May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but California State University, Bakersfield's Counseling Center wants to highlight the importance and significance of mental health throughout the year.
“We want to emphasize the need for focusing on the whole person,” said Eric Lord, licensed clinical social worker at the center.
Lord understands that there can be an added pressure causing anxiety and depression for students. He says it’s important to acknowledge how impactful that can be on a person’s life. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college campuses.
However, there are a number of resources available to students, including the Student Recreation Center, the Food Pantry and other services provided by the Basic Needs Department, designed to provide care for students in a variety of areas that affect their overall health, including mental health.
While the Counseling Center is primarily for students enrolled at CSUB, it also serves as a resource for faculty and staff. If someone doesn’t know where to start, they are happy to answer questions and direct them.
Faculty and staff can utilize the Employee Assistance Program by going through the Human Resources Department, which can connect them to therapists and psychiatrists in their healthcare network. It can be a challenge to navigate the proper channels through insurance, but Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services is also an excellent beginning tool while embarking on a path of mental health healing.
Even if you aren’t necessarily looking for a therapist, everyone experiences stress in some form or another. There are small check-ins and measures you can take to take care of yourself and your mental health.
A few tips for managing stress:
1. Acknowledge stressful situations in your life. Ask yourself a few questions: Where are the stresses coming from? What are your priorities? If it’s work or family, what is it about those situations that are causing the anxiety or overwhelming feelings? How can you mitigate that?
2. Create boundaries around the things we aren’t responsible for. For students still living at home, that can lead to meaningful conversations of actions that need to be taken and how to respectfully make progress in those areas. For others, it can be taking on too much at work or needing help with chores at home.
3. Self-Care: This looks different to everyone. It’s important to know what your needs are and finding activities that work for you.
4. Breathing techniques: There are breathing techniques which help calm the body down in the moment, including diaphragmatic breathing, which allows you to deliberately pay attention to each breath. This often helps when jumping back into the task at hand, like seeing a new perspective or a new outlook on the situation.
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