More than 36 percent of students reported feeling so depressed it was difficult to function at least once during the last school year, according to the American College Health Association in their Spring 2006 National College Health Assessment.
Statistics like this reveal the prevalence of mental health issues on college campuses. Yet students are often hard-pressed to find adequate resources for help, especially at a school the size of UCLA.
The pressures of university life create a special need to emphasize the issue of mental health. For many students, the difficulties of college go beyond academics and also include personal and emotional struggles.
“Life at the university is challenging in a lot of different ways,” said Elizabeth Gong-Guy, director of Student Psychological Services. “Students have to manage the tasks of daily living in a way that is more autonomous than what they were accustomed to in high school. Just transitioning to an independent living environment is tough for a lot of students.”
Although UCLA provides a variety of mental health resources on campus, these facilities are often unfamiliar to students. And this unawareness isn’t solely found among students who are indifferent to the resources ““ it’s often due to a lack of effective outreach.
Joline Price, a USAC general representative who organized last month’s Mental Health Awareness Week, sought to increase students’ knowledge of the available mental health facilities on campus, most of which are free of charge.
“I think that a lot of students aren’t necessarily aware that there are resources available on campus other than SPS (Student Psychological Services) to go to. It’s important for students to realize that there is also drop-in counseling at the Center for Women & Men.”
Walk-in counseling, at SPS or the UCLA Center for Women & Men, is an important and advantageous service designed for students who feel the need for immediate professional attention.
But along with other mental health resources at UCLA, this service goes unrecognized by students.
SPS provides Wednesday Wellness Workshops, which are free workshops held by SPS clinicians or clinicians-in-training that cover topics such as managing test anxiety to the “Art of Sleeping.” Gong-Guy noted that these workshops were designed to inform the student body about mental health issues and facilities found on campus.
In addition, the workshops are held at a variety of locations at UCLA and even on the Hill in De Neve Plaza, convenient for students living in on-campus housing.
“We try to do a workshop up on the Hill every Wednesday,” Gong-Guy said. “There are usually about four workshops running throughout the day, and we rotate them throughout the locations. We’re really all over campus.”
Despite the fact that facilities such as SPS have made generous outreach efforts, information regarding mental health doesn’t seem to be effectively influencing students who feel the need for mental health services.
“I didn’t know about the workshops SPS hosts for psychological well-being,” said Joey Indiviglia, a first-year biology student. “But with three more years of premed work ahead of me, a look into what resources are available for stress and mental health might be necessary before I know it.”
Successful mental health outreach for students should focus on bringing counseling closer to home. Although SPS provides weekly workshops on the Hill, a more permanent mental health resource, such as a live-in counselor, could provide a comfortable solution for students seeking help.
Gong-Guy noted that SPS fully supported this type of program, but that lack of financial and housing resources restricted the proposal.
“(This type of program) is something we’ve not only been supporting but also advocating for a while,” Gong-Guy said. “But it’s a very expensive thing to try to locate open space. It’s just logistically hard to pull together.”
Until such a program is available at UCLA, a bigger emphasis needs to be placed on informing UCLA students about the variety of mental health facilities on campus, such as counseling services offered at the Center for Women & Men or support groups offered at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Resource Center.
That way, students could effectively utilize the resources available at UCLA and seek the professional attention they deem necessary.