illnesses that go undiagnosed. They feel as if they should suck it up and just deal

with it, or they have no awareness of their own mental health illness at all. After analyzing all

the factors that we found, it is imperative that there is a drastic improvement for education and

awareness for mental health that are in place on this campus.

Finally, the administration would benefit with better educational methods as they could

focus their funds into effective methods and improve mental health among students on campus. It

is imperative that the administration recognizes the need for mental health health on this campus

and find ways to fill in the gap. From many of the interviews that we conducted, we found that

students are flustered with the lack of support thats coming from the administration when it

comes to mental health problems. One of our interviewees complained about upon booking a

counseling appointment with the mental health counselors, there was a 4 weeks wait time. This

poses problems for students who are in need for help, but the need isn't necessarily urgent. These

are the reasons why it is essential for the administration to pay attention to the mental illness

issues that present on this campus and make improvements.

After gathering valuable information on many college students experiences with mental

health illness, both direct and indirect, it is self-evident that there is a common problem. The

popular phrase Ignorance is bliss is often used to avoid knowing information to preserve ones

particular state of mind. However, in the case of mental health, ignorance is certainly not a good

thing. In many of our interviews, many of the problems that arose seemed to have stemmed from

lack of awareness and proper education on mental health illnesses. The stigmas of depression and

anxiety are due to lack of education. Older generations and foreign families did not have the
resources nor the dialogue to understand and educate themselves on the reality of mental health.

Its very easy to tape a flyer on depression and anxiety on the door of a bathroom stall, but its

effectiveness of helping college students become aware and educated are questionable.

Here at the University of Maryland, there are mental health systems that are currently in

place but needs to be improved on. The University Health Centre provides students with many

resources that will help them cope with different experiences students go through. The university

provide not only mental health screening, counseling, and different programs that promote

mental wellness. Not only that, but the university has peer educators that are student educators in

the topic of stress and mental health. These peer educators are responsible for going into

classroom, events, clubs, sorority and fraternity houses and educating the campus about different

stress and mental health issues and coping methods. At the health centre, they provide students

who are experiencing mental health emergencies resources and support to get better. Despite all

the resources that are available through the health centre, there is a lot more that needs to be

done.

Resources
http://www.activeminds.org/issues-a-resources/the-issue

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health/index.html

https://www.nami.org/getattachment/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Survey-

Reports/College-Students-Speak_A-Survey-Report-on-Mental-Health-NAMI-2012.pdf
http://www.healthyplace.com/stigma/stand-up-for-mental-health/what-is-stigma/