Colleges Increasing Mental Health Awareness in Recent Years

By: Amanda Craig

Colleges Increasing Mental Health Awareness in Recent Years


         The growing focus on mental health on college campuses is leading more students to seek help, several said.

“Peers are encouraging one another to seek help,” said Stonehill College counselor Kelly Fitzgerald. 

She said she has seen an increase of students seeking help for anxiety about navigating the Covid guidelines and coping with grief.

Fitzgerald, a Stonehill counselor since 2009, said there has been a nationwide increase of students utilizing their campus’ counselling services. 

One article titled College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerations said that 11.9% of college students have an anxiety disorder and 7% to 9% of college students have a depressive disorder.

Fitzgerald said social media played a role in helping to spread helpful information to those who may otherwise not receive it.

Sarah Carreiro, a sophomore English major, said she thinks mental health has been normalized in recent years. 

She said she believes there has always been a mental health crisis, but people are only now talking about it. 

Carriero said Stonehill has put a lot of effort into making sure students know there is help. At Fresh Check Day held this semester, there were 10 booths on the quad, all educating students about how to help a friend who’s going through a crisis, how to report an incident, and where students can go to for help. 

Carriero said she considered reaching out for help and reached out on a friend’s behalf multiple times asking how she can help them. 

In the first two months of the pandemic, Carreiro said it affected her awfully because her entire immediate family got Covid and was required to quarantine. She said it was mentally brutal because talking with friends virtually is not the same.

Emma Ahearn, a sophomore undecided major, said she noticed an increase in mental health awareness in recent years on social media.

Ahearn said society is just starting to realize that it is an important part of life and having the proper resources on campus is important. 

She said she never reached out for mental help but considered it.

Ahearn said the pandemic left her distraught and sad because of the lack of human connection. 

Bailey Adams, a sophomore psychology major, said she noticed an increased in mental health awareness in recent years. 

She said she thinks that Stonehill has done an amazing job with providing mental health support. Adams said the abundance of posters surrounding mental health throughout campus is an efficient way to advertise.

Adams said she has considered reaching out for personal mental help, but has continually, put it off. 

She said she never noticed a harsh turning point in her mental health, but now looking back, she said she views the effects which the pandemic had on her as mentally declining and sad.  


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