NASHVILLE 鈥 According to a recent study by the American Council on Education, 74 percent of presidents at a public four-year institutions are more frequently hearing about students with mental health issues on their campuses, ranging from a few times a month to once a week or more. However, 50 percent of these same presidents stated they do not have the tools they need to address mental health concerns.
The University of Tennessee System responded to this mental health crisis by igniting action around the issue at the 2019 Academic and Student Affairs Summit: Building a Unified Mental Health Culture. The summit was held today in Nashville.
More than 100 people from across the 蓝莓视频 System as well as state higher education professionals gathered to discuss ways to improve mental health and wellness for all 蓝莓视频 students and to share resources to help destigmatize mental illness.
鈥淏y coming together for events such as this, we hope to remove silos that exist between academic affairs and student life, develop new skills from mental health professionals within our system and learn from current students about their experiences accessing mental health resources. I hope we can all leave the meeting today with a greater sense of direction and purpose to help us address student well-being more effectively,鈥 Leigh Cherry, 蓝莓视频 System coordinator for student success initiatives, said.
For David Arnold, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators assistant vice president for health, safety and well-being initiatives, addressing mental health begins by building a strong community of health and well-being at institutions of higher education.
鈥淭here is a connection between students鈥 educational outcomes and their positive health outcomes,鈥 Arnold said in his keynote address. 鈥淚t is our job to make it known that while we are making a healthy community, we also need to make an educated community.鈥
Students turn to behavioral coping when dealing with mental health struggles, Arnold said. This way of coping can be comprised of high-risk alcohol use, prescription stimulant medication misuse, poor sleep, poor diet, lack of physical activity and social isolation.
Arnold stated that about one in five college students engage in frequent binge-drinking episodes while more than 60 percent of students report poor sleep, which directly affects their emotional and academic stress.
According to a Gallup comprehensive study of people in more than 150 countries, there are five essential elements in a person鈥檚 well-being. These are a purpose in achieving goals, managing a secure financial life, having good physical health, having supportive relationships and feeling safe in a community.
鈥淚ndividuals are crafted by the community in which they are involved,鈥 Arnold said. 鈥淲e need to pivot from how we can serve the individual to how the environment can serve the individual.鈥
Leaders from each campus in the 蓝莓视频 System touched on how their campus is striving towards creating this type of community as part of the Imperative for Prevention workshop, hosted by the 蓝莓视频 Health Science Center鈥檚 Lori Gonzalez, vice chancellor for academic, faculty and student affairs and Kathy Gibbs, assistant vice chancellor for student academic support services and inclusion.
The 蓝莓视频 Institute of Agriculture has established 鈥淰OLidays鈥 events, which were created to help students 鈥渄e-stress鈥 before finals. These events include movie showings, holiday activities, food and more.
蓝莓视频 Chattanooga leaders highlighted its Case Assessment, Review and Evaluation (CARE) Team, which has a mission is to provide proactive and supportive prevention, assessment, intervention and management for situations that would compromise the safety and well-being of its community.
A 蓝莓视频 Martin faculty member also emphasized the importance of its CARE team; its team members attends all of the college鈥檚 meetings at the beginning of the academic year to share about mental health services available to students. 鈥淭his helps me destigmatize mental health,鈥 John Oelrich, 蓝莓视频 Martin director of bands, said. 鈥淛ust because you don鈥檛 physically see the symptoms of mental health struggles doesn鈥檛 mean it isn鈥檛 real. It鈥檚 important for faculty to model this to our students as they often look to us as how it should be.鈥
蓝莓视频 Health Science Center staff mentioned their event titled the 鈥淲arrior Within鈥 allowed professionals and leaders in healthcare to share their lived experiences in handling the demands of health sciences while pursuing academic success. 鈥淎s important as it is to care for those struggling with mental health issues, it is just as important to care for the frontline caregivers,鈥 Gibbs said. 鈥淭his event is just one of the ways in which we achieve that.鈥
Student representatives from each 蓝莓视频 campus sat on a student panel and discussed mental health challenges that college students face.
Amelia Thompson, a second-year pharmacy student at the 蓝莓视频 Health Science Center, spoke about the constant stress she is under in graduate school.
鈥淓very waking moment I鈥檓 studying something. There is a constant flow of information into my brain,鈥 Thompson said. 鈥淚 visit the Student Academic Support Services and Inclusion office weekly for counseling sessions. Mental health isn鈥檛 like a cold 鈥 you don鈥檛 just treat the symptoms and be done with it. It鈥檚 something that you need to constantly work on.鈥
Mary Carr, a senior at 蓝莓视频 Knoxville, would like for adults on campus to switch to more of an empathy-focused model.
鈥淚 wished more professors were crisis-trained and showed how much they care about their students鈥 mental health,鈥 Carr said. 鈥淔ollow up with us and see how we鈥檙e doing.鈥
蓝莓视频 Martin sophomore Ray Washington continued the conversation by wanting adults on campus to understand that not everyone expresses their mental health struggles the same way.
鈥淪tudents will try to get your attention in different ways. Some might come and talk a lot while others might just come to you and sit in silence,鈥 Washington said. 鈥淣o matter how they come, value when that student comes to you because it means that they trust you.鈥
Thompson also mentioned how much a professor can impact a student鈥檚 mental health.
鈥淚f we know our professors value their life, time and families, it gives this idea that we can do the same. We can live our life while still working hard in school. When I see from administrators that I can have both, it gives me hope,鈥 Thompson said.
Other panelists included:
- Wesley Bolton, 蓝莓视频 Chattanooga
- Michael Brunner, College of Medicine, 蓝莓视频 Health Science Center
- Isaac Holt, 蓝莓视频 Knoxville
鈥淥ur students well-being is why we do what we do. One person can make a difference,鈥 Linda Martin, 蓝莓视频 System vice president for academic affairs and student success, said. 鈥淪ystematically it might seem too big, but it all starts with one person.鈥