For the third consecutive year, Cal State Fullerton coordinated a campus Student Mental Health Resource Fair to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
Hosted by the Counseling and Psychological Services department along with Partners4Wellness/Connect OC, this year’s fair, held April 23, was a success, according to Jacquelyn Gerali, a faculty counselor/prevention education coordinator with the department.
“We received a lot of positive feedback about the variety of low-cost and free resources, doggy therapy, art activities, affirmation wall and yoga,” she said. Approximately 500 students were in attendance, according to Gerali, which made it the largest fair so far.
College students suffer from a number of mental health problems. “Some of the most common mental health concerns that we see here at CAPS include anxiety, depression, interpersonal relationship problems, trauma and social anxiety,” Gerali said.
Recognizing these problems and getting help is critical for students to be able to function socially and academically.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” Gerali said. “It is important to provide students with space to know that it is OK to not be OK — this is a part of the experience of being a human being. It is OK to feel pleasant and unpleasant emotions. It is natural and normal to feel a variety of emotions.”
But some students won’t seek help, believing they can’t afford it, an obstacle that Gerali and her colleagues address. “Mental health services oftentimes can be quite expensive, which can be challenging for many students,” Gerali said. “Providing students with access to these valuable resources is something we are really passionate about. With intentionally, we identified free or low-cost resources that can best meet the needs of our particular student population.”
Another obstacle to getting help is the stigma associated with having mental illness such as depression or anxiety. One purpose of the CAPS program is to remove that stigma by raising awareness about mental health so that students are willing to take steps to stay healthy.
“We like to work on reducing stigma by stepping away from a problem-saturated narrative,” said Jessica Leone-Aldrich, a CAPS faculty counselor/prevention education coordinator. “You do not have to have ‘issues’ with your mental health in order to take care of it.
“We encourage students to engage in mental health practices that are preventative and can help protect against possible development of mental health conditions. Just like there are many things that we can do to give ourselves a fighting chance against many physical chronic illnesses, there are supportive and protective measures that we can take for our mental well-being as well.”
The department provides choices for students who want to manage their mental health.
“Our goal is to offer a variety of different services for our students because each student is unique and not everyone has the same needs,” Gerali said.
The Wellness Room, with massage chairs, napping pods, art area and lounge, and yoga is open to students as a place to relax and decompress. Compass.Fullerton.Edu is an online resources navigation tool and Fullerton.Thrivingcampus.Com provides off-campus therapy resources. YOU.Fullerton.Edu is another online wellness platform.
Peer education, drop-in counseling groups, wellness workshops, initial consultation appointments, single-session therapy, short-term counseling, crisis services and a new mobile unit crisis service are available. Students can join therapy groups and receive wellness coaching, case management and psychiatry services.
College students may not realize that they are suffering from a mental health problem, so education about the tell-tale symptoms is part of the purpose of CAPS.
“Oftentimes, people are not intentionally in denial of the status of their mental health, but rather, they may not know that the reasons why they are struggling with various facets of their life are directly related to their mental health,” Leone-Aldrich said.
“A student may be unmotivated, not able to sleep, binge eating, not able to access joy in their hobbies, lacking confidence and isolating from their friends and have no clue that they meet full criteria for major depressive disorder,” she said. “Along with that, they may also be missing out on the fact that depression is treatable. Without proper education about mental health, this student may assume that the reason why they struggle is due to some sort of personal flaw instead of depression.”
The resource fair cohost, Partners4Wellness/Connect-OC, works to raise awareness about the importance of mental health for young people throughout the county.
“Connect-OC is a community coalition through Partners4Wellness focused on promoting existing mental health resources to Orange County young adults through education and outreach,” Gerali said. “The organization hosts a variety of mental wellness events throughout the county anwww.partners4wellness.org
Learn more
Students can find out more about CSUF CAPS services by calling 657-278-3040, following CAPS on Instagram, or visiting the website at www.fullerton.edu/caps. To learn more about Connect-OC, visit www.connect-oc.org, and for Partners4Wellness visit https://www.partners4wellness.org/.
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