Audrey Talla

Professor Boyle

ENG 170

April 12th, 2022

 

Saving Our World

For this campus space project, I want to advise a new way to help students suffering from mental health. More specifically, I want to see how we could help college students deal with stress and other factors that affects their well-being. You might be wondering: what is mental health? Mental health has to do with our well-being and how we act. A source called “What is Mental Health?” explains the basics of mental health, factors that could lead to it, and how to prevent problems from it. Mental health can change throughout our stages in life depending on what we go through. Factors that can affect people’s mental health are biological factors such as genes, life experiences such as trauma and abuse, or a family history of mental health problems. Mental health could be seen in ways that some people might not know. Getting less sleep and having a lack of energy is one way. Engaging in less normal activities and experiencing mood swings is another. Teenagers face these things a lot, which is why they must seek mental help when they need it. Connecting with others, getting enough sleep, and being active are great ways to improve our mental health. Therefore, I believe that the Old Main Library should be used as mental health facility, providing group activities to help students deal with mental health.

 

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Figure 2

Suny New Paltz already has a psychological counseling center. It is open 24/7 even when classes are in session. This is good so that students can check in with them anytime. Based on my survey results, I see that many students in New Paltz take advantage of our school’s counseling center. Many students find that is extremely helpful. In my survey when I posed the question “Do you think New Paltz has a supportive community? Are your friends, teachers, etc. people you can go to when you are feeling down?” everyone said they do believe it. Here was one of the responses: “Yes, I think New Paltz has a supportive community. My friends are the people I can go to when I am feeling down. My teachers here will also help and are supportive when it comes to the work assigned and any difficulty I am having.” This shows how the counseling center is helpful to students on campus, which is why I think an extra space on our campus would benefit students with mental health. The pictures I included above are the spaces where the mental health group therapy can take place. It is a large building, so sessions would take place in a few rooms inside.

The Old Main Library should be a space to do group mental health activities such as writing activities, meditation, yoga, etc. New Paltz provides a space for students to have one on one counseling, but not actual group activities for them. Having a space to be with other students that are also dealing with mental health would be great because other people would realize that they are not alone and want to work together! An article called “Teen Anguish in the Pandemic” by Emily Smith talks about kids whose stress levels increased during the pandemic. The reading mentions how students were not able to adjust to the new learning environment online. Smith says, “Carson’s story is not unique. The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of millions… one of the biggest threats to the well-being of today’s teenagers is not social isolation but something else — the pressure to achieve, which has intensified over the past year.” This article shows how multiple students when through the same situation during the pandemic. Covid put an impact on kids because they were not used to learning at home. There were many distractions at home and students tended to be more lenient, which is what caused their grades to drop. Moreover, I found a source called “Considerations for Meeting Students’ Mental Health Needs at a U.S. University During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study”. It includes a student interview that talks about their experiences during the pandemic. In the interview, a student said, “Because I’ll be honest like freshman year before COVID hit. I would, I was doing the work you know I was actively trying to make sure I was learning, but now it’s just like I look at the book, I spit out the information I get the grade rinse and repeat over and over again, and I don’t want to keep doing this” (Female, Hispanic/ Latina, Undergraduate, Wave 2 Interview #7). This student did not enjoy remote learning because she was not feeling motivated to do well in school. She would get a grade and regardless of what that score was, would not try to raise her score. Many students faced mental health during the pandemic which is why it would be a great idea to add a group therapy facility for students facing that.

A source called Thera Platform talks about group therapy activities. Group therapy would be beneficial because it has more than one therapist assisting a group of people on a certain thing. Suny New Paltz has one on one counseling to help students with mental health, but they should also include group therapy so students could connect. There are many advantages of group therapy. The first is the feeling that you are not alone. Group therapy can bring universality and give students hope that they will get through their situation. Secondly, you can learn from group therapy when other people add ideas to help support themselves. The ideas they give can be useful in our lives too. One downside to group therapy is that it could be intimidating. A person might be scared to explain a situation they are in. However, with group therapy, you could meet others who share the same story as well. In group mental health, people would support you rather than make fun of you. A quote I got from this platform stated, “In a review of multiple studies, sexual abuse survivors exhibited significant improvement after a group therapy protocol.” This shows that group therapy should be included at New Paltz since it is effective. Group therapy is good because you can learn about other members of your group. Playing activities such as writing fun facts, qualities/traits about yourself then passing them around to see who it is for, is a great way to meet new people.

In addition to group therapy, there have been student reviews that show this study is good. According to “Your Ultimate Group Therapy Guide” by Courtney Ackerman, one person said, “The best part about being with a group is that you don’t have to do everything alone.” Another person said, “Some of the most comforting words in the universe are ‘me too.’ That moment when you find out that your struggle is also someone else’s struggle, that you are not alone, and that others have been down the same road.” Once other people realize they are not alone, they will feel better in dealing with mental health. Students go through different things that could affect their mental health, so the group therapy could be split into different groups:

  1. Self-help groups: the focus is on someone who experienced life issues that can explain their process and how they went through it.
  2. Medication groups: to educate students on their medication and decrease their sense of isolation.

The rooms in the Old Main library would be a great space to have group therapy because they would be set up to form that. 2-3 rooms would be used for these activities. The students would use the rooms to form large groups and engage in certain activities. Discussions in groups could vary depending on what people want to talk about. Topics could be about family problems; someone could be facing family issues that could affect their mental health. Depression is one thing that college students face. Stress is another, which could be from schoolwork, family, relationships, etc. Substance abuse could be mentioned by talking about how the use of drugs leads to bad mental health. Lastly, major life transitions could also be mentioned; our mental health could change depending on what stage in life we are in.

Overall, group mental therapy could be a great influence on many people. It could benefit students and teachers by learning more about themselves. It could give students hope and prevent them from making bad decisions. Group therapy would bring universality, which would make students feel secure in themselves and realize that they are not alone. If New Paltz added this, counselors would have an easier time consoling students in groups rather than individually. With one-on-one counseling, it may be harder to help a student. This is because the student may not want to speak. After all, they are shy or uncomfortable speaking. In group therapy, another student dealing with the same situation could give an idea or two, speaking up for that person. This idea could then help the other students dealing with mental health and help the advisor. Based on my opinion, if I had mental health issues, I think I would benefit from group therapy over individual therapy. This is because I would meet people who might be in the same situation as me, and I would realize that I am not alone. I would not feel excluded because I would know that there are people out there that is like me and could bond with me as well.

 

Reflection:

This was a challenging project to complete. It was new to me, having to propose a space on campus that should be used to help our students. For my topic, I focused on mental health. I outlined by jotting down ideas I would write in each paragraph so that I would make the word count limit. I made an intro, body paragraphs, and conclusion. In my intro, I introduced what mental health was and why it is important. In my body paragraphs, I wrote about how group therapy could help students in New Paltz, including survey results, and student peer reviews! Since I was aiming for at least 5- 6 paragraphs in my essay, I made sure to write at least two each day so that I could submit my paper on time. One thing I think I did not do well in was explaining how the space in the Old Main library could be used to do group therapy. I mentioned it very briefly, but most of the time in my essay I argued why group therapy would be beneficial. Something I did very well on in my essay was finding evidence to explain why group therapy is great for college students.

 

Works Cited

“Group Therapy Activities.” TheraPlatform, https://www.theraplatform.com/blog/492/group-therapy-activities.

Kaur, Jessalyn, et al. “Considerations for Meeting Students’ Mental Health Needs at a U.S. University during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.” Frontiers in Public Health, Frontiers Media S.A., 2 Feb. 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8863128/#SM2.

Smith, Emily E. “Teen Anguish in the Pandemic: [Op-Ed].” New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed., May 09, 2021, ProQuest. Web. Accessed 23 Jan. 2022.

“What Is Mental Health?” What Is Mental Health? | MentalHealth.gov, https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health.

“Your Ultimate Group Therapy Guide (+Activities & Topic Ideas)” PositivePsychology.com, 25 Mar. 2022, https://positivepsychology.com/group-therapy/.