College Students & Mental Health: What Are They Saying? Featuring, Business Administration Major, Ashika
Welcome back to the third blog of this series: College Students on Mental Health. This blog series specifically focuses on giving college students of different backgrounds and majors a platform to talk about mental health in higher education. I also aim to discuss how we can better the resources and support for those attending university when it comes to mental health and related struggles. Today I talked with Ashika, a rising senior at North Carolina State University studying Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. For self-care, Ashika enjoys having a good meal, just relaxing while watching a TV show, or cleaning up around the house. She stresses the importance of finding acts of self-care that help you truly destress in the stressful environment of higher education.
When it comes to her major, Ashika thinks her studies have changed her perspective on mental health while attending university.
“I’ve learned a lot about mental health and businesses that could be for profit or nonprofit that relate to mental health or improve mental health and beyond… exploring that aspect of business definitely changed my perspective.”
She further states that college has given her a sense of independence with her time and allowed her to direct her efforts and energies into different areas of her life. This has helped her see how different activities can affect a person’s mental health and has given her the ability to choose where to focus and prioritize her time and efforts.
Ashika also talked about the implementation of mental health resources for the betterment of the student body. She believes that while a lot of these practices have been put into place correctly, the universities are usually unable to regulate how these practices are being administered within the classroom. As an example, wellness or mental health days are sometimes ignored by professors and there are still assignments due or exams the next day. She believes that when professors still continue to give assignments or exams on or around the wellness day, the day loses its purpose, and students are forced to use this wellness day for school-related work. She would like to see more regulations around mental health practices and resources put into place to ensure that they are properly implemented on all levels for the students.
Listening to different perspectives and allowing students to speak on these important and sensitive issues allows for growth within higher education and other academic institutions. We will not see the changes that need to be implemented unless we listen to those that are affected the most, especially in post-pandemic times. Creating safe spaces for students to voice their opinions will help push for the changes needed in the higher education system to better support students when it comes to their mental health and the resources that they can access.
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