I found this website called Inside Higher Ed which seems to contain endless amounts of blogs and articles related to teaching and working in higher education. I was searching for strategies to understand and help address all the mental and psychological issues that are becoming more prominent than ever before. There were a lot of articles,
I chose this one to read first because I thought the answer was pretty obvious, most people don’t seek mental health professionals as adults – why would students?
Although it doesn’t go in depth, the article has some good starting points for identifying groups of students at higher risk for failure due to mental health struggles and increasing stress. Not just from the pandemic, but from the unstable social and political climates as well as some fear for personal safety.
It also briefly mentions some places for educators and campus mental health support services to start. Mental health has been a taboo topic for a very long time, but now there are commercials for medications and billboards for hotlines. Almost everyone knows someone who struggles.
If students do not get support, they will not stay in school, so even from a sort of insensitive point of view, enrollment will drop and universities will suffer financially. This may lead to higher costs and even more stress for students.
Hi Tracey,
Thanks for sharing that article. It mentions involving students, and I think that is something a lot of us teaching fellows do (or try to do) when some students stop participating. An individualized email to a student who stopped submitting assignments, asking if everything is okay and showing that you are there to provide support for the class could help a student to start participating and engaging in class again. Simply reaching out to students can make a big difference.
Thank you for sharing such an incredibly important article and set of resources! The pandemic definitely complicates matters, and it’s more important than ever that students seek out the mental health help they need. If we make the resources feel more inviting, perhaps students will feel less reluctant to seek them out.
Loved this one! I think the linked article has a lot of helpful tips as well.
This is such an important concept for teachers to make note of. I always make sure to do check-ins with my students and to open up the floor. Instead of just jumping straight into a lesson this helps to show that we are all there for one another.
🙂 Michaella