CW: This content contains reference to topics such as mental health struggles and suicide which could be distressing to some readers.
Education has plenty of barriers, and one of the toughest ones is the invisible and unfortunate mental health struggles that students increasingly are facing. The number of students going through ‘mental health difficulties has reached four in five.’ Poor mental health has extremely negative effects on students and their academic performances, which can lead to unfortunate situations like worsening mental health issues, dropouts, and sometimes cases of suicide.
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Are universities doing their part?
Due to lack of support or diagnoses of mental health issues, many students face struggles such as depleting energy levels, lack of concentration, increased stress, and a ‘hindering performance.’ This becomes a clear disadvantage to students with these struggles, and I believe universities must do a better job on caring for their students who face these issues and provide support so they can have the same opportunities such as their counterparts. Some universities are actively trying to help students by providing a limited number of counselling sessions for those experiencing mental health struggles. This is a positive step into the right direction, as counselling can be expensive and unaffordable at times. Additionally, some ‘students say access to counselling leaves them more able to cope with the pressures of daily life.’
The stigma remains
University is a huge change from primary and secondary school education. It challenges students, and through this many people find out more about themselves and the way they learn; so much so that there are students who get to university and realise they might have been struggling with dyslexia/ADHD/depression and have never received help. However, some students may feel embarrassed or unable to find the correct help information from their universities, so they suffer more, and it effects their academic performances and stress levels. To reduce this from happening, there is still a long way to go in removing the stigma surrounding the conversations about mental health struggles. However, a great way to do this is through the use of social media and specifically easy-to-digest media like TikToks and Reels; many individuals are open about their mental health struggles on TikTok and Instagram, which decreases the stigma!
With increasing support for students with mental health struggles, I remain optimistic that we will see useful changes to the education system for the better.