Co-written with Julie Baron, LCSW-C, Julie Baron & Associates. Between the two of us, our qualifications include university adjunct faculty, licensed mental health clinician, business owners and entrepreneurs, including Founding Farmers Restaurant Group that employs 1,500+ people (the majority under the age of 26), and parents of college-age children.
The current playbook of academic institutions striving to provide mental health support for students is not working. Noble? Yes. Comprehensively effective? No. Instead, or really, in addition, academic institutions should play to their strength – affecting students in the classroom. This is where topics and discussions about mental health can be brought out from the shadows and normalized.
We hear the questions, from students, at school, at work, in clinical settings:
Why do I feel like this? I hate this.
I’m in shambles right now.
I’m not making new friends.
This place isn’t for me.
I hate it here.
This is all just too much.
I feel so lost.
We see the social media threads with hundreds, thousands of posts and comments of parents saying:
My kid has been at college for a few weeks and is really struggling. This is so hard. Any advice?
According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment, 36% of college students (and almost 60% of gender nonconforming and trans-identifying students) reported being diagnosed with anxiety, and 28% report being diagnosed with depression, which does not include the additional reports of students suffering with other mental health disorders.[1] There is an even wider subset who have no formal mental health diagnosis yet suffer in silence without seeking support. These vulnerabilities create an increased propensity for problems on college campuses, such as substance overuse, sexual assault, and academic challenges affecting graduation rate. Without needed mental health education and support, those most vulnerable and desperate are also at risk for suicidal thoughts, behavior, or attempts. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teens and young adults, ages 10-34.[2]
These statistics are alarming and underscore the pressing need for proactive measures on college campuses. Though some institutions have existing “freshman seminar” courses, the education on mental health and wellness seems minimal to non-existent. We believe, and the research supports, that education on mental health, along with social connection offered in a group classroom setting, and additional mental health supports and resources, can:
broaden understanding of self and others;
increase empathy;
decrease isolation; and
offer a space for needed expression.
Every first-year student should be required to take a course that incorporates these concepts and experiences. Normalizing transition-related stress, knowing they are not alone, and learning what to do or how to help others if concerns about a more serious mental health condition arise can offer comfort, ease stress, and may even save lives. These classes must allow for small group processing, open communication, and a space for sharing experiences. We imagine calling it something like, “Freshman Psych in the Mirror 101.”
Many colleges and universities have made efforts to scale up their mental health resources and study ways to implement more comprehensive mental health supports into the school cultures. These efforts are important and should continue, adjacent to initiatives to shatter the taboo that mental health cannot be talked about in an academic classroom setting. Many universities have both undergraduate and graduate departments of education, social work, and psychology with experts “in house,” who could be valuable in the research, design, and implementation of such a course. Failing to invest in leveraging the classroom experience to normalize mental health conversations and facilitate understanding of self and others, is fiscally and strategically short-sighted.
Let’s expand the topic of mental health beyond the silos of Student Services and get it into the classroom where it can become part of common discourse. Such a course has the power to offer strategic, actionable support, allow for bonds to form, and send our students back into the hallways and dorms with a chance at thinking, “Oh, I’m not the only one that feels this way!” Offering an opportunity for all incoming first-year students to learn about and practice managing hard emotions and experiences together can help everyone, with added benefits for those who may be struggling more than others. With the endorsement of the school and support from faculty, graduate students, or other student leaders to guide important learning, the message in the college culture would be clear: “We value the mental health and personal growth of our students, and we can learn together that struggling is normal.”
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[1] American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Data Reporting Spring 2023 (PDF). Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association. Spring 2023.
[2] Curtin SC, Garnett MF, Ahmad FB. Provisional numbers and rates of suicide by month and demographic characteristics: United States, 2021. Vital Statistics Rapid Release; no 24. September 2022. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:120830
