Long Beach City College’s mental health workshops continue to be hampered by low attendance; at a recent event held on the PCC campus, only two students attended.
This low attendance is indicative of a larger pattern; one example is a previous session that prioritized black mental health but had to be canceled because of low interest from students.
Nursing major Severiana Jimenez of LBCC voiced dissatisfaction over the lack of publicity for these sessions.
“I feel like it is not well advertised,” Jimenez said, “ I feel like I need to go and look for these workshops if I want to get help; it is something that nobody really knows is happening on campus.”
Social Work Inter Rachel Reyes expressed her concerns considering the low attendance issue.
“It’s been a lot of times throughout the semester where LBCC events overlap with ours (Psychology department), where they offer free food, free drinks and all this stuff students tend to go for and we don’t have that here,” Reyes said.
Social Work Intern Nohely Ramirez emphasized the difficulties students face when dealing with mental health concerns.
“Low attendance could also be because dealing with mental health can be challenging for a lot of people,” Ramirez says, “Everybody is dealing with their own barriers, and it could be challenging for them to show up to these workshops.”
Despite the low attendance, this workshop provided insightful information about thinking and goal-setting.
Nohely and Rachel discussed ways for effective goal setting, emphasizing specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, and time-boundness. Students also gained knowledge about the differences between a fixed and a growth mindset.
Students engaged in a craft activity intended to reinforce workshop themes after the lecture.
On separate colored paper sheets, they drew two tree leaves, one listing their positive habits and the other noting areas that needed work, including behavior or character traits.
Severiana Jimenez shared her sense of empowerment and comfort as she reflected back on her experience.
“After experiencing this workshop, I feel relief,” Jimenez said. “It makes me feel like now I have the tools necessary to work on my social anxiety.”
The “Prioritize Your Mental Health” program left a lasting impression on those who attended, despite the low turnout. LBCC will continue to prioritize removing obstacles to attendance in order to promote students’ mental health.