With the National Institute of Health reporting that 30 percent of college students in the last year have at one point been, “so depressed it was difficult to function,” and another 1100 committing suicide every year, there seems to be a disconnect between the facts, and the steps AU administration has taken to deal with them.
On the Nov. 17, I called the AU Counseling Center and asked for the next available appointment. After a few minutes on hold, I was informed that the next available appointment would be on the Nov. 25. Just over a week away. While that might not seem like much, young adults who are severely depressed often lack the drive to keep an appointment, just as they might lack the drive to simply get out of bed in the morning.
The hours of service the Counseling Center offers range from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. on most days, the exceptions being Tuesday and Thursday where they run until 6 p.m. For so many of us who are afflicted with our worst symptoms at night, there is almost no recourse except to phone the Department of Public Safety and request an emergency session. As a disclaimer, I am only speaking for personal experience here, but before I was medicated, the shame I felt at being dysfunctional was crippling. I would sleep my day away and not face my roommates. I tried to avoid any sense of authority, and Public Safety definitely didn’t rank high on the list of people I wanted to talk to.
I don’t think the issue is with an overall lack of funding. With the Undergraduate Senate being dysfunctional and absurd as ever, instead of focusing on Facebook in meetings, maybe they should begin to allocate funds to the proper places. This would actually go toward helping their fellow students, instead of acting like children. The elections might be a joke on campus, but their jobs aren’t.
The current situation is deplorable. The resources and facilities designed to help students are overburdened and underfunded, and neither the administration nor Student Government seem to care in the least. My solution is this. Even the simple addition of a 24-hour peer help line run by students themselves could create a safe atmosphere for struggling students to phone in and express their concerns. It would be cheap to staff, and an easy step in the right direction. Sometimes, the solution isn’t a long drawn out process designed to “fix” those of us that feel so broken. Sometimes, a friendly voice is enough to push back the dark for long enough until you can reach for the light.
Thanks for listening.
For everyone’s benefit, I’ve included below a link to the counseling center on campus as well as suicide prevention hotline. Let’s get well together. You’re not alone in this.
http://www.american.edu/ocl/counseling/
Confidential Lifeline hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Nick Kistler is a sophomore in the School of International Service.
