We’re all anxious — but that’s OK
I smile when people react defensively to the statement, “let’s talk about mental health,” as if it’s something scary, shameful or unique. It isn’t — we’re human; we deal with emotional, social and physical challenges throughout each day. It’s when these issues become overwhelming, prevent us from doing things we need to do, drain or limit our energy or otherwise interfere with the normal functioning of our lives that they need to be addressed.
Right now, for example, we are suffering a shared emotional crisis brought on by the extended pandemic. The impact shouldn’t be minimized or trivialized — it’s been pretty awful for everyone — but as head of counseling for Sacred Heart University, I’m most concerned about how it has affected our students.
What we’re seeing — and this impression is mimicked at colleges across America — is numerous students suffering from a mountain of anxiety and depression. The numbers are unprecedented in the seven years I’ve been a counselor, and it’s no surprise: we’re swamped by uncertainty, with no obvious end in sight, and we’re tired of being scared, limited, uncomfortable or dealing with grief.
The grief isn’t just about loss of life. It’s loss of things students take for granted in their lives, like opportunities, independence, their personal communities and identity. It feels like a lingering gray cloud hanging over their futures. Internships, study-abroad, jobs, entertainment and recreation, dining out, gatherings with family and friends have all been curtailed or put on hold.
Add to this emotional mayhem the burden for freshmen and sophomores who spent portions of the past three years learning virtually. These students have anxiety about returning to school, about making friends, dealing with roommates and general concerns about taking risks. Their grief is disenfranchised, and they are depressed. And turning to a counselor or therapist isn’t easy or comfortable because first you have to accept you need help, and then you have to be willing to put effort into working through those feelings.
Our mission at SHU is to ensure that anyone who needs access to a counselor will be seen — and seen in a timely fashion. We spread that word through emails and posters, social media, conversations with student housing staff and continuous outreach. We talk with faculty about how to recognize signs of depression in their students, and we educate students on how to identify those signs in themselves and in others. We’ve embedded a counselor in our athletics department and adjusted our schedules at the campus counseling center to free up time every afternoon for students who may require same-day appointments. We’ve also shifted from weekly to biweekly regularly scheduled one-on-one sessions to accommodate twice the caseload during this difficult period.
Anxiety, when properly harnessed, can be a powerful tool for positive behavior. It’s good to take chances, to worry about doing well, to push to excel. These actions help us succeed and lead to results that build self-esteem, confidence and resiliency. However, it’s important to know when your feelings have become an obstacle, are limiting your ability and affecting your sleep, concentration or interactions with others. When we have too much on our emotional plates, we can become depressed, paralyzed and sometimes suicidal. We may not be comfortable confiding in friends, parents or family — that’s when access to counseling is most critical.
To provide the best-quality care and integrated behavioral health services, SHU has just become a JED Campus, a nationwide initiative of The Jed Foundation, designed to guide schools through a collaborative process of comprehensive systems, programs and policy development to build upon existing student mental health, substance misuse and suicide-prevention efforts. We have formed a multidisciplinary coalition of professionals from across our university to sit on a related JED task force. This strategic partnership will help us create positive, lasting, systemic change in our campus community.
Not everyone needs counseling — we need to be careful not to pathologize all human emotions. It’s OK to be sad, to feel lonely, to be disappointed, angry or frustrated. It’s what we choose to do about these emotions that matters. Here at SHU, we’re dedicated to creating an inclusive and caring environment for all students, faculty and staff. That is a healthy response to this unhealthy time we are now traversing.
It’s loss of things students take for granted in their lives, like opportunities, independence, their personal communities and identity.