College Students and Mental Health: Issues, Impacts, and Best Practices

Overview: There are a multitude of students attending college each year that are impacted by mental health issues with some research stating that college is more stressful than ever before, but are students prepared to manage/handle mental health issues on their own, and are the proper resources available?Proposal text: There are a multitude of students attending college each year that are impacted by mental health issues with some research stating that college is more stressful than ever before, but are students prepared to manage/handle mental health issues on their own? Are the proper resources available at the institution they will be attending? The five most common mental health concerns impacting college students today include: depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction, and suicide (Bourdon, Moore, Long, Kendler, & Dick, 2020; Francis & Horn, 2017; Turner & Keller, 2015). Some college students exhibit these concerns while attending college or find these symptoms exacerbated by their college experiences, and some students attend college with pre-existing mental health conditions. While it is important to ensure that college students are academically and financially prepared to attend college, it is equally important that they are prepared for positive mental health practices as well.

This workshop will discuss best practices suggested by research for students which include cognitive behavioral therapies, the importance of counseling on college campuses, and other intervention strategies for today’s college students (Bourdon et al., 2020; Kelleher, 2017). Additionally, emerging trends like Behavior Intervention Teams have become commonplace on a growing number of colleges around the country to intervene with services and identify students who are at risk before a serious problem arises (Francis & Horn, 2017). Other best practice recommendations discussed are related to maintaining counseling, treatment, and prevention services as an ‘‘in-house’’ service while also building reliable partnerships and referral systems with off-campus service providers (Francis & Horn, 2017). These service providers can attend to students whose treatment needs exceed campus resources. It is also important to place counseling services and resources in centrally located areas on college campuses as well as educate students, staff, faculty, and parents about the early signs and symptoms of mental illness (Bourdon et al., 2020). Overall, it is important to prepare college students to be proactive when it comes to their mental health versus reactive. Understanding what is needed as well as what is available can be keys to success.