YOU at Chapman: a customizable curation of mental health resources

A new interactive program has been created for Chapman students with its main purpose being to centralize all mental health resources on and off-campus. Photo illustration by TIFFANY LE, Staff Photographer

Ana Rodriguez, a sophomore integrated educational studies major, experienced difficulty with mental wellness long before coming to college. However, entering a new environment right as the pandemic hit only made the experience more difficult.

“I definitely struggle with mental health, and I think it was prevalent before COVID-19 and college,” Rodriguez said. “It was most definitely exacerbated by the situation … Coming to college in a pandemic is a unique situation.”

Rodriguez told The Panther she did not know much about Chapman University’s current mental health resources; she related to a widely-felt stigma among college students that speaking out about mental illness results in judgment. In order to normalize the practice of seeking psychological help, Chapman’s Student Government Association (SGA) has partnered with YOU at College to create YOU at Chapman, a digital hub for mental health resources . 

Approximately 67% of people ages 18 to 24 who have anxiety or depression do not seek treatment. The result of untreated illness, according to the California Budget and Policy Center, is oftentimes an exacerbation of the struggles already being faced by these individuals. 

“We have so many great resources that really support our students, but they’re not promoted in a way that allows students to access them in a centralized way or a way that is personalized to them,” said SGA President Philip Goodrich. “YOU at Chapman is designed to do that, so students can personalize the platform to their liking to show what their needs and whatnot are, and the platform will direct the student to the appropriate campus resource.”

Goodrich played a large role in the creation of the resource. He said the idea came from observing a national mental health decline at universities post pandemic and this development has been a project six months in the making; he has been very eager to share it with the student body. The launch of the initiative follows a 90% increase in depression rates among college students that occurred at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Avery Davidson, the Director of Public Relations for SGA, also experienced first hand what went into the creation of YOU. She explained how YOU is different from other programs because of its variety of features and what students can expect to see when they first log into their account.

“YOU organizes the wellbeing topics into three sections which are (to) succeed, thrive and matter,” Davidson said. “These different sections focus on (topics such as) academics and career, which features content on finances, internships and professional development. The thrive section focuses on stress, anxieties, sleep, fitness and nutrition, (and) the matter section helps students’ connections and purpose which provides content on mindfulness, relationships and diversity.”

Goodrich said if there is one thing he aims to accomplish with this new resource, it’s that it helps at least one student with their mental health and wellbeing. 

“The overall goal is, put simply, to support students,” Goodrich said. “Whatever that looks like … it's going to be different depending on the student and their situation, but we want this program to help students.”

Goodrich told The Panther the program has a long way to go. New additions will regularly be added, including new resources as well as new interactive features.

“The goal is to institutionalize YOU at Chapman,” Goodrich said. “Right now, it's an SGA sponsored program. We invested $19,000, and we’re hoping that the university can buy into it after this year if everything goes successfully.”

Samantha Martinez, the assistant director of Student Engagement, Wellness and Recreation, said she is excited to see how the new resource will help students at Chapman. Current online Chapman mental health resources don’t offer interactive features, and Martinez remarked that the uniqueness of YOU will hopefully draw more students in.

“(The initiative) was heavily driven by our SGA at Chapman,” Martinez said. “It was students that were wanting to help and support other students, which is really neat.”