If there was ever a time for students to care more about their mental health it would be now, with the aftermath of an election, finals upcoming, and the familial stress associated with holidays, that mental health should be at a higher priority for students.
According to the National Library of Education, the second leading cause of death between the ages of 10-24 is suicide, which is an upward trend occurring after 2021.
Young adults also report twice as many cases of anxiety and depression than teens according to the Making Caring Common project from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
While yes, LBCC does have many workshops dedicated to mental health awareness and care, they seem to be lacking.
We need to break down what is really causing a college student’s mental health crisis.
According to a study by Insider Higher Ed, the causes according to students of the mental health crisis range from balancing academics with personal life, social media, current economic events, and more.
In a similar study, 86% of college presidents seem to believe that social media is the main cause of the mental health crisis, followed by “decreased socialization skills caused by Covid-19” by 74%.
It’s easy enough to tell students to “take a deep breath” or to “get off social media” without knowing what a student is going through.
A lot of the workshops LBCC hosts on campus seem to provide resources towards “Self-Love” and small activities to relieve stress.
If LBCC wants to continue helping students with their mental health, they would provide workshops for skills to help students with things like balancing life or getting into contact with therapists.
A large cause of why the mental health crisis hasn’t changed is the lack of valuable resources given to those in need.
While it’s also easy enough for people to ask those in need to attend workshops for resources, or go to therapy to get help, it is ultimately on the person in need to choose what they will go forward with.
Many students may not know that LBCC offers up to 6 free counseling sessions through the school, as well as access to services such as TimleyCare, a virtual 24/7 hotline app found through the health resources on LBCC’s website.