Weeks 5-6: September 17th – 28th
This week we had the Transition Challenge activity, wherein peer mentors share an aspect of the college transition that they struggled with and describe how they handled the situation. I shared my experiences struggling with depression and anxiety and how they made me feel lost, isolated, and even scared. I wanted to share my story to help normalize mental health disorders, especially when they’re so common in college students, and to promote help-seeking (I attended mental health counseling and this was very helpful!).
While I was nervous about opening up to a large group of people about something so personal, I was pleasantly surprised by the conversation that followed — several students raised their hands and shared their own experiences with mental health disorders and asked for advice on coping and seeking counseling. It is important to have these conversations to help break the stigma surrounding mental health!