Emotional Support and Students of Color
Reaching out for mental health support is often a very hard choice for anyone to make, let alone college students. Many universities have free counseling services available to help students cope with pressing issues like test anxiety and adjustment issues. Making the decision to utilize these resources is often intimidating, yet worthwhile, but is this support equally accessible to everyone?
The JED foundation has recently come out with some alarming statistics: despite having higher rates of suicide and mental health challenges, students of color are two times less likely than white students to seek help for struggles such as depression and anxiety.
The reasons that students of color face additional struggles is, unfortunately, not surprising: bias, discrimination, and microagressions. So, what does this mean and how can we fix it?
The Steve Fund, an organization dedicated to supporting the mental health needs of students of color, explains that most of the barriers in seeking help for students of color are psycho-social. One obstacle is a lack of therapists of similar backgrounds. When most university mental health staff is exclusively white, students may feel as though their cultural values and the unique issues they face are not recognized. Imagine you walk into a university counseling center and none of the counselors look like you. This alone makes seeking help much more intimidating, especially considering that students of color often face increased stigma for addressing mental health concerns.
At my school, if a student wants to seek counseling for a mental health issue, they have to make a phone call to the counseling department to set it up. I personally know that this has prevented quite a few students from seeking help. If someone is worried about another student, they can fill out a form for mental health counselors to check in on them via email, but if that student actually wants to see a counselor, they still have to – you guessed it – make a phone call. If seeking help is already intimidating and stigmatized, then this initial phone call is so much more difficult. Setting up systems for students to make online appointments, or have access to walk-in appointments, removes some of that barrier.
The good news is that there are ways to help students of color feel more comfortable when seeking support. The Steve Fund found that when students positively identify with cultural groups they belong to, they have less self-stigma in seeking out support such as counseling. Supportive peer groups and a diverse counseling staff can both contribute to this.
It is well known that college is a stressful time for almost everyone: The JED foundation’s survey found that 50% of college students admit to feeling stress most or all of the time. This makes sense: even though it is an exciting time in one’s life, students are also grieving many things that they have left behind, such as the comfort and stability of their friends and family from home. While counseling services are incredibly necessary for students to grapple with this period in their lives, their mere existence on campus is not enough. Universities need to be intentional in ensuring that students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have access to support.