Mental health issues at Miami University present themselves in many forms, including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts. However, the solutions to these problems are about as visible as the signs. In Miami's Institutional Response Team brochure passed out to faculty and staff last week, as well as an examination of Student Health Services and eating disorders on campus, there is the common thread of re-examining Miami's mental health counseling services. Looking more broadly at the issue of mental health, universities that have seen shootings or student deaths often turn to mental health as a motive behind the actions. In the opinion of The Miami Student editorial board, mental health services should be more visible and accessible at the university.
Deserving or not, Miami has been viewed as a campus of skinny students. This image could lead to a stressful environment where students feel the need to lose weight at the detriment to their health. There needs to be more awareness about this problem on-campus-especially among men, a population that might be overlooked as unlikely to be affected by such issues, but that statistics show are increasingly plagued by eating disorders. Although some recently created student organizations have successfully begun to point out the issue as important, the university must make sure there are forums available for discussion and for students that need help.
However, eating disorders are not the only issues of mental health that need to be addressed. Depression, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts are also prevalent at this campus. Yet these issues are rarely the focus of university programming or forums. Equally, while there are some publications and a link on the Blackboard Web site for students searching for help with an eating disorder, it was hard to locate online help for depression or drug abuse, unless a student was directed where to look. Web sources are important for students looking for help, especially those who are more hesitant to talk to a counselor in person.
The Web resources for mental health at Miami needs to be updated to make Student Counseling Services more visible and accessible to students. There needs to be a stronger presence of mental health advocates on campus so that students are comfortable dealing with their problems, as well as to give all students insight into the different issues affecting the psychology our generation.
While Miami has some resources available, such as student organizations dedicated to mental health issues or staff positions that deal with specific issues-such as the sexual assault coordinator-there needs to be a broader initiative to increase awareness of mental health issues and visibility of Student Counseling Services on campus.
We would like to recognize and stress Miami's effort to increase campus awareness of programs such as sexual assault. However, there should also be a greater effort made to expand programs that tackle the growing numbers of mental health concerns. Eating disorders remain only a small fraction of the larger mental health problems affecting Miami's campus and students. Accordingly, by increasing campus awareness through brochures, lectures and greater accessibility to resources, Miami students could have a better chance combating their own and recognizing their friends mental health issues.
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