The Mental Health Edition (03/21/24)

A STATEWIDE ISSUE

Nine

DTH/OLIVIA GOODSON, HAILEY PATTERSON, GRACE DAVIDSON; THE PENDULUM/ERIN MARTIN; THE EAST CAROLINIAN/JAMIE ANTINORE

Old Gold & Black

is column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editor Emerita, Christa Dutton

Nine N.C. student papers report solutions for mental health

When Emmy Martin, the editor-inchief of the Daily Tar Heel, gave me a call last summer to explain this issue you’re holding in your hand, I knew it was a project to which the Old Gold & Black would be proud to contribute.

In this issue, you’ll nd stories reported by nine North Carolina universities entirely focused on mental health. What makes these stories special is that they aim to take a solution journalism lens. Solutions journalism is a type of storytelling that investigates and explains how people and institutions solve problems. e goal of solutions journalism is not to celebrate or advocate but rather to report evidence. Solutions, many times, are just as newsworthy as the problems that necessitate them. Mental health is an issue that has plagued our generation.

ese nine student newspapers decided it was time to say something about it.

When the most senior members of our sta arrived on campus in 2020, social distancing and quarantine policies kept us safe but also destroyed morale. With nowhere on campus to gather, students were stranded in their dorm rooms as excessive amounts of screen time poisoned their self-esteem and exacerbated their loneliness. e subsequent classes that became Demon Deacons entered the university after their high school education was upended by remote learning.

Since then, mental health has not only been an important topic of our paper’s coverage but also an issue dear to the hearts of our sta members. As student journalists covering the triumphs and challenges of our peers, we

witness rst hand the rising levels of anxiety and depression. We also experience it ourselves.

“Not just at Wake Forest, but overall, [mental health] is worse,” Dr. Tammy Cashwell, professor of counseling and a licensed clinical mental health counselor told the Old Gold & Black. “ e level of fear and anxiety is through the roof. Not even around academics, just around getting out of bed and navigating the world.”

Poor mental health is not a new issue for college students, but its e ects have been urgently felt. Last year, N.C. State lost seven students to suicide. From 2016 to 2020, there were 878 deaths by suicide in North Carolina of people ages 15-24. A national survey conducted by the American College Health Association found that 52%

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of undergraduate students regularly experienced moderate psychological distress.

As you ip through the issue, you’ll nd nine di erent student newspapers who contributed stories to this special edition. We hope you enjoy reading the Old Gold & Black’s reporting but also reporting from all across the state. e Old Gold & Black would like to thank the Daily Tar Heel, who tirelessly organized this project through a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network.

Please also note the list of mental health resources available here at Wake Forest on page two. e Old Gold & Black urges you all to take care of yourself and check on those around you. Life is too valuable to neglect your mental health.

EVAN HARRIS MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR harres22@wfu.edu

RYDER SOLBERG BUSINESS MANAGER solbrs23@wfu.edu

How Wake Forest trains its faculty to be on the frontline of mental health care

Evan Harris/Old Gold & Black

CHRISTA DUTTON Senior Writer

At Wake Forest and universities across the nation, students are ghting an unprecedented battle with mental health struggles, and faculty are often on the frontline of defense.

“Often a student rst shares with their faculty person,” Dr. Warrenetta Mann, assistant vice president for health and wellbeing at Wake Forest, said. “Students care a lot about their academics here, so [for] anything that negatively a ects academics — or even has the potential to — a student is likely to go to [their] faculty person and say, ‘Hey, you just need to know that this thing is going on.’”

According to Matt Cli ord, Wake Forest’s dean of students, faculty and sta are the primary referral source to Wake Forest’s CARE case management team, which reviews referrals submitted by students, faculty and sta when they are concerned for their own wellbeing or the wellbeing of a friend. e referral is then reviewed by a case manager who connects them to the appropriate campus resource, like the Counseling Center or Safe O ce.

e university does not require faculty to attend trainings but o ers optional sessions such as Care 101, a training series that includes a 1.5-hour in-person session, a one-hour online session and access to a resource workbook. Mann and Cli ord both agree that requiring training would be di cult, as it would add to professors’ already busy workloads. Still, they want to equip faculty with the tools they need to help students.

“We want to make sure that faculty don’t feel like they’re left alone to gure out how to respond in the right way,” Mann said.

According to Mann, 18 faculty and sta members were trained at the beginning of this year to be ambassadors who will host their own mental health care training sessions this semester.

Cli ord says that the university’s philosophy is to create a culture where faculty care enough to learn how to recognize and respond to mental distress in their students on their own.

“What we nd is that a lot of our faculty voluntarily engage in not only mental health things but the Alcohol and Drug Coalition and other coalitions to address speci c issues on campus,” Mann said.

Mann says that Wake Forest takes a “concentric circles” approach when it comes to mental health training.

“ e people who really care will come to all the trainings, and then they’ll go back to their departments, and it’ll rub o on some of the other people, and then that’ll rub o on some other people,” she said.

Dr. Meredith Farmer is an associate professor of core literature at Wake Forest who has taught at Wake Forest for 11 years. She says she often receives anxious emails from students, and it is not uncommon for students to show up to her o ce crying, often about an issue in another class.

“Students are absolutely struggling,” she said.

Across campus, in the Department of Health and Exercise Science, Dr. Abbie Wrights teaches a required course for rst-year students called HES 100: Lifestyles and Health. She says that she has frequent conversations

with students outside of class about their mental health, but her students are not all experiencing crises.

Wrights says that signs of mental distress in students can be summarized into three categories: actions, appearance and academics. With a front-row seat to how poor mental health is a ecting students in her classroom, Wrights knows the telltale signs — not coming to class, diminished quality of work or communicating hopelessness in their assignments.

“I feel like we’re on the front line,” Professor Crystal Dixon, who also teaches a HES 100 course, said.

Without required training, faculty can decide how they will practically address the current mental health epidemic in their classroom. Many professors look for ways they can minimize stress during class time. Wrights decides not to cold call. Farmer does not require students to explain their absences and o ers extensions when students need them.

Wrights, Farmer, Dixon and other professors at Wake Forest are all aware they are not licensed mental health professionals but view themselves as liaisons to campus resources.

“We have a responsibility to at least refer students,” Dixon said. “I don’t think we have to be the solution … I think we should always have someone that we can hand o [to].”

If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance, 336-758-CARE is available 24/7 during the week, weekends and holidays. Instead of calling, you can also ll out this referral form.

Dr. Meredith Farmer, an associate professor of core literature at Wake Forest, mitigates stress in her classroom by not requiring students to explain absences and offering extensions on assignments when needed.

IfYoureReadingThis: Student-led mental health resource offers fresh perspectives

IfYoureReadingThis publishes letters from community members to empower one another

AARON NATALINE Senior Writer

When students with a passion for mental health advocacy launched an IfYoureReading is chapter at Wake Forest University, the intent was to make a small campus feel smaller, said the organization’s coPresident Georgia Meyer.

“I think people on campus join clubs and organizations to nd a sense of belonging, to nd like-minded people,” Meyer said. “But IfYoureReading is’s letters are meant to unify anybody and everybody, regardless of background, regardless of interests.”

Student letters are the heart of IfYoureReading is. e student organization’s website destigmatizes mental health by o ering a collection of student-authored letters that detail personal experiences with mental health battles. e students pen their letters to anyone who may need to see a familiar mental health challenge in a peer who is unashamed to discuss their journey.

e organization — which has chapters at 21 schools — stands alongside several mental health resources at WFU. On top of existing services, such as the University Counseling Center and the O ce of Wellbeing, the administration launched its “We Are Wake” advocacy campaign last semester.

ese top-down resources o er an integrative approach to reaching students who may need help with their mental health. But IfYoureReading is can provide help from a student perspective.

WFU faculty and sta understand that the student perspective of mental health matters. Warrenetta Mann, assistant vice president for health and wellbeing, oversees the University Counseling Center, Safe O ce, Student Health Service and O ce of Wellbeing.

“My philosophy about college is that this is your Wake Forest experience,” Mann said. “[Students] create what Wake Forest is. I can lend my experience and expertise, but I think students have the best idea of what their mental wellbeing looks like and what they need.”

Mann said with clinical resources in place, the goal of building awareness is to guide students facing mental health problems to the proper place to seek health. at means identifying to whom students will rst express their challenges.

“We know that the data shows that [students] are going to probably reach out to a friend or a faculty member before coming to a clinical resource,” Mann said.

IfYoureReading is intends to increase that probability of reaching out. According to the organization’s website, the letters are meant to promote vulnerability among students in one space of collective responsibility.

Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Campus Life Matt Cli ord works directly with resident advisers. He said that, as students, they provide the service of pointing residents toward mental health resources.

“I often call resident advisers the great connectors,” Cli ord said. “ ey’re there to notice if a student is struggling and help connect them to the resources that might be useful.”

For Cli ord, his great connectors are also sharing the responsibility of breaking down barriers between students when it comes to discussing mental health.

“ ese are fellow students who they can trust and be real with in a di erent way than they might feel they can be with parents or faculty members,” Cli ord said. Meyer and her co-president, Prarthna Batra, believe their organization’s letters go beyond their ability to resonate with students. ere’s also the matter of ac-

cessibility for college students.

“Students may not have time to go to a university ofce the exact day they have a breakdown,” Batra said. “You can’t plan those things. But you can always read a letter, and reading about people your age who are in the same classes and same clubs o ers relatability.”

Letters can be submitted to the website, with an option for anonymity, by emailing either Batra at batrp22@wfu.edu or Meyer at meyega22@wfu.edu.

ey said every letter adds something new, and each

could be a new student perspective for someone to nd and identify with.

“Even if just one person reads one of the letters, that’s still making an impact because they’re inspired for the day,” Meyer said. “ ey can bring the letter up to people they talk to or just be more open to talking about mental health. en that makes another person feel comfortable, and it keeps going and going.”

Contact

Aaron Nataline at nataae21@wfu.edu

IfYoureReadingThis co-presidents Georgia Meyer (left) and Prarthna Batra (right) direct students towards mental health resources with the organization’s website.

Evan Harris/Old Gold & Black

The UCC’s journey from pandemic pitfalls and back

BREANNA LAWS Managing Editor

e COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to the Wake Forest University Counseling Center and forced the center to adapt its methods. Now, with the acute challenges of the pandemic largely subsided, the Wake Forest University Counseling Center has increased its satisfaction rating among students.

In the rst year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25 percent, according to the World Health Organization, and college students were among those struggling.

e University Counseling Center (UCC) of Wake Forest witnessed this increase. In a statement made to the Old Gold & Black by former UCC Director Dr. Warrenetta Mann in November 2021, around 40% of students reported experiencing general instances of anxiety and depression. At this same time, the UCC had under 10 providers able to help students.

Other universities across the nation struggled to meet this spike in demand, especially as resources were spread thin. According to a 2019 survey completed by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, 90% of counseling center directors reported an increase in students seeking services. Combine this with the sta ng struggles many universities faced during the pandemic, and one has what seems to be a recipe for disaster.

Sta ng shortages

e UCC stayed understa ed from 2019 until fall 2022, when they hired two additional counselors. According to current UCC director Dr. Denisha Champion, sta ng has been the primary area of concern.

“My main goal, particularly since becoming the director, has been making sure that we are doing a really good job of identifying really good clinicians, doing some recruiting and getting our sta ng levels back,” Champion said.

is, however, proved to be a slow process. As a result of low sta numbers, the UCC turned to alternative routes of care, including a single-session model and a partnership with the virtual therapy resource TimelyCare.

e single-session model was designed to address immediate, non-chronic issues. Students could schedule an appointment with the UCC on an

instance-by-instance basis but could not have an established therapist. Students with more chronic conditions were typically referred to o -campus providers who could better assist them.

e partnership with TimelyCare was designed to do something similar: address immediate and low-level concerns. While the UCC was not sta ed enough to provide services to all students who may have needed them, TimelyCare operated as a way to ll this gap.

Unfortunately, according to Champion, both of these programs had a low turnout rate with students. e Old Gold & Black published two opinion columns on the programs — UCC turns its back on struggling students and TimelyCare is inaccessible) — and several students expressed their views in interviews with the Old Gold & Black, which covered the UCC changes as they occurred.

the in ux of new patients,” said Hindi. “I feel for them. I really do. It must be di cult to get a constant stream of people struggling in this pandemic and not have the sta to take care of them all.”

“In regards to the UCC, the current situation is unacceptable,” said then-junior Annie Brigham, in the Old Gold & Black article “University Lays O UCC Counselor Despite Calls for Increased Staing.”

Brigham also started a petition on the website change.org listing demands from the UCC, which attracted 525 signatures.

In another news article, “Another two counselors leave the UCC over break,” then-junior Dana Hindi told the Old Gold & Black that they were unable to remain a patient at the UCC due to sta ng issues.

“I’ve been seen [at the UCC] for a year and they told me last semester that they can no longer have me as a patient because of the lack of counselors and

Isabella Mason, a current senior at NC State who transferred there from Wake Forest, as well as the writer of the two aforementioned Old Gold & Black opinion columns, recalls the di culties of getting services at the UCC during its sta ng shortages.

“I remember students would talk about how the services sometimes felt impersonal or like an attempt to just get students in and out,” Mason said. is “in-and-out” feeling was particularly salient during the UCC’s implementation of a single-session model. When the UCC rolled out this program, many students felt as though the center had lost a lot of its credibility.

“I felt it was wrong for the UCC to roll out changes that disadvantaged students but were marketed as a ‘better’ way for their o ce to operate,” Mason said. “It was hard to sit there knowing the UCC had cut down to only o ering single sessions to students while funding for things like athletics were clearly very high.”

Coming out of the struggle

Responding to an in ux of negative feedback, the UCC made some changes to its operations. Longterm care returned to the UCC in the spring of 2022, and the TimelyCare partnership was dissolved in the summer of 2023.

Since its reimplementation of long-term care and increases in sta ng, the UCC has seen overwhelmingly positive feedback on the semesterly feedback form it sends out.

According to Champion, the fall 2022 UCC Client Satisfaction Survey showed that 86% of clients agreed or strongly agreed that the UCC improved their quality of life, and 89% agreed or strongly agreed that they would seek services again.

“I’m always glad to hear students give us feedback because, at the end of the day, we’re here for the students,” Champion said. “Listening to their concerns in real-time [is] super helpful for me as an administrator.”

If you nd yourself in need of mental health services, the UCC can be reached 24/7 at 336-7585273. eir o ce is located in Reynolda Hall, Room 117.

Contact Breanna Laws at lawsbn21@wfu.edu

The UCC struggled to meet demand during the pandemic. Now, the center boasts high student satisfaction rates.

Isabella Parolini/Old Gold & Black

86% of clients agreed that their quality of life was improved by the UCC in a fall 2022 survey sent out by the center.

Isabella Parolini/Old Gold & Black

The University Counseling Center is available to all Wake Forest students in Reynolda Hall, Room 117. They are also accessible by phone at 336-758-5273.

How UNC Charlotte’s student support organizations help international students with off-campus housing

SUNNYA HADAVI & AJ SIEGEL

Editor-in-Chief & Copy Editor

As the population of international students at UNC Charlotte grows, so do the challenges these students face, particularly with off-campus housing. International students rely on student organizations and initiatives for aid and avoiding exploitation.

As of spring 2024, 2,036 international students are enrolled at Charlotte and represent over 90 countries, according to the International Student and Scholar Office.

Indian students make up the majority of international students at Charlotte at approximately 60%. In fall 2023, 1,257 of 2,163 international students were from India, and the majority were pursuing their Master’s degree.

Before coming to campus and beginning their studies, these students are responsible for the research and costs associated with travel and living in the United States.

Despite not being in the United States to check their options, international students must secure housing before all off-campus apartments fill up. The Triveni Indian Student Association bridges the gap and represents the interests of students when securing housing.

“I help students get off-campus housing, so I see what was wrong with the housing because they are not physically present over here,” said Pritesh Ambavane, secretary of the Triveni Indian Student Association. “[They] put that trust in me that this is the person who is telling me that this housing is good…[and knows] what the Indian mindset is like.”

The Triveni Indian Student Association is one of a few student organizations that actively aids international students at Charlotte. For the fall semester, the Triveni Indian Student Association helped approximately 600 new international students. For spring, they helped 100 new students.

Most international students tend to live off campus, which is largely due to rent costs and location. They tend to live in the same complexes, including University Terrace and Asheford

Green, because they are within walking distance of Charlotte’s campus.

“Most international students don’t have cars,” said Yash Tadimalla, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG). “So they are forced to live close to campus within walking distance. The walk to campus [is] sometimes easy, but sometimes it’s not; it’s not always safe after dark.”

International students often do not receive their security deposits back. According to Ambavane, the building managers do not track which tenets cause damage, so if there is damage to an apartment, the most recent tenant is charged, even if the damage was present before they moved in.

“When students come to the apartment, they leave the apartment in the same condition, but the owner thinks that things [have been] changed… and they charge accordingly,” said Ambavane. “But they don’t know that the students have not damaged the apartment; it was like that already.”

Security deposits not being returned is not a new issue.

“Our office has been meeting with international graduate students about off-campus landlord-tenant matters since the firm opened in May 2022,” said Ashley McAlarney, director of UNC Charlotte Student Legal Services, Inc. “The majority of our clients in landlord-tenant matters are international graduate students. And the overwhelming majority of our graduate student clients across all areas of law are international students.”

International students facing concerns with housing maintenance and damages often turn to the Triveni Indian Student Association, which advocates on their behalf and pushes landowners to resolve problems promptly.

“[International students] have not physically met the owners, but we have physically met the owners as an organization [since we secured their housing],” said Ambavane. “We try to maintain pressure over the owners so that the students are living the right kind of life since they’re paying rent on time… As an organization, we will try to do these things for our students so that they don’t face any bigger problems and anything like that.”

Oftentimes, international students recognize the issues they are facing but do not feel like they can advocate for themselves.

“The challenge is if there are exploitative owners who have very terrible living conditions, you still do not know that that is terrible living conditions because you don’t know what is better,” said Tadimalla. “So you ended up staying there for a while, and you’re too scared to pursue legal action because there’s this [mis]conception that if you go to Legal, you can get deported.”

Charlotte’s GPSG has also begun helping international students with housing concerns by creating the Graduate Student Housing Committee in September 2023. It is made up of university officials from Student Affairs, Business Affairs, the Graduate School and Housing and Residence Life, in addition to GPSG.

According to Tadimalla, this committee is among the first University initiatives to address international housing.

“Before 2020, it was not a priority, [but] I think after COVID, the university is prioritizing it now,” said Tadimalla. “In the last seven years, this is the first time that the university is really serious about this issue.”

Regardless of university aid, members of the Triveni Indian Student Association help Indian international students at all stages of their time at Charlotte, from hosting informational seminars to ensuring all necessities are available upon arrival, relying largely on alumni funding.

“We collect funds from our alumni,” said Ambavane. “For example, if anyone has graduated and wants to donate to our committee, that’s where our funds come from. That’s not the case with the rest of the student organizations because they are dependent on the college funds. We do apply for the college [funds], but we are not dependent.”

The organization uses these funds to help international students once they arrive in Charlotte by providing rides from the airport and first meals to ease stress and give them a taste of home.

“If you are coming to an unknown country for the first time, you don’t have access to that kitchen, [and] you don’t have anything or…any idea about the kitchen,” said Ambavane. “So what we do is we provide them a first-day meal. Basically, the meal will be like some kind of Indian food which we buy for them. We provide them with the first-day meal so that they don’t have to cook as soon as they come over here.”

The support international students receive from the organization is what makes them want to help future students.

“The motivation for me to help students was that there was somebody who helped me last year. That’s the reason I didn’t face any problems,” said Ambavane. “My seniors, who were in the planning committee, helped me secure this apartment… There was always a senior who was going to reply to my texts, and he was always there to help me with everything.”

Partnership between AthleteTalk and Charlotte Athletics is helping student-athletes grow mental health literacy

BRYSON FOSTER Outreach Coordinator

Mental health is becoming a central talking point in college athletics. Athlete suicide forced the issue into the spotlight as in 2022, five athletes committed suicide as universities looked to find resources for student-athletes.

A report from Global Sport Matters stated that despite the benefits of sports participation for women student-athletes, the risk of suicide persists. For male student-athletes, the stigma of mental health issues makes it hard for some to ask for help. In a world where conversations about mental health are becoming normalized, athletes are still not talking, as only 10% seek mental health assistance.

When asked about the mental aspect of competing in college athletics, UNC Charlotte (UNCC) cross-country junior distance runner Maddon Muhammad said caring for his mental health is critical.

"When it comes to cross-country, 95% of the sport is mental, and the other 5% is your ability and training," said Muhammad. "This year, the biggest thing holding me back was my mentality. If you get into your head, no matter your training, your brain will always beat your body."

The need for mental health resources at UNCC is crucial, and AthleteTalk, LLC is stepping in to help universities deal with these tragedies and the mental grind. AthleteTalk is a mental health and wellness app that provides daily plans on a social media wellness feed. These plans include wellness videos, mental health "workouts" and a sharing feature.

AthleteTalk has created partnerships with multiple universities, such as the University of Detroit Mercy, Texas Southern University and the University of Texas at Austin. In December 2022, the company partnered with UNCC.

The company is in the second of a three-year partnership with UNCC Athletics. Founder and former UNCC student Emmett Gill, Jr. said the

partnership means a lot to him.

"We are really thankful to be partners with Charlotte and Charlotte Athletics. It really is a full circle for me to be able to serve the athletes at my alma mater," said Gill. "The elements are there, and the fact that this was a top-down is really special. As a former student-athlete at UNC Charlotte, it was one of the first schools we wanted to build that partnership with."

The basics

AthleteTalk has 87 mental health and wellness plans that student-athletes can engage in. Each plan lasts about four minutes to fit into their busy schedule. Gill said AthleteTalk wants to help student athletes cultivate mental health practices.

"Our goal is to have athletes engage in the app daily," said Gill. "These programs help with mental health literacy because we know that if a person is literate in their mental health, they are more likely to visit a provider. Athletetalk helps to build and extend that bridge."

The app has a leaderboard, daily plans and assessment links that help student-athletes learn healthy coping mechanisms. AthleteTalk's plans relate to the transfer portal, NIL (name, image and likeness) deals, academic progress and social media usage.

Gill said that these topics directly relate to student-athlete mental health.

"We discuss topics like gratitude, kindness, your why and your circle. We examine topics like that because those are a part of mental health. The more kindness we display, the more positive impact it has on mental health," said Gill. "We talk about topics that aren't normally connected to mental health as a way to normalize it, especially when we talk about normalizing it from a strength-based perspective."

Gill said the challenge is to find a way to squeeze into the busy schedule of student-athletes.

"One of the challenges we know about health, in general, is that student-athletes do not have

much time," said Gill. "We are only asking for 5-10 minutes on the app daily, which is still challenging. We are trying to find a space for mental health. We are trying to find ways to fit in and not add to their plates but make it richer."

Partnership with UNCC

The partnership at UNCC came to be through a connection with former Associate Vice Chancellor Dr. Mari Ross. Gill said that after working together at North Carolina Central University, they both saw the need for the program.

The partnership with UNCC was the first that was started in student affairs. Gill said that university administration cares deeply for its students.

"Charlotte is the first partnership where it emanates from students' affairs, which is important because it demonstrates that the care goes beyond the athletic department," said Gill. "Student-athletes are students first and athletes second in the grand scheme of things."

UNCC has a student-athlete development and sports psychology unit, showing commitment to student-athlete mental health endeavors. AthleteTalk is looking to help create a third department focused on social work.

The goal of the divisions is to help increase the likelihood that UNCC athletes will seek counseling services when needed.

Benefits to student-athletes

AthleteTalk looks to help student-athletes by growing their mental health literacy and enhancing wellness.

"It is one of my beliefs that student-athletes who invest in their mental health now will see the dividends later," said Gill. "Many athletes face challenges such as sports termination, graduation, transfers and injury. They don't know how to deal with it all. Now is the time for them to learn how to invest time in their mental health and take some of the things they are learning from the time they invest and implement."

Gill said helping athletes now is crucial for their development as athletes and people.

"If they don't learn how to invest in it now, they will be put in situations where they have to do it on the fly. The point is to help student-athletes learn how to invest in and practice good, healthy coping skills and learn about mental health techniques," said Gill.

Looking ahead

As AthleteTalk continues to expand with partnerships at multiple universities, Gill said he wants to leave behind a legacy.

"Our legacy at every school is that we want to pour into athletes, whether through studentathletes positive mental health or going into the industry to pour into other athletes. That is the way we are going to normalize mental health and break down the stigma," said Gill.

At UNCC, impacting the journey of studentathletes is the mission.

"At Charlotte, we hope that just one athlete can say that our app impacted their journey," said Gill. "We want to impact athletes' lives while they are at Charlotte and help them build positive habits. I also hope we get some athletes to become interested in mental health in sports, and they'll decide to become sports social workers or professional counselors to pour into others."

Photo courtesy of Emmett Gill, Jr. and AthleteTalk, LLC

AthleteTalk is a mental health and wellness app that provides daily plans on a social media wellness feed. Plans include wellness videos, mental health "workouts" and a sharing feature. Contact

Community, Isolation & Politics: Mental health of queer students at UNCW

HANNAH MARKOV Staff Writer

UNC Wilmington is no stranger to conversations about the queer community. LGBTQ+ issues have largely moved to the forefront of political discussions and legal battles in both Wilmington and North Carolina as a whole. In addition to the immediate legal and educational impact, recent book bans, “Don’t Say Gay” policies and other anti-trans laws across the country are also having mental health implications for members of the queer community.

A recent study conducted by The Trevor Project, an American organization dedicated to suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ+ youth, found that 75% of LGBTQ+ youth nationwide often felt stress or anxiety due to threats of violence against queer spaces. As a result, many experienced cyberbullying (45%), in-school bullying (24%) or physical assault (10%). Twenty-nine percent of queer youth also reported not visiting their doctor or hospital due to personal safety concerns.

At UNCW, a university with an overwhelmingly straight and cisgender population, The Seahawk spoke with a few students and recent graduates on their experiences as members of the queer community.

“Being here at UNCW has been good,” Hannah Lowman, a junior criminology student said. “Luckily there’s Mohin-Scholz, which has been a really big blessing to me because they’re very open, accepting, and it’s helped me discover my true identity and learn a lot more about being queer than ever before.”

Lowman received an associate degree from Coastal Carolina Community College before transferring to UNCW. She came out as lesbian in March 2023, and described Mohin-Scholz, the LGBTQ+ resource center, as her “found family,” noting that her family at home were not so supportive.

“Even though there’s a lot of students who are cisgender, straight, it’s not forced. I do have to say that UNCW is very accepting to students who are queer,” Lowman said.

The Mohin-Scholz LGBTQIA Resource Center is located on the first floor of Fisher University Union and provides resources such as an LGBTQIA prom, trivia nights and SAFEZONE, which are four workshops geared toward faculty and staff that educate them on the queer community.

The director of Mohin-Scholz, Brooke Lambert, joined the center in 2016. She entered the position after a year of it being vacant and described the post-pandemic years as the most difficult in her time of working as director.

“The whole climate on campus felt a little different than we have experienced before,” Lambert said. “That’s not how I feel things are now, but last year things were not quite as supportive and welcoming as they have been previously.”

Discussion groups, called “Building Q*mmunity”, are another one of the resources provided by Mohin-Scholz. The program is not designed to be therapy, but rather to connect students with the UNCW Counseling Center. The collaboration brings an openly queer therapist to Mohin-Scholz’s space in Fisher every week.

“Knowing that queer youth experience more mental health issues, we want to make sure that that is an accessible resource; for everybody, but we certainly want to make sure that our queer students feel like that’s an

accessible resource [for them],” Lambert said.

Nitya Budamagunta is a student in the creative writing department at UNCW. She moved to Wilmington from Cary, N.C., and described both cities as being fairly conservative but with “pockets” of queer people. The main difference, Budamagunta explained, was the diversity, or lack thereof, in the queer community in Wilmington as compared to Cary. Budamagunta spoke too on her experiences as a queer person of color and immigrant.

“With my experience as a queer person of color, the big thing for me is dealing with ‘How do I blend the culture that I come from with queerness, especially when a lot of the culture I come from is already affected by colonial ideals,” Budamagunta explained. “Maybe my culture was more accepting of queer people in the past, but colonialism happened, and it isn’t anymore.”

Budamagunta has not met people at UNCW with the exact same background as her but finds acceptance and a support system through the LGBTQ+ community at the university. She described struggling for over a year to find people who understood her culture and traditions, as well as her experiences as a queer person.

“I was going to transfer my freshman year because I felt so isolated,” Budamagunta said. “It was not just the fact that I was dealing with the isolation of being in a place where nobody knew what Diwali was, but also on top of that I was dealing with being in a place that was pretty conservative and not very open to queer people. It was really isolating.”

Recent graduate Michael Friant struggled to find a community with shared experiences as well, noting that having more than one identity made it difficult for him to connect with others like him. He explained choosing Wilmington out of convenience reasons, and initially attended CFCC before transferring to UNCW.

“As a person with a disability, cerebral palsy, it would not be feasible to just start in another city/state,” Friant said. “I never really felt I belonged. I can count on my hand the number of times people have asked me about my sexuality and stuff.”

Friant also shared a fond memory from his time at UNCW, describing the visibility he felt during one moment with a friend.

“I was at a house party with some friends. I was hanging out on a hammock when one of my friends came over and said ‘All you need now is a cute boy by your side,’” Friant said. “In that moment, I felt seen and heard.”

When asked what advice he would give to queer people considering attending UNCW, Friant marked the importance of connecting with the local LGBTQ community. He also noted that LGBTQ students should expect to feel lonely and be strategic about those whom they disclose their identity to.

Jaden Hager is another recent graduate of UNCW who shared their experiences with The Seahawk. They moved to Wilmington from Mooresville, N.C., a town in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Mooresville has a small queer community, but hosts a pride parade every year.

After starting at UNCW, Hager was conflicted when deciding whether to come out to people or not, explaining that after living in Mooresville their entire life, many people already knew about their personal identity. Hager often felt uncomfortable and avoided having conversations about their pronouns.

“It would be made into something bigger, so I just kind of avoided it a lot,” Hager said. “I didn’t want to be known as ‘the non binary person’ in class. Even though I

would have my pronouns in my Canvas profile, I would be misgendered a lot. It just feels like it’s going to happen no matter what.”

Hager felt anxiety when making their identity visible to others. They explained the impact that being queer at UNCW had on their mental health.

“I was very anxious all the time, like, ‘Am I acting too queer? Can I make this joke? Am I hiding who I am if I don’t?’” Hager said. “I wouldn’t say it affected it a lot, but it was definitely something that was an added weight to my shoulders that I know I wouldn’t’ve had if I wasn’t queer.”

Hager and Budamagunta also expressed their reactions to the 2023 Razor Walker Awards, including discouragement, frustration and feeling unwelcome. The honors, sponsored by the Watson College of Education, were presented in April in a yearly ceremony to those who made a positive impact on education or public schools in North Carolina. UNCW’s administration canceled the 2024 event, for the first time in almost three decades, after facing widespread controversy for awarding Senator Michael Lee, the cosponsor of S.B. 49- the N.C. “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The Seahawk spoke with Dr. Julie Krueger, a professor at UNCW with expertise in sex work and masculinity, who teaches courses on gender and sexuality. Queer students are well represented in these classes. Krueger’s supervisor is the first out transgender faculty member, and she explained that she navigates an environment that does not represent UNCW as a whole.

Krueger’s expertise is not in mental health or psychology. However, her studies and work at the university have transformed the way she views the world. She had this to say about queer youth in the aftermath of the Razor Walkers and S.B. 49.

“Living in that political climate profoundly affects students’ mental health,” Krueger said. “Being in an environment where you feel you are targeted; where you feel that people are attacking you for who you are and denying you resources; denying you opportunities and denying the legitimacy and validity of your identity; denying your very right to exist—that’s incredibly damaging.”

Krueger referred to several studies, including the above by The Trevor Project, that have researched the impacts of homophobic legislation. Anti-LGBTQ bills were consistently found to increase stress, anxiety and depression in queer juveniles and young adults — a population that is already at a high risk for mental health issues, including suicidal ideation.

S.B. 49 was signed into law in August 2023 after the N.C. Senate and House of Representatives both voted to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto. Its specific, long term mental health effects are yet to be determined.

The LGBTQ+ community is not a monolith, a fact found to be true even in universities such as UNCW with only a small population of queer people. Community, however, was found as a blessing, resource or desire in every conversation The Seahawk had.

“Don’t be afraid to reach out, especially to resources like the counseling center, the Student Health Center, Mohin-Scholz, especially,” Lowman said. “Those are some of the greatest resources that you could ever have. Especially if you have family members who judge you or don’t know that you’re gay or disowned you. They’re not gonna do that. They’re gonna love you and welcome you with open arms.”

NCSU professor and student

address mental

posts for concerning language, and statistics student created a chatbot to offer resources to users

KATE DENNING News Editor

Dr. Ana-Maria Staicu, a professor in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University, is conducting a research project, funded through a state grant, using artificial intelligence to flag keywords on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, posts containing content that may indicate mental health concerns.

Staicu said she decided to look into if violent events could be predicted by an individual’s social media activity after the September shooting at UNC-Chapel Hill. The research also considers trends in shootings since COVID-19 by comparing social media activity before and after the onset of the pandemic.

“We’re looking at how the mental health trends have been impacted by COVID lockdown,” Staicu said. “This has been triggered by the fact that a lot of these violent events have happened, have intensified, after COVID. So we wanted to see people who had some mental health issues before, how is their activity after COVID-19.”

Staicu said the research utilizes AI to analyze what she called the arousal of a post — whether the post is positive, negative or shows any strong emotion at all. Through this function and the use of keywords, AI is able to flag posts containing potentially concerning messages.

After the post is flagged, Staicu said a potential intervention process is contingent on having a control group.

“The reason for which that question is a little bit tricky to answer is that we need a controlled population,” Staicu said. “We need to have a sense of what is a normal tweeting behavior, and to define that normal, it’s important to have an age group, right? Because an adult on social media wouldn’t necessarily tweet as a young adult. Then we need

to define what is abnormal.”

Sripad Ganti, a first-year studying statistics, has assisted Staicu in the research. After seeing how data could be used for a good cause, Ganti started the Dreamers and Data Club with the purpose of using statistics to promote social change.

While jump-starting the club, Ganti had the idea to create YUNO, an AI chatbot specifically designed to address a user’s mental health concerns and distribute resources.

Ganti said he has witnessed students experience long wait times at the counseling center, and felt as though a chatbot like YUNO, an acronym for “your understanding, nurturing observer,” could be a resource during those periods.

“I have friends who sometimes try to book appointments to the counseling sessions and that takes forever, it’s like a week, two weeks sometimes,” Ganti said. “So it was then I decided let’s maybe create some sort of chatbot or something where, I guess it can kinda bridge the gap between the time it takes to get an appointment and just be a helpful resource.”

YUNO is similar to AI models like ChatGPT, but Ganti has been able to train the data in a way that tunes the responses to be mental health-oriented.

“What really, I think, sets it apart a little bit is that you can fine tune whatever the ChatGPT API is to specifically focus on mental health resources,” Ganti said. “I can put in mental health resources that I find on the web, or I can put in how you respond to certain things.”

While he hopes YUNO can offer resources to users, Ganti said YUNO should never be used as a replacement for therapy. Instead, he sees it functioning as an on-the-go way to access resources quickly, or simply being a place for users to vent.

“You want to talk to an actual person,” Ganti said. “But sometimes an actual person is not available right away. And in that time, if you really need some sort of resources, or if you’re looking

for resources, or even if you know someone who is struggling, and you want to find resources for them, that’s the goal of the chatbot.”

Ganti and Staicu said mental health issues are particularly of concern amongst teenagers and young adults. While Staicu said the pandemic is a contributor to mental health issues amongst the younger generation, Ganti said the shock of being thrust into a new, high-pressure environment and the expectations that go along with that is a key factor.

“You’re expected to, all of a sudden, be an adult right away,” Ganti said. “You’re also working with so many students that you feel the need to perform and do well. … Because of that, sometimes people put a lot of expectations on themselves, and that can often sometimes result in problems and unneeded stress.”

Staicu said doing research like this at NC State is beneficial because of students like Ganti who realize the need that exists, and take advantage of the resources NC State has in order to find a solution.

“Not only are they strong students, but they’re able to take advantage of the classes that we offer, and sometimes really teach themselves to learn how to scrape data, how to write codes to automatically download data,” Staicu said. “We’re talking about thousands of and hundreds of users, right? You can’t do that manually, because it takes hours, so being able to have access to coding and improving the skills, I think that’s very helpful.”

Staicu said the issue of mental health is everyone’s responsibility to understand and involve themselves in.

“I feel that there’s a lot of focus nowadays on mental health, but I think we’re just scratching the surface,” Staicu said. “I think there’s more to learn, and I think we have a responsibility to the young people to help them get the life that they deserve, and they were meant to have.”

Ellie Bruno / Technician

How we talk about suicide online matters

ETHAN BAKOGIANNIS & JAMESON WOLF Editors-in-Chief

Editor’s Note: is article contains references to suicide.

A week into our tenure as editors-in-chief, we woke up to a google chat message discussing an apparent student suicide on campus the night before.

After reaching out to the University for con rmation and a statement on the rumor, we opened Reddit and YikYak, knowing that, for better or worse, any rumblings around campus would end up there.

While constantly refreshing the pages, we found separate rumors of another student death at a residence hall quickly making their way across NC State chat rooms and message boards.

Countless emails, two breaking news sta ers and one canceled nal exam later, we had spent all day working our way through how to report on two student deaths in less than 24 hours — the sixth and seventh student death suicide of the academic year.

roughout that process, we had the bene t of having attended trainings and participated in numerous conversations about the most responsible ways to report on mental health and suicide.

Most students on campus who were reading, writing or reposting information about the deaths did not have that bene t.

But when everyone has access to an online platform, the responsibility to minimize harm online extends beyond established reporting outlets to everyone who posts content. What information we share and the way we share it has an e ect on those who view it — and that e ect can be immense.

Media coverage is a primary driving factor in suicide contagion, the process by which exposure to a suicide death leads to increased risk of suicidal behavior in those exposed. Over the past several decades, researchers have developed guidelines for responsible reporting on suicide, and, when followed, these guidelines can successfully reduce the risk of contagion.

It is a greater challenge, however, to establish and encourage these guidelines on open online forums and social media platforms.

But that shouldn’t stop us from using our own platforms responsibly. With college students spending hours on social media weekly, what we see from the non-news accounts we follow has the capacity to be just as much, if not more, impactful than formal news coverage.

One of the rst things to be mindful of is that suicide is not inevitable. Presenting it as a common or acceptable response to struggle rather than a public health issue creates an aura of hopelessness that may prevent people from seeking help.

In the vast majority of cases, mental health treatment is e ective. Sharing treatment resources along with stories of successful treatment can provide hope and o er a way forward for those who are struggling.

As students on NC State’s campus last year, it was often frustrat-

ing to not quickly receive any o cial communication about student deaths on campus as the University navigated privacy concerns, veri cation of facts and how to responsibly keep students informed and supported. In lieu of o cial communication, many took reporting what they knew — or thought they knew — into their own hands.

From our experience, though, one of the most pervasive ways social media users posts don’t align with responsible reporting protocols is through speculation of causes and sharing oversimpli ed explanations. In any instance of suicide death, the causes are complex and numerous. Speculations and oversimpli cations, in addition to spreading potentially false information, contribute to a sense of hopelessness and sensationalization surrounding suicide.

Sharing details such as method and exact location in an instance of suicide can also contribute to the risk of contagion and should be avoided.

Our tendency in grief is often to celebrate the life of the deceased; however, it is important to avoid pushing narratives of heroism and honor that have the potential to glamorize or romanticize suicide. is is not to say that we should stop talking about suicide. It is currently the third leading cause of death in college-age Americans, and the stigmatization that comes from not discussing mental health is

directly linked to decreased likelihood of help seeking. But we must have these conversations responsibly in order to increase education, help seeking and hope.

If you or someone you know is having di culty processing grief or having a mental health emergency, the Counseling Center can be reached 24 hours a day at 919-515-2423. If you are in a crisis situation and need immediate help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. In the case of a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

e Counseling Center’s website o ers free online screenings, a plethora of self-help resources regarding mental health and wellness concerns and a comprehensive list of campus services available for those who need guidance. To view an exhaustive list, visit counseling. dasa.ncsu.edu/resources.

If you’re seeking professional counseling or other mental health services on campus, visit the Counseling Center’s Getting Started page at counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu/ about-us/gettingstarted to complete paperwork, set up an appointment and more.

Contact Ethan Bakogiannis and Jameson Wolf at technician-editor@ncsu.edu

The community building within East Carolina University

KIARRA CRAYTON Editor-in-Chief

When going to college, most students leave their family and their community — a move that can take a toll on their mental health, especially because college is most students’ first time away from home for an extended amount of time.

Anyanso Kalu, a senior public health major at East Carolina University found his community in the Talented Empowered Aspired Men (T.E.A.M.) organization. Kalu is a first-generation Nigerian student who knew a cousin who attended ECU around the time Kalu was a firstyear.

His cousin introduced him to T.E.A.M. and asked the other members of the organization to treat Kalu like a brother.

Now the president of T.E.A.M., Kalu still says the organization has a close community. For example, he said if a member were to text the organization’s group chat saying they were stranded, a member would go and help them. Even in the pouring rain.

“That’s why I’m so big on T.E.A.M., because I’ve seen what it’s done for me and for others,” Kalu said. “It’s like when you come into college you need somebody of the same gender who has your best interest in mind, and that community offered it. And for Black men, there’s nothing else besides fraternity life.”

Without being a part of T.E.A.M., Kalu said he wouldn’t have met his lifelong friends and it would’ve taken longer to get to his current level of confidence

Kalu said he was very shy coming into college. But this past year, he ran for student government association vice president.

ECU senior public health major Genesis Ray said she feels a strong sense of community with African American students of ECU, but she said it’s different than the larger Pirate Nation community.

She said being a part of the Black community at ECU has made her feel heard and understood. Ray said that’s because there are some things no one else can relate to other than Black students.

“Even though they might say like ‘We’re all welcome,’ or try to make us feel welcome, that feeling isn’t universal,” Ray said. “I just feel like some of the, even down to the activities and

things, aren’t really catered to Black culture.”

At least once a semester, the Black Student Union hosts a showcase which Ray described as a way for students to dress up for the theme and celebrate. It’s a time for students to embrace their culture with music, art and performances by various organizations around campus.

When white students wanted to join the Black Student Union, Ray said other members questioned if that was something the organization would do. Ray was open to the idea: “We have allies and people wanting to learn more about our culture.”

In the upcoming years, Ray hopes that the general ECU community and the Black community will come together more often.

Victor Ihuka, an international student from Nigeria, is the president of the International Students Association at ECU. He said international students face a lot of challenges normal students might not be aware of.

The ISA helps international students find a community at ECU. Recently the organization has hosted weekly coffee hours for international students to come and socialize with other international students.

“What we try to do is create a community for everyone,” Ihuka said. “Everyone really has to create a community and what that means is people don’t realize the challenges. I mean, how difficult it is to move from a different culture.”

Members of Talented Empowered Aspired Men and special guest speaker George Cherry dressed up as professionals in their dream careers on Oct. 27, 2022.

Photo courtesy of Anyanso Kalu

Photo courtesy of Anyanso Kalu

Morgan’s Message spreads mental health awareness in student-athletes

KIARRA CRAYTON Editor-In-Chief

In July 2019, Morgan Rodgers took her life. She was 22 years old — a student-athlete at Duke University recovering from an ACL injury.

No one, except the pages of her journal, knew Rodgers was su ering from depression. Her mother told NBC4 Washington that the reasons for Rodgers’ death were like puzzle pieces scattered everywhere and all she could do was search to put them together.

e nonpro t organization Morgan’s Message was created by Rodgers’ family members as a way to shine light on mental health awareness in student-athletes around the country. As mental health begins to become more discussed and highly prioritized, the stigma that showing emotion is weak or unnatural remains. Morgan’s Message aims to remind people that it is OK to seek help.

Senior East Carolina University lacrosse player Courtney Frank is a member of Morgan’s Message and an ambassador for the university. She said the story hits close to home for her because the lacrosse team has played Duke every year since the team was created in 2018.

“I do feel like especially with an ACL — and that's one of the most common injuries with a lacrosse player — that it does hit hard, especially because she was from Duke,” Frank said. “Duke is not a rivalry but we play them every single year. One of our teammates, her mom is the head coach at Duke, so a lot of it ties into Duke and Morgan Rodgers.”

e stigma described by Morgan’s Message is still very much present today, ECU Athletics sports psychologist Jan Veinot said.

“We have this vision of an athlete and that athlete kind of adapts that facade. So they are less likely to reach out for help because they think they're supposed to be mentally tough,” she said. “And so that combined with the coaches, with every coach you’ve ever had telling you to ‘suck it up,’ ‘play through it,’ ‘get over it,’ — I gotta

ght through because that's what I do in my sport.”

A 2021 study from the NCAA surveyed 9,808 student-athletes across the three di erent divisions and asked various questions regarding mental health. e study showed 47 percent of student-athletes said they are comfortable seeking support from a mental health resource on campus.

e study showed women are slightly more likely to reach out than men — possibly a reason the ECU Morgan’s Message Chapter doesn't have any male ambassadors. Frank believes the stigma impacts men harder because they are not used to talking about their feelings. “ I do think a lot of them do struggle with mental health but they’re not as open to talk about it because as guys, I feel it’s like considered like they’re weak, even though it's not,” she said. “Everyone has their valid feelings for their mental health struggles.”

With the October hiring of Veinot — the rst sports psychologist at ECU — came the introduction of anonymous forms coaches, players and support sta can ll out on behalf of a player. e form is sent directly to Veinot, who follows up with the athlete to try and set up a meeting. Veinot said the referrals come in from everywhere and have been working very well since their implementation.

Some skills Veinot teaches are breathing techniques to reduce anxiety and mindfulness to help control and limit the negative thoughts. Veinot said she is trying to meet with teams to assess what they need help with or what skill would bene t them most. After the meetings, she sets up a series of workshops with the teams. e more she can help the student-athletes in a group, the fewer reports come in — which is good, as it means there are fewer serious cases to be addressed.

Junior ECU volleyball player Merritt Woodson said she’s grateful for the addition of the sports psychologist position — even with student-athletes having access to the Counseling Center, where there are counselors available. “

It’s kind of like the convenience factor,” Woodson said. “We encourage all of our players to know you can talk to any of your teammates, your coaches, support sta but sometimes it is a lot easier to go talk to somebody that you’re seeing every single day.”

Frank said the Counseling Center explains things in a di erent way than Veinot, whose counseling is more focused towards student-athletes. Veinot played and coached collegiate women’s basketball for 25 years, so she understands more about what student-athletes are going through.

To bring more awareness to Morgan’s Message, most

ECU teams have a dedication night where they wear the chapter apparel. For example, the volleyball teams wear ribbons in their hair and the soccer team have warmup shirts with the chapter logo on the front in purple and gold. Woodson said the announcer will usually say a few words about the organization and its mission.

According to the Morgan’s Message website, ere are 4,824 ambassadors on 1,640 high school and collegiate campuses. ere are programs and chapters in 46 states, England and Canada.

Woodson said she knew of a teammate who took a step back from the sport because it was getting too overwhelming. e team supported the athlete in her decision and she ultimately came back to play.

e study by the NCAA showed 78 percent of male student-athletes and 94 percent of female student-athletes felt overwhelmed with their load within the past month. ese numbers have stayed relatively similar since 2020. e factors the study reported to be most impactful to the student-athletes mental health were academic worries (49 percent of women, 36 percent of men), planning for the future (40 percent of women, 31 percent of men), nancial worries and playing time.

As ambassadors for Morgan's Message, Woodson and Frank hold monthly meetings with their teams. In the meetings, Woodson said they’ll talk about performance anxiety, burnout and just have conversations about different mental health issues the team might be facing.

e pair try to spread awareness and open conversations about mental health as they recruit student-athletes through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group made up of student-athlete representatives from all ECU sports.

Mental health is becoming more and more discussed as time goes on, but Woodson said there’s still much room to grow.

“I think that we're moving in the right direction but it's still di cult for a lot of people to overcome that stigma that they've grown up with and reach out and ask for help,” she said. “So that's what we're trying to help by having people on our teams and throughout athletics and everyone really, giving them a space to talk about their mental health and not be afraid.”

Woodson said she hopes in the future there will be at least one ambassador for Morgan’s Message on every sports team at ECU. She wants to continue to help eliminate the stigma around mental health and let other student-athletes know they have a space to “freely talk about their mental health and not worry about how it might make them look.”

The ECU softball team hosted North Carolina State in Greenville for the team's Morgan’s Message dedication game on Feb. 28, 2024.

Lacrosse player Courtney Frank with the Morgan’s Message logo at the teams media day.

Contributed by ECU Pirates

Contributed by ECU Pirates

The state of mental health at N.C. A&T and where it can improve

ROSEGALIE CINEUS & KAILA COLLIER Editor-in-Chief & Senior Editor

Mental health awareness has become a topic at the forefront of many discussions nationwide.

At N.C. A&T, students are actively looking to improve their mental health and implement various activities that help them maintain a well-balanced lifestyle centered around taking care of themselves.

Sophomore psychology student Mulekesa Dorckasa grew up in a household where mental health was not talked about as much — crediting it to being Congolese and growing up in a community that doesn’t necessarily highlight its impact.

“As I got older, I started to see the importance of my mental health,” Dorckasa said. “I do a lot of self-care, and I do video diaries which are pretty much like a journal, I’m just recording it. I go to therapy as well and that has been something that has improved my mental health in a big way.”

As students, the constant hustle culture that has permeated society has produced a lifestyle of toxic productivity.

Toxic productivity is defined as “an obsessive need to always be productive, regardless of the cost to your health, relationships, and life.”

For students, toxic productivity may appear more often than not, making it hard for many to take a break and rest.

The university-wide wellness days are a way of implementing measures to force students to take that break.

Asha Taitt is a senior multimedia journalism student who sees wellness days as a time for students to realize that it is OK to stop working for a moment and take a break.

“Because what I think people realize is, there’s a lot of conversations about mental health and mental wellness, that have always occurred on this campus before us even being here,” she explained. “But it wasn’t until recently that they realized, “Hey, maybe we can take some of the load off people by actually giving them a break.’”

Cameron Williams, a junior supply chain management student, actively chooses to take breaks, recognizing the importance of giving yourself time to take a breath in the constant environment of hustle and grind.

“I’m all for pushing myself to be better, but there always comes a time when you slow yourself down by trying to do too much,” he explained. “I plan my rest days & leisure activities whether it’s golf, watching a basketball game, writing, painting or just taking a rest.”

At A&T, counseling services are a measure from the university that is available to students through the school.

Assistant Director of Counseling Services, Victoria L. Dalton describes it as “a place that provides individual and group counseling.”

Mixed reviews have plagued counseling services over the years.

Mattie Moore, a junior journalism student, tried A&T’s counseling services but her experience fell flat.

“After realizing the therapist I was paired with wasn’t a good fit, I decided not to return,” she shared.

However, Dorckasa had a great experience, saying that it allowed her to grow for the better.

“I can honestly say that I am so happy that I started counseling services because I found the perfect fit when it comes to a therapist or counselor.”

Counseling services may not be the solution for everyone. When looking for other ways to prioritize mental health, there are also students on campus who are advocates and actively have events focused on the importance of self-care.

Taitt serves as the vice president of A&T’s Student University Activities Board (SUAB), the organization dedicated to enhancing student life through diverse programs.

As vice president, Taitt has overseen various mental health-focused events and has pushed for more advocacy on the topic.

“I’ve been mental health trained for about like two years now. I’ve even pushed for the executive student leaders on campus to be mental

health trained. So we all got that done, this past August so that people feel as though we are somebody they can confide in. Because at the end of the day were students too.”

Dalton says that, there has been a change in the way mental health is dealt with now versus then.

“Less stigma is attached to asking for help now,” Dalton shared. “Society appears to be more receptive to reporting mental health concerns as evidenced by seeing increased advertisements to seek help.”

Although there are resources available for students throughout the university, things can always improve.

Moore suggests more transparency with counselors and the areas they specialize in to give students more information on who may be the best match for them.

Taitt sees a solution in advocating for mental health training, not only for leadership but for students across the board. She also mentions how counseling services could work better for students.

“I also think that we just have to push for more counselors in counseling services; a lot of people are frustrated because they feel like their presence isn’t known,” she said. “Or that they don’t get to consistently meet with the person they signed up to meet with. That’s mainly because they’re understaffed.”

A measure that has worked well for the students at A&T is the various events that SUAB puts on, focused on mental health.

These events are some of the most popular with a high turnout and consistent requests from students asking for more things like R&B yoga and sound bath events.

“I think that the mental health events are the most personable for people and so we tend to get a higher attendance for those events. Just because it is about the students.”

Photo courtesy of PIXABAY

HBCUs grapple with tuition increases and student mental mealth

DASIA WILLIAMS Culture Reporter

Many factors can a ect a college student’s mental health — like adjusting to a new schedule, stressing about career plans after graduation or struggling to nd a community when entering campus.

Another concern that can a ect the mental well-being of students at historically Black colleges and universities stems from having to pay back large amounts of student loans. e increasing tuition rates on these campuses further exacerbate the existing issue.

According to a 2013 study done by the Fredrick D. Patterson Research Institute, 80 percent of HBCU students borrowed federal loans compared to 55 percent of their non-HBCU peers.

Even though HBCUs can offer more a ordable access to higher education than non-HBCU schools, nancing college often involves students and families taking on loans. When coupled with sporadic increases in out-of-state tuition rates, thenancial burden can weigh heavily on some families.

Funding changes, instructor wages, building upgrades and rising operating expenditures all impact these tuition rates. Every university has its own set of motivations.

For the 2013-14 school year, N.C. A&T’s tuition and required fees for an out-of-state student were $15,550. Entering the 2023-24 school year, that number rose to $20,243. Over 10 years, the cost of attendance at the university — the nation’s largest public HBCU — rose by about 30 percent.

Underclassmen like Daiyana Brooks, a sophomore computer sci-

ence student, say that it is hard enough to adapt to a new environment and that the tuition increase adds stress.

“ e nancial side of college can get you down, and make you feel bad about yourself and your overall experience,” Brooks said. “You have to come up with ways to nancially support yourself to make sure you have enough money to even be in college.”

e issue of tuition increases is not solely an N.C. A&T problem. At Howard University, tuition has steadily risen over the past decade.

In 2013, Howard University had a tuition of around $23,000. By 2023, that number rose above $32,000.

Over the past decade, tuition increased at Howard, a notable private school, by over 39 percent. Underclassmen like biology student Courtney Copeland wonder where the money goes when the structure of the dormitories still has issues.

“Over winter break, many units in my building ooded and many students had to be moved to di erent rooms and buildings,” Copeland said. “I think Howard raising our tuition a ects most people considering it was already high, and it’s frustrating to see how many issues we’ve had this year, and I wonder what that money is going towards.”

At Spelman College, another private HBCU, the tuition and fees increase is around 17 percent over ten years. Senior journalism student Kylar Dee said that having to take out more student loans to pay for her last semester hinders her postgraduate plans.

“As I get close to the nish line, not only am I having to look for a great opportunity after school, but I’m also looking for ways to pay o high debt

in student loans,” Dee said. “It adds extra stress on me.”

Economic intuition

Je rey Edwards, an economics professor at N.C. A&T, emphasizes the importance of survey analysis and cohort studies to gain insights into tuition changes’ and their mental health impact.

Edwards said e ectively communicating research ndings, especially those related to the nancial implications of in ation, is crucial for informed decision-making among university administrators.

“Conducting a survey analysis, a cohort of students, and having students understand the market price, they would learn that they are getting o pretty cheap compared to other schools,” he said. “ e lack of communication from the university administration is simply why students are not aware of what will happen in the real world: you make more money due to in ation.”

Financial aid

Sharon Ozel, a medical and mental health case manager at N.C. A&T, spoke about the profound challenges students face when navigating nancial aid and tuition-related stressors.

“Students are more stressed and overwhelmed dealing with nancial aid, and that also stems from the stress of their parents when they have to accumulate funds unprepared,” Ozel said.

Her observations underscore the real-world impact of nancial aid decisions on students’ academic journeys, emphasizing the need for com-

prehensive support services.

“ e services the counseling center o ers are limited — there are no resources to deal with tuition or tuition increase,” Ozel said.

Addressing mental health in the Black community

e rising cost of college heightens nancial strain, potentially impeding access to education.

Recognizing that strain’s impact on mental health is crucial, as stress related to nancial constraints can increase the risk of anxiety and other mental health issues.

It is essential to consider individual di erences and broader socioeconomic aspects when assessing the impact nancial factors have on mental health within the Black community. As a part of addressing that impact, universities must prioritize transparent communication with students about the reasons behind tuition increases.

Engaging in open dialogue can help alleviate the mental burden on students by providing a clearer understanding of the nancial landscape and future implications. is includes acknowledging the factors contributing to rising costs like changes in funding, instructor wages, building upgrades and operating expenditures.

Furthermore, institutions need to invest in support services that address the mental health challenges arising from nancial strain.

Contact Dasia Williams at dnwilliams2@aggies.ncat.edu

Photo

Phoenix Free: Sobriety on campus

Phoenix Free president navigates transition, grows organization

AVERY SLOAN

Managing Editor of The Pendulum

Months before coming to Elon, current senior Syd Danziger made the decision to become sober. Without fully knowing what that would entail, Danziger entered Elon University feeling isolated and striving to keep this aspect of their identity quiet.

“It can be really hard to be surrounded by a bunch of young people who haven’t come to that conclusion yet or aren’t affected by what those habits can do to your life,” Danziger said.

Now, Danziger is the president of Phoenix Free, Elon’s collegiate recovery community. Danziger said despite initial hesitation around making their sobriety part of their identity – having Phoenix Free as a community has been crucial to their college experience and sobriety.

Elon is one of nine universities in North Carolina receiving funding from North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for its collegiate recovery program. According to the NCDHHS, in Alamance County in 2021, there were 106 alcohol related deaths and 109 deaths the year before. These two years had the highest alcohol related deaths since 2000.

Danziger said the culture around drinking in college, and Elon specifically, is prevalent, causing people to have certain perceptions of sober students. Danziger said they’ve encountered people assuming they aren’t fun at parties or that they are more uptight.

“When you have a school like Elon, which is very heavy on the alcohol, there are certain stigmas that

aren’t talked about yet that I’m trying to get out in the open,” Danziger said.

Danziger said Callie Kelly, Phoenix Free adviser, and Rodney Parks, Elon Registrar, are two of their biggest supporters on campus — and reasons they felt comfortable sharing their story.

“Both of them encouraged me in their own ways without pushing me,” Danziger said. “And kind of reminded me that, regardless of how scary I think my story might be to people, someone’s going to need to hear it.”

Kelly is also the adviser for the Alcohol and Substance-free Housing for Elon Students Living Learning Community. ASHES, located in Global Neighborhood, is an LLC dedicated to freshman and sophomore students who are committed to being substance free. While Kelly said each student has a different reason for sobriety, this shared living space is helpful for building community.

Due to ASHES’ location on the first floor of Jackson Hall, it only has 12 spaces for students. Kelly said this means living on the LLC is competitive, but students not living on the floor are not precluded from attending events. Kelly said she became the adviser for the floor in 2016 and interest in living in the LLC has grown since then, both in numbers and amount of events.

In addition to an adviser, ASHES has a student liaison who communicates directly with Kelly on a regular basis. This position has helped shape the trajectory of the LLC in building connectivity within the floor through more events such as traveling to different parts of the state and monthly dinner meetings.

“Over the years they’ve shared with me just how

integral just that first year on campus was and being connected to ASHES and how it really set the foundation for them,” Kelly said. “It gave them the support of the community and the confidence to withstand external pressures.”

Phoenix Free has also seen growth, even within Danziger’s time at Elon. Danziger said when they joined it was them and one other student attending events. Now, Danziger said the organization can expect about 10 students to be present for events. Phoenix Free, while it started as a substance free space, has now evolved to become a more general safe space for students. Danziger said students who are recovering from eating disorders, other bad habits or trauma in general all have a place in Phoenix Free.

“This is primarily a mental health space, more than anything else,” Danziger said. “It’s about recovering and togetherness and not about judgment. And so, while a lot of our events are substance free, they don’t require you to be sober.”

Through both Phoenix Free and ASHES, Kelly said students have been able to find community in a space that can be difficult to be sober in. Kelly said students within ASHES and Phoenix Free don’t have any animosity toward other students who make other choices regarding their alcohol consumption, but having a separate space where students are making the choice not to drink, can be a benefit to these members.

“They didn’t feel like they were missing out on anything, their first year or second year, it was just as fun and memorable without the alcohol,” Kelly said.

Avery Sloan / The Pendulum

HealthEU moves toward new wellness center

LILLY MOLINA News Editor

HealthEU, Elon University’s health and wellness initiative, has always existed but without the lotus logo showcased around campus.

Dean of Students Jana Lynn Patterson, who is the co-chair of the HealthEU council, said Elon had noticed there were di erent programs dedicated to students’ well-being for years, but they were all scattered across campus.

“Good health and well-being is not about a segregated approach,” Patterson said. “It’s about an integrated approach.”

HealthEU launched in the Aug. of 2022 and consists of six pillars: community, emotional, physical, nancial, purpose and social well-being. Patterson said all of these pillars are interconnected and that it is important for it all to be centralized. Hence, why HealthEU was created, to organize these already existing organizations, but also promote them to students. She said HealthEU is not only for students to take advantage of, but also for faculty and sta

Patterson said COVID-19 had slowed down the formation of HealthEU, but it also helped highlight areas that the initiative needed to work on. For example,

Patterson said the idea of TimelyCare was created as a response to students needing immediate care no matter the time of day.

Patterson added HealthEU has plans to open up a new wellness center after this past year of generally positive feedback from the community. She said something HealthEU is improving on is their mental health perspective. Currently, the counselors are stationed on the south side of campus, which can be a long trek for students to get access to.

“ e new wellness center allows us to bring mental health services back to the heart of campus,” Patterson said.

Patterson said it will free up some room in Ellington where the current health and wellness center is, because they would move counselors to this new building. It will also o er more space for physical wellness and well-being around campus. Another addition will be quiet meditative spaces.

In an email released on Jan. 30, university president Connie Book, wrote Elon’s tuition for the 2024-25 academic year will increase by 4.96% due to academic opportunities and the new wellness center. Patterson said they still don’t have the nal designs yet, but she is really excited to expand the brand of HealthEU with the help of her

councilmen.

e HealthEU council is represented by di erent faculty and sta from various departments around campus. One of these departments represented on the HealthEU council is the nance department.

“I think we’re beginning to get more traction on this sense of nancial wellbeing,” Patterson said.

Finance Professor Chris Harris is not only on the council, but also chair of the nance department and the director of the center of nancial literacy. Before HealthEU was formed, Harris had been focusing on helping students create positive nancial well-being since nine years ago with Elon’s Odyssey program, a merit and need-based scholarship program.

“I’ve worked in the investment world. I have the experience,” Harris said. “I feel like I can show up and try to help people who were me 20 years ago.”

Harris said the center of nancial literacy existed before HealthEU, but the initiative has helped make people more aware of this center. In 2023, he hosted about 40 events relating to nancial literacy/well-being which hundreds of people were able to attend in total.

“Research shows that poor nancial

wellness then leads to poor emotional, physical health like it has these impacts that go beyond just thinking about money,” Harris said.

Patterson said nancial well-being is something the school hadn’t talked about until recent years, but she nds it important because this could be advice that students can carry after graduation.

“I think it’s really important for students to get their nances in order,” Harris said. “It’s even more stressful for someone when they’re going to feel broke and now they have a family and mortgage.”

Harris said he has read research that shows that nancial well-being impacts the quality of people’s relationships with others, mental health and stress levels. He said Elon provides a unique opportunity to start learning about nancial literacy in a safe space.

Harris said going forward he wants to continue reaching more students. He is currently working with some students to create more of an online presence for the center of nancial literacy.

“We want to be able to reach as many people as possible, help people feel happier about their nances,” Harris said.

Elon professor and organization provide insight on the development of eating disorders in college students

NIA BEDARD Staff Writer

rough his research on perfectionism and impulse behaviors, Elon psychology professor and clinician Bilal Ghandour has found that eating disorder behavior often evolves from a strong need to be perfect and an inability to let go of high demands.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, eating disorders generally begin to develop between the ages of 18 and 21.

While in college, students participate in classes and can be involved in clubs, internships or work — creating a heavy workload with high demand.

“College is a really tricky period because you’re thrust into a new world as a young adult, you’re asked to do so many things all at once and the pressure is high,” Ghandour said. “One way to contain that pressure and gain some level of satisfaction is through control. It can be by restricting ourselves to feel more powerful and in control, or you can feel out of control and have a desire to binge eat or eat excessively.”

According to e Child Mind Institute, an organization focused on providing psychological and psychiatric services to children and families, 10 to 20 percent of women and four to 10 percent of men within the college demographic struggle with an eating disorder.

Ghandour said college athletics could make an eating disorder worse for athletes due to the environment and expectations. He also noted that being in sports can create an environment of competition, sacri ce and perfectionism,

which could lead to athletes creating certain negative eating habits or changing their perception of food.

Apart from athletics, Ghandour said eating disorders can manifest in both men and women. e National Eating Disorders Collaboration reported that one-third of people with eating disorders are men.

“For men, the manifestation of eating disorders has gone up a bit, but it usually manifests itself through a kind of body physique,” Ghandour said. “So if you want to gain muscles there can be a dysmorphic or an inappropriate way of looking at food and your body.”

Ghandor said that within the last 10 to 20 years there has been a shift in the way that women want to look from tiny and thin to strong and skinny due to the body tness movement making its way onto social media. is can manifest in di erent eating disorder behaviors such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or avoidant, also known as restrictive, food intake disorder.

Elon Campus Recreation and Wellness is raising more awareness of eating disorders a ecting college students by holding events such as the Love Your Body Month in February.

SPARKS peer educator Ruby Glynn, who helps to promote holistic well-being throughout the Elon student body, is excited to celebrate the month and raise awareness of an issue that can a ect anyone on any campus.

“I am especially passionate about this kind of targeted space, because it is so prevalent on college campuses,” Glynn said. “It’s de nitely a huge thing that everyone faces, it doesn’t

matter who you are.”

roughout Love Your Body Month, Campus Rec and Wellness is holding group exercise classes and pop-up events. In addition, they are bringing in speakers to talk to students about mindful eating, disordered eating and loving their body.

“We do ladies lift, which is going to get women into the gym and break that stigma of gym bros and focus on how intimidating it can be for a girl to be in the gym,” Glynn said.

While there are treatment options for people with eating disorders, such as psychotherapy,

medical monitoring, nutritional counseling, medication or a combination of these approaches, people su ering from eating disorders cannot be treated unless they ask for help.

“We need to make sure that people still feel comfortable reaching out,” Ghandour said. “It’s so imperative that people feel, like your friend, or your roommate, or your classmate or your athletic cohort, feel that they are doing something right when they actually report this.”

Elon Campus Recreation and Wellness talks to students about Love Your Body Month, a month dedicated to student wellness.

Nina Bedard/The Pendulum

The Chronicle

AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

Duke researchers work on mental well-being studies exploring how we think, feel and socialize

WINSTON QIAN Staff Reporter

In July 2023, a Duke research team published a study exploring how different motivations can drastically influence a person’s memory, thinking habits and mental health. The team included Alyssa Sinclair, current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who completed her doctoral studies at Duke, doctoral student Candice Yuxi Wang and Rachel Alison Adcock, the interim director of Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

“People that study learning, modeling it formally, have tended to assume that you could describe learning rates for reinforcement..depending on what the incentive was, whether it was big or small,” Adcock said. “But the state of mind essentially, was not considered in how quickly people learned.”

The research team used a virtual game modeled as an art museum heist to simulate a curiosity mindset and an urgency mindset.

“In both cases, the payoff they got was the same in terms of the game,” Adcock said. “You learn where things are, you come back the next day, you get your money, and that was true for both people. The only thing that was different was what they

were pretending to do in the game.”

Despite having the same rewards, results showed that the ‘urgent’ group was better at finding doors that revealed more valuable paintings, while ‘curious’ participants were better at remembering familiar paintings the next day.

“There are many situations where the kind of urgency you might feel gets in the way of acquiring more information and coming to an adaptive solution in the longer term,” Adcock said. “In a lot of psychotherapies, what we’re doing is trying to create space for people to lower the stakes in a given situation and get a little more curious about what are the possible outcomes.”

How We Feel - Analyzing the health impacts of mindfulness

Moria Smoski, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and doctoral student Joseph Diehl, are leading a Bass Connection research project aimed at discovering the effects of mind wandering and practicing mindfulness, including anxiety and depression.

According to Smoski, when people regularly engage in practices to increase mindfulness, their “risk for depression, anxiety go down.”

In the second semester of the project, the research

team is preparing to recruit study participants. To collect data around mindfulness and mind wandering, the team has implemented several approaches.

“We ask our participants to just kind of sit and don’t do anything at all. We also [ask] them to do a brief mindfulness practice. But afterwards, we [ask] ‘what were you thinking about?’” Smoski said. “But we’re also interested in using EEG as another way of measuring very brief microstates in the brain.”

Based on findings of this study, Smoski and Diehl also anticipate using their research to improve existing mental health resources on campus such as Koru Mindfulness and to develop new resources.

“We have two purposes. One is to form our own community of people using these practices,” Smoski said. “While Koru is wonderful… it’s only four weeks…I think we could have more of an impact on wellness on campus [by having] longer term support for mindful practice.”

How We Socialize - Cultural effect on selftranscendent emotions

In December 2023, senior Cai Liu received the 2023-2024 Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Her research analyzes cultural influences on the way people experience love and gratitude.

“I was just really fascinated by cross-cultural differences because of my personal background,” Liu said. “Emotions are super important to our well being and also social relationships, I just wanted to see [whether] those important emotions [are] going to vary as well across cultures.”

Liu initially hypothesized that cultures emphasizing social interdependency, such as Latin American and East Asian cultures, would have similar perceptions of what love and gratitude meant. She asked 300 participants including European Americans, Latin Americans and East Asians, to provide specific situations where they experienced love or gratitude.

The results, however, were surprisingly contrasting. “The Chinese [group] paid more attention to instrumental aspects of these experiences. For instance, they will mention more tangible actions such as [a] partner cooking a meal,” Liu said. “[The Chilien group]was more on the emotional and expressive side. They mentioned more cases such as emotional support during stressful times or physical intimacy.”

Liu believes that the new and growing field of cultural psychology is extremely important to achieve goals on diversity and inclusion in mental health.

“If the study is based only on a segment of the population, then how are we going to say, “hey, take this technique, it will work for you, it will work for everyone’,” Liu said. “If we want to make psychology work applicable to people from all cultural backgrounds, then we have to include more diverse samples in our studies.”

Photo courtesy of Duke University School of Medicine

EMMY MARTIN & EMILY VESPA

DTH Editor-in-Chief & Technician Managing Editor

Content warning : is article contains mentions of suicide and death.

When Sree Yallapragada found out her friend and N.C. State classmate died unexpectedly of health complications last February, she said she was struck with an indelible pang of shock, regret and deep sadness.

e death of Yallapragada’s classmate, Toni Tutt, hung over their small, tight-knit cohort of students in N.C. State’s English department throughout the remainder of the semester, she said.

As she stood next to her classmates at their graduation ceremony, she said Tutt’s absence was even more tangible.

“Someone is missing,” Yallapragada recalled thinking.

A few days later, when she learned another N.C. State student had died, this time by suicide, she felt numb.

“I don’t think there was enough time or way to process what was happening because it was so frequent,” Yallapragada said.

By the end of the 2022-23 academic year, 14 students at N.C. State had died, seven by suicide. In the ve years prior, an average of eight students died at N.C. State annually, and of those, the institution averaged three suicides per year.

In 2021, UNC saw a similar spate of incidents when at least three students died by suicide in one semester.

Neither UNC nor N.C. State publicly track the exact number of students who die during their time at the institutions, including those who die by suicide. is makes it hard to determine how many students die at the universities each year.

UNC does not internally track student deaths, UNC’s Dean of Students Desirée Rieckenberg said. An N.C. State spokesperson did not con rm whether the university internally tracks student deaths, saying only that the process it follows when a student dies is “not necessarily a formal tracking mechanism.”

e lack of record surrounding student deaths is not unusual. In 2018, e Associated Press found that out of the 100 largest public universities in the United States, 46 tracked suicides among their student bodies. N.C. State was one of two universities that didn’t provide tracking data to AP at the time.

e mental health crisis UNC and N.C. State face is not altogether unique. Universities across the country are also confronting a 62 percent rise in suicide rates among teenagers and young adults over 14 years. is year, four students at the University of WisconsinRiver Falls died by suicide. During the 2020-21 academic year, three students at Dartmouth College died by suicide. In 2021, two students at the West Virginia University died by suicide.

Avery Cook, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at UNC, said death by suicide has long been a risk factor for young adults, but that risk has increased in tandem with rates of other mental health concerns.

“I think there are a lot of stressors in the world right now,” they said. “We’re coming out of COVID, which was a really challenging, traumatic time for everyone, and we have to remember that each individual is dealing with their own con guration of events.”

Shortly after each campus lost multiple students to suicide, both UNC and N.C. State partnered with e Jed Foundation through the JED Campus initiative. e nonpro t collaborates with universities to improve mental health programs and suicide prevention e orts. UNC partnered with JED in February 2022, and N.C. State in September 2023.

N.C. State and UNC are also two of a growing number of universities that have established protocols for the aftermath of student deaths, commonly known as postvention protocols.

Justine Hollingshead, N.C. State’s assistant vice chancellor for academic and student a airs, said the university adopted a formal postvention protocol in 2015, and it has evolved over the nine years she has served as the postvention coordinator.

UNC published its postvention protocol on the Dean of Students website in 2022 after several student suicides in 2021 gained signi cant attention. Rieckenberg said the University made the decision in an e ort to prioritize transparency.

“We felt like it was really appropriate and a good time to be able to open up the playbook for folks to be able to see and understand not only what we do, but some of the whys behind what we do,” Rieckenberg said.

What UNC and N.C. State’s postvention protocols address

After a student death, both N.C. State and UNC ensure the family and friends have been noti ed, Hollingshead and Rieckenberg said. e two universities focus on identifying individuals who may be impacted by the death and work to provide care and resources to those deemed highly impacted.

“We can’t control social media or the local media coming with a camera, of course, so there’s sometimes that time lag,” Hollingshead said. “And that’s viewed as a failure on our part, but that’s not a failure. It’s a best practice to make sure we’re being respectful of the family and their noti cation.”

At UNC and N.C. State, discussion of student deaths can spread quickly on social media. Both universities’ policies concede that speculation about the circumstances of a student’s death may circulate long before any o cial information is released.

In the circumstance that either school nds it necessary to send a campus-wide communication, details like the cause of death typically won’t be included. At N.C. State, o cial statements can con rm a suicide if the death was public or if information about the suicide is already publicly known.

In campus communications that allude to student deaths, leadership at N.C. State and UNC have emphasized mental health resources available to students.

Last academic year, N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson released several messages to the community to acknowledge select student deaths and direct students to on-campus support. But this year, the university hasn’t taken the same approach to publicly addressing the death of two students — one of unknown causes and the other, an apparent suicide.

“Sending a mass email out to tens of thousands is not a best practice,” Hollingshead said.

e change is an e ort to be mindful of suicide contagion, Hollingshead said, which is when exposure to suicide can in uence others to attempt. Research has shown that teenagers and young adults can be more susceptible to suicide contagion and clusters.

UNC’s response regarding deaths on campus has been similar. When a student died on campus in April 2023, the sixth death that year, the University would not provide details to local media.

UNC Police only release an Alert Carolina message if there is an ongoing threat to the community. However, students did receive an Alert Carolina message in September 2021

about the suicide of a student at e Forest eatre, despite the message stating there was “no ongoing threat to campus.”

Steps taken by both universities

Following the suicides on UNC’s campus in fall 2021, the institution launched the Heels Care Network, a website that provides a comprehensive list of mental health resources, events, news and a peer support chat. Similarly, N.C. State established the Wolfpack Wellness website in November 2023 to provide a single place to explore the university’s mental health and well-being resources.

Now in its third year of JED Campus, UNC is focused on implementing recommendations from JED and community participation.

In fall 2022, UNC launched a Healthy Minds Survey for the student body and the JED Task Force developed a strategic plan based on the results of the survey. Currently, a group composed of University administrative o cials, students and mental health professionals are in the process of implementing initiatives from the strategic plan.

Amy Johnson, vice chancellor for student a airs and cochair of the task force, said several of JED’s recommendations for supporting student mental health are either completed or in progress at UNC. Of the 79 recommendations, only four had not been started.

During the nal stage next year, UNC will readminister the Healthy Minds Survey and complete a post-assessment. JED will provide a progress summary and guidance on how to continue improving mental health resources.

“While not all recommendations may be implemented at every campus, we think these ndings speak to our strong commitment to supporting student well-being and are grateful for our community’s partnership,” Johnson said in a statement.

In fall 2022, N.C. State launched a Student Mental Health Task Force. Since the group issued its nal report in spring 2023, implementation teams have worked to address several recommendations. e university scheduled regular wellness days, embedded counselors in each college across campus, reviewed its postvention protocols and engaged in the JED Campus program.

N.C. State is in the rst stage of the Jed Foundation’s fouryear program, which will continue through spring 2027.

Hollingshead said the partnership with the Jed Foundation has already brought about change to parts of the postvention plan to align it with best practices. e university has provided training for some campus entities that had not previously been trained in the protocol due to high turnover, she said.

“We had kind of missed that piece,” she said. “People come and go, so we had not done as good a job of training individuals who might have to respond.”

Hollingshead and other university leaders will continue to enhance N.C. State’s approach to mental health, she said. JED will conduct a campus visit to N.C. State from March 28 to 29 to help inform its assessment and planning process.

Yallapragada said students coping with the loss of a friend or classmate should seek help, adding that it is crucial to lean on resources like crisis helplines and well-being support provided by their university.

“It’s like when you’re traveling and the ight attendants are showing the oxygen mask demo and they’re like, ‘Put it on yourself before you help people,’” Yallapragada said. “Take care of yourself before you tackle everything else.”

If you need emotional support or are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In the case of a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

This story is co-reported with the

‘Could have been doing this all along’: State budget invests in mental health resources

LUCY MARQUES Assistant City & State Editor

e 2023-25 North Carolina state budget included a substantial investment in mental health funding, including a total of $835 million in behavioral health through the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and Medicaid ex pansion.

is investment, which the NCDHHS called unprecedented, includes an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for be havioral health services — $99 million to invest in the crisis response system and the expansion of re-entry and diversion programs for those involved in the justice system.

Gov. Roy Cooper and state legislators across party lines were advocates for mental health funding in this year’s budget, Kelly Crosbie, the director of the N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services, said.

Crosbie said she and Carrie Brown, the NCDHHS’ chief psychiatrist and deputy chief medical o cer, met with state leg islators to discuss budgeting for mental health. e data they presented matched what many legislators saw in their own districts, Crosbie said.

budget is decided, the process for choosing which issue areas to fund often does not allow for much public input. Most funding, she said, occurs because of the in uence of lobbyists or a legislator’s interest — and she said only some of the most powerful state legislators have the power to set an agenda and allow proposals to

of focus are all asking for funding, pulling legislators in di erent directions.

“I think we have had strong advocates from the General Assembly in years past, but obviously there’s been a lot of other pressing issues,” she said. “Sometimes it’s education that rests at the forefront, sometimes Medicaid and healthcare.”

tal health services to anyone, regarding of insurance status or diagnosis.

“It’s novel, in that [the clinics] are changing the way that they’re trying to pay for these services, like paying for the population more so than for individual services,” Helen Newton, an assistant professor in the UNC Department of Family Medicine, said.

“And none of [the state legislators] will tell you they’re mental health experts in any way, but what we saw were people who were very receptive to the facts that we are presenting,” Crosbie said.

Alexandra Sirota, the executive director of the N.C. Budget & Tax Center, said that once the total amount in the state

tify needs that require funding from the General Assembly,” she said.

Crosbie said the NCDHHS created four di erent advisory committees with the community about di erent parts of the budget to connect with North Carolinians about funding.

She said, in any given year, there is only so much money to go around in the state budget, and advocates with di erent areas

pansion. Without those funds, it’s unclear if state legislators would remain committed to mental health funding, she said.

Last March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded 15 states, including North Carolina, with a one-year planning grant for Certi ed Community Behavioral Health Clinics. e clinics, which are federally funded, provide substance use disorder and men-

When state legislators speak about funding commitments they are not able to make, Sirota said, they often say they are constrained by the amount of money they are bringing in.But, Sirota said, Republican legislators cut income taxes for pro table corporations in the state, limiting the money that can be used to fund di erent interests.

“Unfortunately, what ends up happening is issues that all contribute to mental health and well-being get pitted against each other in really harmful ways that undermine the long term goal that we should all share: that everybody should get the care they need,” she said.

Sirota said, rather than recognizing and planning for needs in advance, legislative leaders waited to make investments in services until the state was in a mental health crisis.

“I think the lesson should be — we could have been doing this all along if there was truly the will to center people’s well-being in our decision making,” she said.

‘Testament to how seriously the state is taking suicide prevention’: State launches mental health lifeline dashboard

LOLA OLIVERIO City & State Senior Writer

In December 2023, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services launched a performance dashboard to track calls made to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

e lifeline is a free, con dential service created by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in partnership with Vibrant Emotional Health, launched in 2005. Upon calling, users are connected to local call centers within their state. e crisis line aims to provide callers with both acute crisis intervention strategies, as well as general mental health support.

“When you call, they will hook you up with anything,” Kelly Crosbie, the director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services at the NCDHHS, said.

1,420

Number of 988 calls made in OrangeCounty,N.C.in2023

She said that only about 15 percent of users who call are in active crisis.

Some of the data provided by the dashboard includes demographic statistics of callers, their reasons for contacting the crisis line and what support or services the call center referred them to.

“ e dashboard, I think, is helpful to provide transparency about the impact that service is having for our state,” Michael Kane, the director of clinical data science and advanced analytics and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UNC, said.

“And so, I think the public can use the dashboard to continue to build faith in this service — being something that’s ready, available for when folks need it.”

A nationwide 988 dashboard exists as well, detailing answer speed and call length across the country. e lifeline has subnetworks to provide individuals with specialized services, such as Spanish and LGBTQI+ subnetworks. Calls can also be routed to a separate Veterans Crisis Line that is operated in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans A airs.

Other states, such as Georgia, Louisi-

ana and Wyoming, have similar dashboards that track 988 lifeline data on a state level. ese dashboards are helpful for states to assess their suicide prevention e orts and identi cation of places in which more support is needed, Kane said.

Overall, there were 1,420 calls from Orange County residents, with the rate of calls being slightly higher than most other surrounding counties. e most common reason for contacting the crisis line statewide was interpersonal or family issues, followed by depression.

Virginia Rodillas, the director of helpline operations at the North Carolina branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that 988 Lifeline call center dispatchers are trained to de-escalate situations and provide callers with the appropriate resources, such as directing them to “warm lines” — as opposed to hotlines — which are for less intense or less time-sensitive situations.

Very rarely are law enforcement agencies involved when an individual calls the 988 Lifeline, Crosby said. Instead, mo-

bile crisis units are deployed to those in active crises. ese teams include a social worker in an unmarked vehicle to assess emergency situations. In 2023, only 11.8 percent of callers were referred to mobile crisis units.

As of 2021, North Carolina’s ageadjusted suicide mortality rate was 0.8 percent lower than the nation’s average. North Carolina’s average 988 Lifeline answer time in 2023 was 14 seconds, whereas the national average was 39 seconds.

“We’re doing so well nationally in terms of where our numbers, our benchmarks are compared to the national averages,” Kane said. “I think it’s a testament to how seriously the state is taking suicide prevention and the resources that they’re putting toward mental health in general.”

Study examines mental health impact of campus gun-related incidents

Students are more likely to have PTSD symptoms after UNC’s two incidents of gun violence

LUCY KRAUS University Staff Writer

UNC junior Mary McKenzie said she rarely sits on the rst oor of the Student Union. at’s where she was during the Sept. 13 lockdown after a person threatened an Alpine Bagel Cafe employee with a gun.

“When I see something out of the ordinary, my rst thought always goes to, ‘Something’s going on again,’” she said. “And then I’m waiting for an alarm or an alert.”

Joe Friedman, a clinical psychology graduate student, is researching the longterm e ects on campus mental health from the two incidents of gun violence early in the fall semester.

e ongoing research study will track the survey responses of students, faculty and sta throughout the academic year, following the shooting on Aug. 28 and the Sept. 13 lockdown.

Of the ve scheduled surveys, the rst was sent out six weeks after Aug. 28 and received 287 responses, Friedman said. Although the number of responses dropped in the following surveys, he said survey respondents were largely sourced through email listservs. e last survey will be sent out in March.

“ e purpose of the study is for us to learn why certain people are having a more challenging time coping with stressful or traumatic events such as this, and also how we can better help people who have been most a ected during this,” Friedman said.

Friedman said the rst survey found that one in ve respondents reported clinically

signi cant symptoms of post-traumatic stress. at number jumped to one in four among students.

“We’re seeing that students are reporting more severe symptoms than faculty and sta ,” Friedman said. “And we’re also seeing that individuals who identify as a racial or ethnic minority are reporting more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms on average.”

He also said the surveys showed a signi cantly higher level of post-traumatic stress symptoms among individuals who were close to Alpine and the Union during the second lockdown but did not show a signi cant di erence based on proximity to Caudill Labs on Aug. 28.

Friedman said there is potential for bias in the sample because people who felt more mental health repercussions from the events may have been more likely to elect to complete the survey.

Jonathan Abramowitz, Friedman’s research mentor and director of clinical training in the psychology and neuroscience department, said when a group of people experiences a traumatic event, the majority tend to recover on their own, but there are always some individuals who continue to have di culties.

Abramowitz said anxiety presents in three ways: physically in the form of muscle tension and headaches, mentally through symptoms such as racing thoughts and di culty concentrating and behaviorally through avoidance and taking extra precautions. He said posttraumatic stress is a subset of anxiety and can include additional symptoms such as an exaggerated startle response and loss of interest in activities.

One undergraduate student who wished to remain anonymous said she struggled with increased anxiety after being in the Union during the second lockdown. She

also said she had a di cult time prioritizing her mental health while completing classwork after the incidents.

“As soon as we were back, we still had the same amount of material to cover but you had less time to cover it,” she said. “ at has always been the question — were those mental health days really worth it?”

Friedman said two-thirds of the sample reported not seeking any kind of support or psychological services in response to what happened.

“From Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2023, CAPS provided walk-in services to 192 students,” UNC Media Relations said in an email statement. “During that same time frame in 2022, CAPS provided walk-in services to 87 students.”

Media Relations said they were unable to attribute a reason to the visits.

Although memories of the incidents last fall no longer impact her every day, McKenzie said there are still one or two times a week when something out of place, like someone yelling or running, makes her feel tense.

Friedman said the research is a reminder that it is very common to still be a ected by a traumatic event, even months later. He said he encourages people to seek support from friends and family, as well as trained mental health professionals.

“If you are struggling with this, just realize that you’re not alone,” Friedman said. “Even though the lockdown happened in the past, your current emotions about it are real and valid and not something you should feel ashamed about.”

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Opinion: Mental health is generational in minority communities. Acknowledge it

ANKUR MUTYLA Columnist

Growing up, my family didn’t talk about mental health. e subject rarely came up, and when it did, it was shut down immediately. Feeling any sort of bad feelings was just that: bad, something you should avoid at all costs. Uncomfortable feelings were not to be felt, and they certainly were not to be talked about. I was under the impression that I was — and always would be — completely ne.

It’s di cult to place when exactly I began to struggle with mental health. Despite a “ ne” upbringing, somewhere along the way grew the everpresent pit in my stomach; the racing, unintelligible thoughts clouding every social encounter; and the insistent need to know, “are you sure they don’t hate you?”

I told myself that my experience was normal. Everyone was supposed to have a bit of self-hatred, right?

But when getting out of bed became a chore and interacting with others felt like running a marathon, I knew something needed to change. It took me months to gain the courage to approach my parents. I felt the full weight of all the stigma surrounding mental health

that was present both in my own family and throughout my entire culture.

When I nally revealed my struggles to my parents, they were less than enthusiastic. ey weren’t necessarily hostile; they were simply lost. ey had no idea how a kid with friends, good grades and a nancially stable family could be anything but ne. ey recalled feeling similarly when they were young, attempting to convince me that struggling was a normal part of the human experience.

Regardless, I insisted on starting therapy. e weekly appointments were always somewhat predictable. After a few minutes of “I totally understand where you’re coming from” and “I can see how that’s di cult for you,” my therapist would always circle back to the same question: “How did you feel as a child?”

A few diagnoses and multiple therapists later, it became clear to me that my issues were not standard. Even more unsettling though, was the realization that they didn’t come out of nowhere. My attachment issues and the way I spoke to myself weren’t just spontaneous, unlucky mutations of the mind with no basis — they were the result of my upbringing.

I grew resentful of my family. I blamed them for giving me my dysfunctional thought patterns. How could they claim

to love me while damaging my mind as it was forming? All of the suppressed tears, the avoidance of emotional conversations, the lack of emotional safety — it was all contributing to my unhappiness. I concluded that they deliberately placed struggles on my shoulders out of malice.

As I grew older, I began to notice glaring similarities between myself and my parents. It was in the way my mom talked about herself, the pressure my dad put on himself to be successful, the views they had on love and relationships. I saw myself in the way they criticized themselves. I heard my own voice as they discounted their successes and magni ed their failures. I had inherited my poor mental health from something other than my own childhood.

e way my parents raised me was a re ection of their own upbringing in India, where the stigma surrounding mental health is undeniably worse. My parents likely had little resources to turn to if they felt similarly in their youth. Suppressing their feelings was all they ever knew, so it’s no wonder I was raised to do the same.

After more challenging conversations with my parents, I realized that they had just as many — if not more — di culties facing the topic of mental health. ey became more patient with

each day I continued to open up to them. My resentment dissolved and was replaced with empathy as I learned how to resist decades of willful ignorance and paralyzing stigma that had persisted through the many generations before me — an unjust silence that plagued not only my family, but my entire culture. I embarked on the arduous journey of healing alongside my parents rather than in spite of them.

Upon learning to adopt this forgiveness towards my family, I found that each conversation regarding mental health only became easier.

I’m not justifying unhealthy coping mechanisms and the suppression of emotional struggles by parents; rather, my goal is to acknowledge the generational persistence of poor mental health, especially in minority communities. It is essential to identify these long-standing patterns in order to dismantle them and prevent their extension to future generations. Forgiveness truly is freeing when dealing with these issues. After all, when facing something as complex and daunting as mental health, aren’t we all — parents included — just doing the best with what we know?

Giuli Hoffmann/ The Daily Tar Heel