By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
With the start of a new school year comes a flurry of classes, events and extracurriculars. It seems like there isn’t enough time in the day for all of the commitments, and when push comes to shove, students and counselors agree that mental healthcare is the first thing to go.
To make the jump into college life less overwhelming, the Counseling Center offers advice and resources to help struggling students, including group and individual therapy sessions, dietetics for students needing a personalized meal plan and crisis appointments.
Dr. Annie Mathew, director for counseling services, said in an email that freshmen can consider tips in many areas when it comes to mental health, including prioritizing physical self-care, participating in recreational activities and taking specific actions that benefit their emotional well-being.
“Practice naming your feelings. Take social media breaks. Journal, read, express gratitude [and] challenge your usual behavioral or cognitive patterns,” Mathew said.
However, Mathew said no one mental health solution will work for every student, and each student will have a unique college experience.
“The stories and expectations you may have heard about college life — like instantly finding your friend group — might not reflect your experience,” Mathew said. “It’s OK if it takes time and effort to find your rhythm and redefine your expectations.”
Sugar Land sophomore Charlotte Tran said she faced challenges to her expectations while trying to find friends freshman year. For Tran, her freshman year mental health was linked to her difficulty finding friends.
“A lot of times, I felt like people were able to find their cliques and find people who they clicked with, but it was a little bit more of a struggle for me,” Tran said. “I think that was a big part of why I didn’t fit in [and] why my mental health was deteriorating.”
Tran said her solution was putting herself out there. Finding people with similar interests improved her sense of belonging, which improved her mental health as a result.
From an academic perspective, Seabrook freshman Kiya Moore said time management in college is difficult. Much of Moore’s work is done outside of class, leaving little time for focusing on mental health.
“We already have to read four chapters of the Odyssey by tomorrow,” Moore said. “I think it’ll go OK, though. I just kind of have to keep on it [and] manage my time well.”
Tran also said she found her college workload difficult at first because of the circumstances surrounding it. When Tran first started college, she was focused on the shock of academics and being away from home.
“A majority of freshman year was learning how to [adjust] and manage my time,” Tran said.
According to Mathew, something that might help manage the work is finding the right study space. Another helpful time management tool is time blocking — a method where a student divides their day into blocks reserved for specific tasks.
“Tidy your space,” Matthew said. “Find study environments that suit your style.”
While school is important, mental health shouldn’t be pushed to the back burner, according to Tran. Freshmen should learn “work hard and play hard.”
“Treat yourself to things,” Tran said. “If you get out of a really hard exam, or you’ve studied for three hours straight, treat yourself to something because overall, it will lead to burnout if you don’t.”
