Manage your life through wellness!
As we begin our spring semester, it’s a great time to head into the new year taking care of YOU!
We all get overwhelmed. College is stressful. Life is stressful. But taking care of your personal wellness will help you achieve the academic success you are striving for.
Now, you might be asking, “What exactly is mental health?”
According to MentalHealth.gov, mental health is like our physical health just with a different part of our body. It is about our psychological, emotional and social state. Mental health affects how we think, feel and behave. It also helps determine how we handle our stress, how we relate to other people, and how we make choices in our lives.
So why is this important? Positive mental health helps you as a student be more successful. It helps you accomplish your goals, realize your full potential, all while being able to handle the stressors that life will throw at you (because it will–nobody’s life is stress-free).
Stress is important and is part of a healthy life, but too much of it is not good.
Along with mental health is our overall wellness. Wellness encompasses our physical and our mental health. There are eight essential components to one’s well being, as shown in the accompanying graphic.
When one of these components isn’t taken care of, well, our wheel gets wobbly and we can’t get very far in that moment.
By tending to these different dimensions, we allow ourselves to live life more fully and in a more balanced state. This doesn’t mean our lives will be without illness and stress. It just means we can tend to them to reduce their negative impacts.
Nationwide, college campuses are seeing a dramatic increase in student mental health needs. With increased rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance use, among other challenges, more and more students are struggling.
Active Minds, a non-profit organization that focuses on mental health for college students, shares that nearly one-third of college students are managing depressive symptoms that often cause difficulty in daily functioning.
More than 80 percent of students are feeling so overwhelmed they aren’t sure they can continue in school. When your mental health is struggling, so does your GPA and your ability to stay in school.
But here’s the thing, you don’t have to struggle alone.
Join me here, every month to learn tips and skills to keep you on your path to success. If you prefer to see someone in person, stop by my office and we can talk story. Maybe you prefer to talk to someone off-campus? I can help you with that!
Our goal here at WCC’s Mental Health & Wellness is to support you and your well being, ensuring that you can reach your full potential in school while learning valuable coping skills to help you through the daily challenges that life throws at you.
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 235-7468, in my office at Hale Kako`o 101, or via email at karlas@hawaii.edu.
You can also self-schedule an appointment! Find me in your My Success Support Network, and schedule your first appointment anytime, 24 hours a day!
by Karla Silva-Park, LMHC, NCC
