Spotlight on College Students

Your college years are filled with opportunities to learn and gain experiences that shape the rest of your adult life. Adapting to the stresses of college life can affect your well-being.

College students have been reporting an increase of mental health symptoms for more than a decade. Each year, about one in five people are dealing with a mental health condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About three-fourths of people with lifelong mental illnesses experience symptoms by the time they turn 24 years old, so young adults need support to help identify opportunities to connect with care.

Colleges are trying to keep up with the overwhelming demand to support a diverse student body. Many are challenged by the best ways to coordinate services between students, faculty and staff, mental health professionals.

Kerri Miller, host of MPR News at 9am moderated a discussion with students from large and small public and private colleges and universites about the stresses of college life today and how campuses are, or could be, addressing student well-being.

Panelists:

Taiyon Coleman, Assistant Professor, English at St. Catherine University

Matt Hanson, Assistant Director at Boynton Mental Health Clinic; former Program Director of University of Minnesota Student Counseling Services

Brandon Jones, Psychotherapist; Psychology & Human Services faculty at Century College, Inver Hills Community College, and Metropolitan State University; Integrated Services Manager at NorthPoint Health and Wellness