#MentalHealthMatters
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Last year there were over 600 attempted suicides at Ohio State University. Please share this page to raise awareness.
We (Greek community) started Mental Health Matters week (April 18th- April 22nd, go.osu.edu/mhmweek) to raise awareness for mental health issues and decrease the wait time to access support for mental health concerns. We are raising funds to support a new approach to promoting student mental health at the Office of Student Life's Student Wellness Center. They support a peer to peer wellness coaching model as another resource for student support. This has the capacity to seriously help the situation on campus, getting help to students much faster. Here is what Student Wellness Coaching is like:
Through setting up the Mental Health Matters Gofundme, we can provide them with severely needed increased financial support that will expand the impact of this peer led program by enhancing training and increasing student access.
Even resources that OSU has, there is a desperate need on our campus for additional resources and help, and there's somthing you can do. Please share this GoFundMe! Here's whats going on:
Who struggles with mental health concerns?
Pass five people on the street, and you've already walked past one person who struggles with stressors that can adversely impact their mental health. Mental health concerns are not limited to a small percentage of society. Instead, those who struggle are normal everyday people. We are sons and daughters, friends, lovers, and classmates. In the college context, we may be the freshmen who just got out of high school and are alone for the first time in a sea of thousands of people. We may be the sophomores who just failed an O chem test and realized their life long dream of becoming a doctor might not become a reality. We are the seniors, struggling to get a job while buried under crippling debt. Stressors on mental health impact everyone.
OSU Mental Health 2015
Based on percentages from respondents to a survey of mental health concerns at Ohio State, it may be possible that in a class room of 200 students:
66 felt so depressed in the last 12 months they struggled to function
50 had suicidal thoughts
14 physically hurt themselves
2 attempted suicide
Expanding these numbers to our total campus enrollment, it may be that of all students at OSU:
21000 felt so depressed at some point in the last 12 months that they struggled to function
11000 had suicidal thoughts
3200 physically hurt themselves
600 (estimated at 679) attempted suicide
6 week wait time for help
These percentages are not unique to Ohio State. These are the averages of most college campuses.
Stigma
Stigma is one of the biggest problems in the mental health conversation. Half of those who attempt suicide never tell anyone. Look down a row of 20 students and 7 of them have had depression so severe in the last year, they found it hard to function. We don't talk about iteven though talking has been shown to help. Conversations about seeking help for mental health need to feel as normal as suggesting someone to go to the doctor .
6 Extended wait times for mental health treatment
The reason we started this GoFundMe is because there are often extended wait times at Ohio State (up to six weeks or more) to see a counselor if you do not have an immediate crisis. I have tried to get close friends in to see counselors as they are crying on the phone and they are told that they need to wait for help. For those who have had the courage to break through the stigma and seek help, this is absolutely crushing. Many give up on seeking help. Part of the problem is that it takes substantial education (a masters degree or more) to become a preofessional who can provide mental health treatment. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for every 500 people in need of mental health care in America, there is only one provider.
A new type of help: promoting mental health
In response to challenges in providing mental health treatment for all students, the Student Wellness Center at Ohio State has created a program that equips peers with skills to provide support to other students in a manner that promotes positive mental health.
This is a different approach than the diagnosis and treatment of mental health concerns that allows students to become directly involved in supporting the mental health of their fellow Buckeyes. This positive, capacity-building approachs adds much needed help to the spectrum of mental health support at Ohio State, and can address the mental health problem on campus in new ways. By taking a positive approach, wellness coaching can also change the conversation about mental health on this campus, and by reducing the stigma associated with mental health. The importance of this effort cannot be overstated. We will save lives. This campus is this start.
How more funding could help
The below numbers are estimates from Constance Boehm, the Director for the Student Wellness Center for how increased funds could help:
Center for enhancing students' emotional wellness
$10,000
This center would seek to enhance students' emotional wellness through biofedback, relaxation, stress management and mindfulness meditiation
Additional Space
$30,000/annually
Space has become a concern for the Student Wellness Center. As their program grows, the amount of coaching sessions they can provide becomes constricted by how many places they can meet.
Four 25% GAA positions (10 hrs/week)
$30,000/annually
These positions would provide individual and group wellness coaching sessions, which would facilitate increasing the amount of wellness coaches on campus.
Professional development
$10,000
Professional development for student wellness coaching stagg and wellness coaches can provide an increase in the quality of care that can be provided.
To make a tax deductible charitable donation, please contact me directly.
#MentalHealthMatters #MHM #StopTheStigma #TogetherWeHelp
Stats from NAMI, AMCHA, APA, OSU
We (Greek community) started Mental Health Matters week (April 18th- April 22nd, go.osu.edu/mhmweek) to raise awareness for mental health issues and decrease the wait time to access support for mental health concerns. We are raising funds to support a new approach to promoting student mental health at the Office of Student Life's Student Wellness Center. They support a peer to peer wellness coaching model as another resource for student support. This has the capacity to seriously help the situation on campus, getting help to students much faster. Here is what Student Wellness Coaching is like:
Through setting up the Mental Health Matters Gofundme, we can provide them with severely needed increased financial support that will expand the impact of this peer led program by enhancing training and increasing student access.
Even resources that OSU has, there is a desperate need on our campus for additional resources and help, and there's somthing you can do. Please share this GoFundMe! Here's whats going on:
Who struggles with mental health concerns?
Pass five people on the street, and you've already walked past one person who struggles with stressors that can adversely impact their mental health. Mental health concerns are not limited to a small percentage of society. Instead, those who struggle are normal everyday people. We are sons and daughters, friends, lovers, and classmates. In the college context, we may be the freshmen who just got out of high school and are alone for the first time in a sea of thousands of people. We may be the sophomores who just failed an O chem test and realized their life long dream of becoming a doctor might not become a reality. We are the seniors, struggling to get a job while buried under crippling debt. Stressors on mental health impact everyone.
OSU Mental Health 2015
Based on percentages from respondents to a survey of mental health concerns at Ohio State, it may be possible that in a class room of 200 students:
66 felt so depressed in the last 12 months they struggled to function
50 had suicidal thoughts
14 physically hurt themselves
2 attempted suicide
Expanding these numbers to our total campus enrollment, it may be that of all students at OSU:
21000 felt so depressed at some point in the last 12 months that they struggled to function
11000 had suicidal thoughts
3200 physically hurt themselves
600 (estimated at 679) attempted suicide
6 week wait time for help
These percentages are not unique to Ohio State. These are the averages of most college campuses.
Stigma
Stigma is one of the biggest problems in the mental health conversation. Half of those who attempt suicide never tell anyone. Look down a row of 20 students and 7 of them have had depression so severe in the last year, they found it hard to function. We don't talk about iteven though talking has been shown to help. Conversations about seeking help for mental health need to feel as normal as suggesting someone to go to the doctor .
6 Extended wait times for mental health treatment
The reason we started this GoFundMe is because there are often extended wait times at Ohio State (up to six weeks or more) to see a counselor if you do not have an immediate crisis. I have tried to get close friends in to see counselors as they are crying on the phone and they are told that they need to wait for help. For those who have had the courage to break through the stigma and seek help, this is absolutely crushing. Many give up on seeking help. Part of the problem is that it takes substantial education (a masters degree or more) to become a preofessional who can provide mental health treatment. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for every 500 people in need of mental health care in America, there is only one provider.
A new type of help: promoting mental health
In response to challenges in providing mental health treatment for all students, the Student Wellness Center at Ohio State has created a program that equips peers with skills to provide support to other students in a manner that promotes positive mental health.
This is a different approach than the diagnosis and treatment of mental health concerns that allows students to become directly involved in supporting the mental health of their fellow Buckeyes. This positive, capacity-building approachs adds much needed help to the spectrum of mental health support at Ohio State, and can address the mental health problem on campus in new ways. By taking a positive approach, wellness coaching can also change the conversation about mental health on this campus, and by reducing the stigma associated with mental health. The importance of this effort cannot be overstated. We will save lives. This campus is this start.
How more funding could help
The below numbers are estimates from Constance Boehm, the Director for the Student Wellness Center for how increased funds could help:
Center for enhancing students' emotional wellness
$10,000
This center would seek to enhance students' emotional wellness through biofedback, relaxation, stress management and mindfulness meditiation
Additional Space
$30,000/annually
Space has become a concern for the Student Wellness Center. As their program grows, the amount of coaching sessions they can provide becomes constricted by how many places they can meet.
Four 25% GAA positions (10 hrs/week)
$30,000/annually
These positions would provide individual and group wellness coaching sessions, which would facilitate increasing the amount of wellness coaches on campus.
Professional development
$10,000
Professional development for student wellness coaching stagg and wellness coaches can provide an increase in the quality of care that can be provided.
To make a tax deductible charitable donation, please contact me directly.
#MentalHealthMatters #MHM #StopTheStigma #TogetherWeHelp
Stats from NAMI, AMCHA, APA, OSU
Organizer
Reed Walter
Organizer
Columbus, OH
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