Together, we must make mental health and wellness a priority. We must identify mental health concerns on campus and nurture honest conversations about what change means as we validate each person’s voice and encourage help seeking. We must reduce stigma, recognize the impact of societal experiences, and reduce barriers to care. Change must take place in the classroom, on the field, in sororities and fraternities, and in the administration. What actions will you take?
The Steve Fund, the United Negro College Fund, and Thurgood Marshall College Fund, launched an unprecedented national effort, Unapologetically Free: Centering Mental Health on Black College Campuses with culturally responsive programs, convenings, and opportunities to support mental health on Black college campuses. See unapologetically-free.org and events listed below.
On campus
Our students face a mental health crisis
For HBCU leaders, employing holistic resources and non-traditional strategies can enhance mental health on campus so that young people of color thrive, achieving their personal, academic, and career goals. The period from adolescence to adulthood is a stressful time for young people. It is also the time when mental health concerns typically first appear.
In our radically polarized world, Black youth:
- Face additional mental health stressors, such as microaggressions, poverty, and racial profiling
- Experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress than white youth
- Are often reluctant to seek help due to stigma, cultural mistrust, and a lack of access to culturally responsive care
Today, our campuses can create a safe environment for our students to receive the care and support they need.
1. Build Capacity
Identify and build capacity of the “mental health front line,” the campus counseling center and staff. Reflect the diversity in student identities (e.g., LGBTQ staff, men of color) in counseling center staff. Focus on destigmatizing mental health.
- Increase mental health literacy on your campus. Provide training and workshops to help educate your campus about the signs of mental health distress, so everyone has the skills to intervene when they notice someone struggling with their mental health.
- Normalize conversations about mental health. Share the message across campus that the mental health and well-being of everyone from the president to the faculty/staff to the students is a priority.
- Recognize gender differences in help-seeking behavior that may require different and targeted strategies.
2. Share Resources
Equip students, faculty, and staff with mental health resources available on and off campus. On-campus resources cannot always meet the mental health needs of students, so identify low-cost, off-campus options for students who may find some off-campus options cost prohibitive.
- Develop a variety of on-campus forums to increase mental health literacy, including podcasts, town halls, and wellness days.
- Train faculty to support students with mental health challenges using classroom policies, such as assignment flexibility or small group activities that promote connectedness.
