By: Ashirah Newton
Image of the Counseling Center located in room 1G03
While the immediate effects of COVID-19 have ended, the long-term impact on undergraduates persists. Now, students face readjusting to balancing personal, economic, and family duties with schoolwork, increased work-related stress, and worrying about how economic events will affect their futures like inflation.
Over a third of the American college undergraduate population suffers from moderate or severe symptoms of depression, according to a Healthy Minds study analyzing data on college students’ mental health from 2023-2024.
College undergraduates who are a part of the female, racial minority, and/or lower-income demographics are at higher risk of developing depression and mental illness according to the Mayo Clinic Health System.
York College is in the heart of Jamaica, Along with this, 94 percent of the student population are racial minorities. About two-thirds of the undergraduate population is female and 74 percent of all students are low-income according to College Simply.
At York College, students have access to a variety of mental health resources at its counseling center on the first floor, including in-person centers dedicated to private counseling, gender justice, undergraduates with disabilities, student health services, and a male initiative program. The center also hosts workshops and wellness programs like “Wellness Wednesdays” which provides mental health awareness to undergraduates
There are online resources like Uwill, created for students to interact with therapists at any time they want, who help to improve their mental health through wellness techniques like yoga, meditation, and mindfulness through video meetings, phone calls, and chat or messaging. Students can access the service through York’s Cardinal app main home screen.
York College runs hour-long workshops and events each month to promote mental health awareness to undergraduates, teaching them how to be better thinkers and problem solvers.
However, a large portion of the student population are not aware or have not accessed these resources.
“I had no idea York had mental health services, so I didn’t find any support,” said Tatyanna Willis, majoring in psychology.
“At York College, a lot of the students here are commuters. That means many students will come to school, go to class, take one or two classes, and then leave for the day,” said Nichole Acevedo, the Interim Manager at the Women’s Center. “We do not get to have that level of engagement with those students.”
York College has been on a continuous journey to strengthen the visibility of mental health resources through promoting flyers at the counseling center and on the college website dedicated to helping out students with academic difficulties, relationship issues, and family struggles, along with also increasing student involvement through social media, programming, workshops, and support groups.
“Mental health services at York College have been an amazing experience. The counseling center is a world of its own,” says Jerina Forbes, an English major at York College.
An image of the Counseling Center’s massage chair (one of the main resources provided to students)
