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Emotional stress is now the leading reason students consider dropping out of college, according to a recent release.2022 State of Higher Education Report“From Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. The mental health crisis facing campuses is becoming more pressing in America. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy recently He urged higher education leaders to hire more counselors, expand peer support programs and collect data on the use of mental health resources on campus.
Increasing mental health resources will undoubtedly be necessary to address the crisis. But it will not be enough. We also need a fundamental change in the way we handle student safety.
We must move away from traditional approaches. We need to improve the coordination of student experiences and services that have traditionally operated in isolation from one another. And we need to provide ample opportunities for students to build concrete coping skills.
Clues to the origins of the mental health crisis among college students can be found in a major paradox in mental health. Especially the rates of detectable mental health problems Continue to riseEspecially Between adolescence and adulthoodAlthough treatment has never been more widely available, including new short-term psychotherapies, an ever-increasing number of psychiatric medications, and a myriad of support groups. As in any other field of medicine, as treatments improve and become more widespread, the rate of disease declines. But in mental health, we are seeing the opposite.
Although experts debate the exact causes of the worsening of mental health disorders, the explanation is part of the Expanding the criteria that professionals use to determine mental illness. Problems that were once considered ordinary life challenges are now considered mental disorders.
This “crisis overload” contributes to the pathogenesis of common life challenges, including those faced by young adults. From this framework, mental health professionals often communicate in ways that unconsciously and subtly convey expectations of pathology and weakness. Consider trauma, for example. They tend to be people immediately in a traumatic situation Highly susceptible to language effects that promote resistance or disease. There is growing evidence that messages emphasizing the negative effects of trauma contribute to increased symptoms and poor prognosis. In contrast, relationships that reinforce productive coping strategies and affirm coping expectations may lead to better outcomes.
Of course, there’s a fine line to walk between encouraging resilience while not minimizing suffering. Victim shaming, toxic positivity or stigma should be carefully avoided. But given the evidence that people are highly responsive to professional expectations, especially during times of stress, we need to carefully consider the tone we communicate with our students and the way we shape their experiences.
The expectation of strength, resilience, and positive outcomes should extend beyond college counseling to all aspects of the student experience, including the classroom. At the University of New England, we encourage our students to get involved. Difficult conversations and topicsThey are designed as opportunities not only to learn, but also to grow. These respectful conversations are important for students to develop their ability to deal with challenges and discomfort, and to build resilience.
Another innovation to promote strength and resilience among students: We need to connect student experiences in a well-integrated network, ensuring that each network node offers ample opportunities to help students build concrete skills. We must encourage faculty members and professional staff to work as members of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team rather than as isolated units. Simply put, we must work together to align efforts to support and enhance students’ intellectual and psychological growth.
For example, a student exhibiting significant behavioral changes may be referred to a mental health “first aid” program by a trained faculty member or athletic trainer. The program develops the language and tools to identify students in need of support and direct them to appropriate resources, which may include mental health counseling, but also outside recreation workers, academic support professionals or nutritionists as needed. Counseling can reduce self-isolation through cognitive training, problem-solving and communication skills development, and activity scheduling. A health and safety teacher can review sleep patterns and screen use with the student. Residential counselors encourage the student to avoid isolation and follow the treatment plan. These interventions are coordinated with the student’s consent, and the team protects the student’s privacy by sharing non-essential details.
This networked, skills-focused approach stands in contrast to traditional models, in which student services are fragmented, siled and uncoordinated.
Like most colleges and universities, the University of New England has increased its counseling services for students. We’ve supplemented traditional counseling with unscheduled “drop-in” mini-sessions as well as 24-hour remote counseling. Incoming students should take a “wellness wave” self-assessment that helps them identify areas that need more attention while developing a sense of agency in maintaining their own well-being. We work with similar programs. Campus only And Isa To provide art therapy and other activities to improve student well-being.
But successfully addressing the mental health crisis in higher education requires more than increasing counseling resources. We need to re-examine the fundamental way we think about student safety. We must be intentional and consistent in conveying messages of hope, strength, and resilience rather than those that suggest pathology and weakness. And we need to do this within the context of multifaceted, integrated support networks and opportunities to build students’ resilience.
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