As the semester draws on and on and your email blows up with a new canvas notification every hour, it can be easy to get lost in it all.
This is why I’m writing this: to let anyone who may, by chance, be reading this to know that you should never let anyone make you feel bad or wrong for having a mental illness.
In a study done by Chardon State University, they determined that more than 11 percent of college students have been diagnosed or treated for anxiety in the past year and more than 10 percent reported being diagnosed or treated for depression.
Schools, such as Longwood University, offer counseling services and other resources to help and support students who are battling a mental illness such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.
While these resources are helpful and valuable, they cannot fully help someone dealing with these illnesses.
University standards on things such as your grade point average not falling below a 1.0, organization standards such as meetings and mandatory events and at least a 2.5 grade point average.
Longwood University’s attendance policy also states that you cannot miss 20 percent of the class without failing it.
It’s time to start accepting the fact that mental illness is just as debilitating, exhausting and serious as any other disorder or disease that may impact a student’s performance in extracurriculars or classes.
Here is the point in writing this: university can be hard, it can be stressful, whether you are involved or not, a freshman or a senior, boy or girl.
College is enough to turn a molehill into a mountain in the mind of someone with a mental disability.
“It kills me. Between taking four classes a day, working part time, and being a part of a sorority, my depression and anxiety is enough to debilitate me for days,” said a Longwood liberal studies junior, who was granted anonymity due to privacy concerns. "What am I supposed to do? Email my professors and tell them, 'Sorry, I can’t make it to class because I can’t even find motivation to get out of bed?' It doesn’t work like that."
We are a small school that prides itself on its close knit community that comes together during hard times and lifts one another up.
On campus, organizations host events like suicide awareness and sexual assault awareness walks, just to name a few.
While these events do bring awareness and help, there is more that we, as a campus community, can do to help support one another and members who may be struggling.
We can start by being more accepting within our organizations and clubs.
Longwood University can offer more flexible and on demand services that stretch into the summer and winter months for those students who cannot get those services back home.
We can also change the attendance policy to help better accommodate students who may be struggling to make it to class.
But for now, we start small. I start small. By telling anyone who may be reading this that you are not alone in your fight.
We all stand by you and support you.
If you or someone you know is struggling with any mental disorders or even just need someone to talk to, do not be afraid to reach out.
Longwood University Counseling & Psychological Services
Health & Fitness Center (Upper Level)
(434) 395-2409
Hours of operation:
Monday-friday
8:15 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
