BY KAHLA STATEMA | The Statesman According to Psychology Today, one in three college students reported extended feelings of depression and one in four students reported having suicidal thoughts.
The issue is just as prevalent at UMD as it is nationwide, with nearly 23 percent of students reporting that they suffer from anxiety and almost 20 percent of students with depression, according to the 2013 college student health survey report.
The number one mental health disorder at UMD is anxiety. Depression is a close second. However, it has not always been this way.
“When I first started at UMD, depression was the number one thing that we were seeing. That’s changed,” Jean Baribeau-Thoennes, the associate program director and counselor at UMD’s counseling services, said.
There are a handful of negative effects that come with having a mental health disorder as a college student such as poor energy levels and difficulty concentrating, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
According to Active Minds, nearly one third of college students have reported that they had trouble functioning because they felt too depressed.
Overall, poor mental health has a substantial negative impact on the academic success of a student.
“The belief is that if someone is struggling with depression or anxiety or some other mental health issue, it could impact them academically,” Baribeau-Thoennes said. “We want students to succeed academically so then we want to support them emotionally too.”
In a survey done by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64 percent of respondents reported that they dropped out of school because of a mental health-related reason.
If a student is struggling with any kind of mental health problem, it is important for them to seek help.
Seeking help is as easy as talking to someone who you trust and building a support system for yourself.
“We need counselors who are going to help students cope with their problems,” student Ashley Schafer said.
But counseling services is facing an issue that makes it difficult for them to be a strong support system for UMD students.
“The number of counselors that we have versus the number of students that we have is dreadfully low,” Baribeau-Thoennes said.
Counseling services currently has five counselors during the school year in comparison with the 8,929 undergraduate students that are enrolled at UMD this semester.
Counseling services is in the process of hiring a mental health case manager to help with the low-staff dilemma that they are currently facing.
“That is a position that we’ve been really working hard towards bringing on this campus for over two years,” Baribeau-Thoennes said.
The case manager will work as a case manager 75 percent of the time and as an additional counselor for the other 25 percent of the time.
Part of the case manager’s job will be to help get students out into the community for and advising professors and faculty how they can help students if they are struggling.
“There’s definitely anxiety with being a college student and there has to be some sort of psychological support for them,” student Andreas Aristidou said.
Counselors from counseling services come to campus two days a week for a program called “Let’s Talk”. The program provides students the chance to receive informal and confidential consultations with UMD counselors.
“What it is is an opportunity for someone who is not sure if they want to do counseling. It’s an opportunity to kind of stick your toe in the water,” Baribeau-Thoennes said. “When our schedules get really full, it’s an opportunity to touch base with some people.” UMD counselors meet in Kirby 361 for Let’s Talk on Mondays from 10 a.m. until noon and on Thursdays from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.