Counseling Center provides help and information to stuggling students

Across America, heightened numbers of mental illnesses affecting university students have sky rocketed. According to psychiatryonline.org, 64 percent of students polled at universities across the nation say that they feel emotionally exhausted, 38 percent say that they feel so depressed that it is difficult to function, and furthermore, 10 percent of all college students have been diagnosed with depression. With statistics such as these on the rise, campuses across the nation are taking matters into their own hands—UND included.

A new club on campus is providing students with both closure and education, specifically to the attention of mental illnesses and students at UND. The club is called Active Minds and is made up of individuals of all walks of life and varying majors. In only its second semester, it is a group that provides information and closure.

“This is our first year on campus,” Active Minds President, Mary Butler said, “We are just trying to build awareness of our organization in general. We hope to provide a safe environment for students with and without mental illness and to support each other.”

The first meeting of the semester will take place at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Archives Coffee House. All students are welcome to attend. The group was the creation of a graduate student at UND in the past year and has now been passed on to Butler as the president. UND’s Night Life Organization also gives the group support. Although Butler and some members of the group are psychology majors, the group is aimed at the involvement of the campus as an entirety.

“We really want to not identify as a psychology group,” Butler said. “We’re looking for people of all majors to be involved.”

The group meets to discuss and promote mental health at each meeting. Along with discussing, the group collaboratively is involved with activities such as de-stressing exercises or conversations such as mental health stigmas and how they can be overcome. With growing numbers, Active Minds has a plan for the future.

“We hope to become the size [so] that we can have an individual support system and on a larger scale work to put on programs [for the campus] that decrease mental health stigmas,” Butler said.

Other positive actions have been made on the UND campus to promote the awareness of mental health. UND’s Wellness Center completion of last semester called Sizzlin’ 64 enticed participants with extra points for those that attended a stress session at the counseling center, or for those who took an online mental health quiz. It allowed for a balance of health, not only were participants encouraged to attend classes at the Wellness Center and work out, but also to be aware of their mental health too.

Other resources on campus for students at UND concerning mental health issues are the UND Counseling Center or the UND Women’s Center. The Counseling Center employs a staff of professionally trained psychologists and counselors. They can be found in 200 McCannel Hall or reached at 777-2127. An on-call counselor is also available each day from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The UND Women’s Center is located at 305 Hamline Street and is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day.

For more health related information, please see visit the following sites:

http://community.mentalhelp.net/
www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/
www.medicalalertsystems-reviews.com/
www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_index.php?idx=119&w=9