Going away to college for the first time isn’t easy.
But according to the most recent annual survey conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, college freshmen are actually more emotionally distressed than they have been in the past 49 years.
The survey found the proportion of students who frequently felt depressed also rose.
At UF, about 1 in 4 students seriously considered leaving school due to poor mental health, according to the most recent Healthy Gators Student Survey Report, a comprehensive health study of UF students, published in 2013. But GatorWell, which provides services to reduce student stress, aims to help those students by opening a new office in the Reitz Union.
This will engage more students at a more convenient location, said Maureen Miller, the director of GatorWell. The opening is tentatively scheduled for January 2016, when the new section of the Reitz Union opens.
Through GatorWell, UF students looking for wellness coaching can learn stress-management strategies, said Sara Martin, a health promotion specialist at GatorWell.
“We would work on creating a goal around that and then an action plan to get them there,” Martin said.
Freshmen are often challenged by schoolwork in a way they aren’t used to or confused about choosing a major.
In addition to academic stress, students may experience relationship, health or financial stress.
Students should not hesitate to take advantage of campus resources and reach out for help, said UF psychology junior Mariah Boudreaux.
She is also a former intern for To Write Love on Her Arms, a non-profit organization that helps those struggling emotionally.
“The biggest thing that I would say is to remember that other people feel that way, too,” Boudreaux, 20, said. “No one on this campus needs to feel alone.”
