Counseling center aims to improve mental health

The Chapman Student Psychological Counseling Center has implemented several new strategies to assist students in tackling the ever-increasing amount of the coronavirus-related mental health concerns. Panther Archives

There’s a lot to worry about right now: a world-wide pandemic, cross-country wildfires, police brutality. To make matters worse, there’s not even enough reality television or good-quality ice cream to help us cope.

According to a report released from Chegg this month, 56% of college students surveyed indicated that they were “moderately,” “very” or “extremely” worried about their mental health, while one-third of U.S. college and high school students experienced depression since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Student Psychological Counseling Center (SPCS) is aiming to improve upon these statistics. According to Andrew Kami, the new director of SPCS, the center has established new changes to better aid and educate the Chapman community in regard to mental illness during this especially difficult time. According to that same Chegg report, only four in 10 college students feel their school takes mental health seriously, which is exactly what SPCS is trying to overcome.

Kami said he was able to cut down the waitlist of students needing help from about 140 to one during his past few months in office. The office has also implemented telemedicine, Zoom drop-in hours, therapy in different languages, clinicians who are veterans and eight new psychological interns to allow no student to fall through the cracks. Kami told The Panther about how specific he was in these changes in order to create a more representative environment within the office.

“We brought in therapists that can bring different perspectives on things,” Kami said. “The need for us to have these discussions on identity and have counseling around how to work through the pressures that people feel the most is extremely important.”

During the many counseling sessions Kami and his colleagues have had during this pandemic, they noticed an increased amount of conversation relating to the rollercoaster of emotions people experience every day and how various forms of isolation affect individuals differently. There’s a see-saw effect, Kami said, that occurs when the COVID-19 mindset changes from depressed to hopeful in the matter of hours.

“What we hear across the board is some days they feel heavier and other days of the week they feel a little bit more optimistic,” he said. “COVID-19 has resulted in both positive and negative viewpoints. We’ve seen more students talk about isolation, both physically, emotionally and psychologically.”

Sophomore psychology major Bella Erwin felt her anxiety creep back up once she realized the pandemic could stand in the way of creating new friendships. The idea of meeting fresh faces and forming long-lasting relationships is a key characteristic of college for many students, and Erwin said this could be in jeopardy with classes and social activities now online.

“Coming into college, I had so many expectations for what it would be like,” Erwin said. “The hardest part right now is that I don’t know how I am going to make new connections with people, which is super scary to me.”

Kami indicated that keeping positive constants in your life is one way to push harmful and depressing ideas during the pandemic out of sight and out of mind. Kami often reminds his patients of the loved ones, faculty members, peers and colleagues who are there for constant support, so long as they are asked to help.

“It’s easy to forget that you are not alone. We all sit in our darkened rooms and wear the same pajama bottoms from Walmart for the fifth week in a row,” Kami said. “There are people out there that really care and really want to talk to you and want to share space with you, but it takes the initiation.”