By Ellie Cooper
The Office of Health and Wellness and the Neighborhood Counseling Training Center will offer mental health screenings on campus from Feb. 27 to Feb. 29.
With midterm exams on the horizon, the director of the Office of Wellness, Amanda Dymek, and the clinic director for the Neighborhood Counseling Training Center, Stephanie Snyder, urge students to recognize the importance of addressing their mental health. Neglecting mental health during times of stress, such as in college, can lead to burnout, decreased productivity and long-term health issues, they said.
One of the objectives of the screening is to make connections between undergrad and graduate students and the mental health services that are on campus. Hood’s master’s -level counseling program students will administer the anonymous screenings on an iPad. The screening takes no more than five minutes to complete, making it more accessible for students with busy schedules, Dymek said. If a low score is recorded, the student’s information is kept confidential.
Those students who don’t have time in between classes and work can still access screening test online. Students who wish to participate in the screening but can’t make time for an in-person screening can call NCTC at 301-696-3129.
Dymek said the Wellness Center aims to highlight the importance of initiatives such as mental health screenings to support student wellness. “We all have moments where we’re struggling,” she said.
According to Dymek, midterms are a significant source of stress for many students. The pressure to perform well academically, coupled with the volume of material to be reviewed, can lead to heightened anxiety levels.
Recognizing the toll that this can take on student well-being, the university is proactively offering support through the upcoming screening. “We’re trying to be proactive with reaching students instead of reactive to when a student is at their point of crisis,” Dymek said.
While the screenings don’t necessarily serve as counseling for students, holding these events in public spaces on campus help to reduce stigma regarding conversations that include topics related to mental health. The screenings will take place in the campus center, the dining hall, the library and academic buildings.
Dymek noted that all students—undergraduate, graduate, commuters and residential students—face mental health challenges.
For commuter students, the challenges of navigating college life can be uniquely demanding, Dymek said. Balancing academic responsibilities with commuting can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from campus resources. Unlike resident students who have easy access to on-campus support systems, commuters may struggle to find time for self-care amidst their busy schedules among life at home, school and work. This can cause commuters to feel more isolated among their peers, she said.
Graduate students, with their rigorous academic schedules and pressure to excel, often experience heightened stress levels and mental health challenges. “There are unique challenges they face,” Dymek said. “There are a lot of caregiving responsibilities among our graduate students, where they’re either caring for children or young people, parents, or older adults in the home, and that is a lot to deal with.”
Graduate students are also taking on a full course load that fits in wherever they have free time. The degree to which a graduate student must be “on” all the time impacts their well-being and makes it imperative for students to continue to monitor their mental health.
Undergraduate residential students face their own challenges.
“When you’re living in a residence hall, you’re living with a lot of different types of people and sometimes that can bring up different kinds of conflict, which can put additional stress on students,” Dymek said. While those qualities aren’t unique to students who live on campus, they are common challenges resident students face.
Living on a college campus amid the pressure of impending exams can exacerbate stress levels, potentially leading to heightened anxiety and stress among students. Additionally, many students only reconnect with friends and family over breaks in the semester.
Dymek said Hood hopes to empower students to take proactive steps toward managing their well-being and to destigmatize discussions around mental health. Events such as the mental health screening aim to provide all students with the resources they need, she said.
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