Throughout the pandemic an emphasis has been made on campus mental health

Jill Smith
Staff Writer
[email protected]

On-campus groups shine a light on the importance of mental health and create events to provide students with resources.   

According to the Active Minds website, approximately 89% of college students are experiencing stress or anxiety because of COVID-19.

COVID-19 has led to a significant increase in young

people reporting mental health issues, but 67% of college students do not seek treatment, according to Active Minds.

Active Minds is a national non-profit organization that brings awareness to mental health and provides education on these issues to young adults.

Murray State’s Active Minds chapter president, Olivia Yaste, said COVID-19 has affected students’ overall mental health.

“The lack of contact during the worst of the pandemic still has lingering effects and students continue to feel social anxiety when they need friends more than ever,” Yaste said.  “Having friends as a support group is extremely important in helping manage anxiety and stress, but the pandemic has made it difficult to form new relationships and maintain connections.” 

Yaste said the idea of meeting others during this time can cause stress for some people.

“Now what was supposed to be a stress relief (making friends) is a stressor in and of itself as we try to create new relationships in this strange post-pandemic time,” Yaste said.

The pandemic has brought more awareness to mental health issues, but still negative stereotypes persist, Yaste said.

“I have talked privately with students and friends who don’t want to share about their struggles because they are afraid of how they will be viewed for it,” Yaste said. “They recognize that it is okay for other people to struggle but they don’t want to be associated with the ‘mental health group’ because they don’t view themselves as fitting in with ‘that kind of crowd.”

Yaste says Active Minds strives to be an inclusive environment.

“No matter how big or small your struggles are, you are absolutely welcome to de-stress with Active Minds,” Yaste said. “Mental health isn’t just the lack of mental illness or struggle, but also about ensuring that you are able to live the kind of healthy and happy life that you want, and while we do sometimes talk about serious topics, we also have a lot of fun.”

Murray State offers several resources on campus that provide students the opportunity to get the help they need or learn more about mental health.

The Counseling Center began offering workshops right after Fall Break to teach students new coping skills to help manage their stress, anxiety and depression.

Angie Trzepacz, director of the University Counseling Center, said what students want to focus on determines the topics of each workshop.

“We will just ask [students] what their priority is for the day, what do you really want to work on,” Trzepacz said. “Depending on how many people are there and what they want to work on, we might be able to cover multiple topics in one session.”

The idea behind the workshops, Trzepacz says, is to teach coping skills to a group of students.

“One [reason] is that a lot of the clients we see were teaching the exact same skills over and over again, so we thought it might be a better use of our time to teach the skills to a group of people instead of one at a time,” she said.

Trzepacz said although group activities may be intimidating, they allow students who are on the waiting list to be assigned to a counselor to get some sort of service while waiting for an assignment.

Students may work together depending on the topic they want to focus on.

“For example, if [students] wanted to work on assertiveness training or communication skills or something like that, we might pair them up and have them take turns practicing being assertive or giving compliments,” Trzepacz said. “If it’s teaching relaxation training, it would be more individualized.”

Trzepacz said students should utilize these workshops with the increase in students reporting depression and anxiety.

“Even though students are experiencing higher levels of anxiety that doesn’t mean they have an anxiety disorder, so they are experiencing some of the symptoms of anxiety,” Trzepacz said. “I think [students] would really benefit from learning these skills and techniques to kind of get the situation under control, so they don’t ever reach the level of being diagnosed with some sort of a disorder.”

The skill-building workshops are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in C104 Oakley Applied Science.

Another office on campus is providing students with mental health resources and tips as well.

The Center for Student Engagement and Success began Racers Empower with the intent to shine a spotlight on the increase in depression among college students.

This idea began in Fall 2019, said Center for Student Engagement and Success Director Peggy Whaley.

“We were seeing more students with depression and anxiety on campus and across other campuses,” Whaley said. “We felt we needed to do some programming to help address that issue.”

Whaley said by attending these events, students can get resources from staff on a number of topics.

“We have resources on how to be mindful, how to practice calming techniques [and] time management skills,” Whaley said. “We have academic related skills, mental health-related skills [and] we have nutritional skills information.”

Whaley said while attending the Active Minds national conference last February, she heard leaders speak on the need for more mental health services.

“The demand for mental health services was increasing,” Whaley said. “Anxiety and depression are the two leading mental health causes or issues that college students are facing.”

Whaley said Racers Empower gives students the resources they need to learn more about mental health.

“We got a group of faculty, staff and students together and we started talking about what we can do on a regular basis to provide support, resources and have a fun event and just help students talk about mental health issues and also where to go to get help,” Whaley said.

Racers Empower partnered with the Calloway County Humane Society to offer pet therapy this semester and the next to students who attend these events.

The next Racers Empower event, No-Stress November, is Nov. 29 at 11 p.m. in Alexander Hall atrium.