New York lawmakers weigh mental health on college campuses

The upheaval of the final two and a half years have added to the anxieties of college college students — already dealing with a disturbing time as they depart residence and take their first steps into maturity. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forged a lightweight on the long-term results of isolation and uncertainty. And it is made entry to on-campus companies at schools important for mental health. 

“Some of them are becoming independent for the first time, some of them have had significant losses in their families because of the pandemic and now we’re asking them to be successful in school,” stated Office of Mental Health Commissioner Ann Marie Sullivan. “They need support.”

But some New York lawmakers like state Assemblywoman Deborah Glick are fearful schools and universities weren’t ready for the mental health results created by the pandemic, isolation and distant studying. 

“This has excerbated and increased the number of students who are feeling depressed, experiencing anxiety,” Glick stated. 

Assembly lawmakers on Wednesday at a public listening to thought-about methods of boosting mental health care packages and companies for college college students who should still be struggling. Officials during the last a number of years have sought to shore up mental health companies and packages on college campuses as lessons return to in-person instruction. 

There’s no typical college scholar, and that may make offering an array of packages a necessity to assist these are who dealing with struggles. 

Officials who present assist to college students like SUNY Deputy Chief Operating Officer Tamara Frazier say packages like peer-to-peer counseling can be found. 

“We want to let them know there are resources through our mental health repository, that there’s counseling centers on their campuses and it’s OK to reach out and say I need help,” Frazier stated. 

For advocates like Glenn Liebman of the Mental Health Association of New York State, one answer is to vary how mental sicknesses are considered.  

“If you have a physical illness and you are able to leave campus for a few months and nothing happens to you that’s punitive, you don’t have to drop out, the same should happen for mental health,” he stated. 

And that can require alot of training for folks on campuses — from directors to college students. 

“There’s got to be mental health literacy,” Liebman stated. “Everyone on the school campus should have basic knowledge of mental health.”