By Raven Ash

College is a new and exciting chapter in a young adult’s life. Students spend the summer after high school meeting roommates, purchasing dorm room accessories and training for collegiate sports. However, what most students do not think to prepare for is the everyday stress that puts a toll on their mental health.

While mental health is usually not on the list of priorities for students or their parents when arriving on campus during move-in day, young adulthood is when most people are at risk for mental health issues.

 “In a 2017 survey by the American College Health Association (ACHA), students reported that anxiety and depression are among the biggest factors that negatively affect their academic performance.  Forty-two percent of participants said they had felt so depressed in the past year, it was difficult for them to function,” Samantha Lauriello, Health.com writer, said.

Mental health issues are on the rise and continue to affect college campuses everywhere due to social and academic pressure. Quincy University is no exception.

In the past, mental health conversations were uncommon and even considered taboo due to the stigma surrounding the subject of mental illness. With mental health issues on the rise, this is no longer the case. More students and faculty on college campuses are making it a goal to raise awareness on this once taboo subject.

This awareness is also sparked in part by the dangers that mental health crises puts on people around them.

“Awareness around mental health on college campuses has increased in recent years, in part because of a spate of high-profile suicides and tragedies that have centered around mental health crises. One of the worst cases was the massacre at Virginia Tech University, where a gunman shot and killed 32 students and faculty and committed suicide. It was later revealed that as a student, the gunmen sought on-campus mental health services three times but was not treated effectively,” Maya Rhodan, Times Magazine writer, said.

QU Media is helping students on campus to understand more about mental health and what resources are available to those who may be struggling.

For many, mental illness is a real issue that affects their life day in and day out.

For those who do not face mental illness, it is difficult to fully understand what their struggling classmates are going through.

While it may not be possible to make someone understand what another student with mental health issues is going through, it is possible for everyone on campus to reach out and be a friend at QU.