Student Mental Health Wellness

Contributed By: Yonggyu Lee

Student mental health problem is a big problem in college level education. According to the American College Health Association, suicide among young adults has been tripled since the 1950s and has become the second leading cause of death among students today. Nationally, 64% of college dropouts have directly associated their departure to mental health concern. In UC-Davis for example, 64.8% of undergraduate students felt overwhelming anxiety (3.3% increase since 2015), 49% were so depressed they could not function (5.5% increase from 2015) and 8.8% intentionally self-harmed (2.1% increase from 2015). We can see that the mental health problem is growing and is already a big problem, so as TA's who are usually the first ones to observe the signed of mental problem, we should know how to deal with it. There are several indicators of distress mentioned in https://www.ucop.edu/student-mental-health resources/_files/pdf/PSMH-guide.pdf. One of them is the academic indicator. Academic indicator includes repeated absence, missed assignments, exams, homework, deterioration in quality of works extreme disorganization or erratic performance, patterns of perfectionism, written or artistic expression of violence, isolation, despair or confusion etc...

When we identify the mental health problem of students and we want to help them, there are several things that we have to keep in mind. First, speak to the student privately. This is the most important part, because otherwise the result could be devastating to the student. Second, project a calm behavior and show your student that you are willing to support them. After having some conversations, we should recommend the students to consult with a counselor.