{"id":3907,"date":"2021-04-19T17:21:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T21:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=3907"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:24","slug":"great-minds-dare-to-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2021\/04\/great-minds-dare-to-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Minds Dare to Care"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Seton Hall launches a\u00a0<\/span>University<\/span>-wide initiative to raise awareness about mental health issues and suicide prevention.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

By Molly Petrilla<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor Russell \u201922 has watched many of her friends wrestle with serious mental health\u00a0<\/span>
\nissues. One would send her texts in the middle of the night, confessing that she was about\u00a0<\/span>
\nto inflict self-harm again. Others have shared their battles with depression, suffered serious traumas and developed tics from their anxiety. A close family friend died by suicide.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCollege life can be stressful, especially right now,\u201d says Russell, a psychology major and president of the student mental health group Active Minds. \u201cWe\u2019re all under a lot of pressure to succeed, get good grades, be involved, make connections \u2014 everything. And that pressure isn\u2019t just from other people. It\u2019s also from ourselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Alarm over college students\u2019 mental health has mounted in the last decade as rates of anxiety, depression and death by suicide on campuses keep climbing. \u201cSome definitely call it a crisis, an epidemic,\u201d says Dianne Aguero-Trotter, the director of Seton Hall\u2019s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). \u201cI don\u2019t know what term I would use, but we are clearly seeing numbers that have been rising \u2014 although the factors behind it are complex.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seton Hall has been ramping up its support, with CAPS now offering more individual counseling, group therapy options and public programs than ever before. Three years ago, the University pledged to become a Stigma-Free Campus \u2014 referring to the stigma around mental health issues \u2014 through the Codey Fund for Mental Health. Now 2021 marks an important advance:\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0University-wide Great Minds Dare to Care initiative, propelled by $250,000 from the state\u2019s Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited and happy to hear about this program at Seton Hall,\u201d says Meredith Masin Blount, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness \u2013 New Jersey. \u201cIt is so important that an entire campus adopt an approach to mental health and mental illness awareness.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And as the data makes clear: this is the time for it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students Are Struggling\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost one in five adults in the U.S. is living with a mental illness, but among young adults, it\u2019s closer to one in three.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The numbers weren\u2019t always this high. Just 13 years ago, in 2008, 6.1 million 18-to-25-year-olds reported that they had a mental illness. By 2019, that number had grown to 9.9 million, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SAMHSA data also shows that more young adults are having serious suicidal thoughts: up from 6.8 percent in 2008 to 11.8 percent in 2019. Among college-aged Americans, suicide is now the second-leading cause of death, and depression and anxiety are soaring. A 2019 report by the American College Health Association found that two-thirds of students had experienced \u201coverwhelming anxiety\u201d sometime in the past year, and 45 percent had felt \u201cso depressed that it was difficult <\/span>to function.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing an increase in the need [for mental health services] across the board, but specifically with college students,\u201d NAMI\u2019s Blount says. \u201cEighteen-to-25 is such a key age group for so many reasons: they\u2019re moving into adulthood, going on to college \u2014 and it\u2019s also the time when serious mental illness tends to present itself.\u201d In fact, 75 percent of all mental illnesses develop by age 24, according to data gathered by NAMI.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
CAPS counselor Yu Chak Sunny Ho conducting a telehealth session via Zoom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Seton Hall\u2019s Counseling and Psychological Services, the number of students seeking new appointments has risen 35 percent in the last five years, outpacing enrollment increases. The numbers are similar at campuses around the country. And in another echo of national data, more CAPS clients at Seton Hall have reported self-injury, serious suicidal thoughts and past suicide attempts, Aguero-Trotter says. Over a third of these CAPS clients say they\u2019ve thought about ending their lives.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no single reason for the steep rise in mental health issues among college students. Some say it\u2019s <\/span>because the stigma around mental health is finally fading, which means people feel less ashamed to seek help. Others credit the widening awareness of mental health issues and their warning signs, with schools now starting conversations as early as the elementary years and celebrities publicly acknowledging their struggles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, people may have suffered in silence,\u201d Blount says. \u201cNow you have athletes and rock stars and actors and politicians coming out and sharing their own histories of living with a mental illness. It makes other people say, if they can do that, then maybe I can look for help, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also more troubling explanations. From academics to sports to Instagram-worthy social lives, \u201cthere\u2019s increased pressure on children to perform at higher and higher levels, from elementary school all the way up to grad school,\u201d Blount says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the past year certainly hasn\u2019t helped. The COVID-19 pandemic has dropped grief, isolation, fear and stress onto college students, many of whom are already struggling with their mental health. \u201cWe are <\/span>all going through this,\u201d Aguero-Trotter says, \u201cbut in this particular age group, it can really exacerbate any pre-existing anxiety and depression.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lockdowns, loneliness and physical distancing are tough on everyone, but Aguero-Trotter says they\u2019re <\/span>especially hard on young adults. \u201cWe all need social connections, but they\u2019re at a place in their lives where it\u2019s critical to their development,\u201d she says. \u201cThe pandemic adds a new level of stress to students\u2019 lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>How Seton Hall Will Dare to Care<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the Dare to Care initiative marks a focused and timely commitment, the University has been supporting students with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues since it launched counseling resources in the late 1950s.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today Counseling and Psychological Services provides free, short-term individual counseling to nearly 800 students each year and offers roughly a hundred intervention and training programs. Group therapy options range from groups focused on managing anxiety and moods to an LGBTQIA+ support group. CAPS also steps in for crisis interventions and connects students who need longer-term help with off-campus therapists.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hoping to reach the entire University community, Seton Hall became one of nine college campuses and 32 towns in New Jersey designated \u201cstigma-free\u201d by the Codey Fund for Mental Health in 2018. The new $250,000 Great Minds Dare to Care initiative expands on that, with funds that former New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey \u2014 a state senator representing Seton Hall\u2019s district, as well as the Codey Fund\u2019s creator \u2014 helped the University secure.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aguero-Trotter says the new program aims to make everyone at Seton Hall aware of mental health issues and suicide prevention. \u201cWe know that approximately 80 percent of the college students who die by suicide have not accessed counseling,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich is why a comprehensive prevention program has to include everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Plans include suicide prevention training for students, faculty and staff; a 24\/7 hotline through an outside behavioral health service; and a monitored peer-to-peer support program. An on-campus wellness room, a traveling exhibit focused on the many young lives lost to suicide, and bystander intervention training for sexual assault are all on the list, too.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Blount says a\u00a0University-wide program like Dare to Care is key to fighting stigma and reaching more people. \u201cHaving a campus mental health center is a great first step,\u201d she notes, \u201cbut [awareness] needs to be woven throughout the campus, so students and professors and staff are all aware of the services and warning signs both for themselves and others.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Legislating for\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Change<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Long before he helped Seton Hall secure $250,000 to fund Dare to Care, before he was governor of New Jersey, and before he had established the Codey Fund for Mental Health, Richard Codey was fighting hard against mental illness.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s been focused on it since he was elected to the state Senate in 1982, although mental health took on deeper meaning for him two years later, when his wife Mary Jo gave birth to the couple\u2019s first son. She suffered from debilitating postpartum depression that required hospitalization, but at the time, this was something few people talked about or even fully understood.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as he became governor in 2004, Codey established a Governor\u2019s Task Force on Mental Health. <\/span>He also created a postpartum wellness initiative, and Mary Jo began to share her story publicly. \u201cThat was a sea change for our state,\u201d Codey says now. By 2006, he\u2019d helped New Jersey become the first state to require postpartum depression screenings for all new moms. He also signed a law that allocated $200 million to housing for people with mental illnesses. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today there are multiple mental health-related bills on the table in New Jersey, many of them with Codey as a primary sponsor. One would require the state\u2019s health offices to seek federal funding for maternal mental health support. Another establishes a task force to examine public school programs on student mental health. Codey also sponsored legislation that Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law in 2019, requiring schools to weave mental health instruction into grades K-12.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Codey says legislation focused on mental health is \u201can acknowledgment by the people of the state of New Jersey \u2014 through their elected representatives \u2014 that this is a serious subject, we need to address it, and we need to help our citizens on this particular issue, which for too long had a stigma attached to it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very encouraging to see,\u201d Blount says. \u201cIf people feel strongly about mental health, they should absolutely reach out to their local legislator and say, \u2018Mental health is important to me.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But even as promising new bills continue to emerge, Aguero-Trotter is already thinking ahead to the extra support that college students will require post-pandemic. \u201cThis has been a year of chronic trauma,\u201d she says, \u201cand often once the stressor is relieved or minimized, we then begin to recognize the full, long-term impact of our experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people I\u2019ve come in contact with do need help,\u201d Russell says of her fellow students. That\u2019s why she\u2019s excited to see Dare to Care spread resources and spark conversations across Seton Hall\u2019s community. \u201cI\u2019m really glad that they\u2019re creating something like this,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s sad to say, but it\u2019s very common in this world for mental health issues to go unknown in a lot of people.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Molly Petrilla is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seton Hall launches a\u00a0University-wide initiative to raise awareness about mental health issues and suicide prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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