This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance. Hi my name is Olivia and I intern at the Health and Wellness Center at Stonehill College and 0:06 today I'm here with Professor Turner from the Psychology Department and we're gonna talk about 0:11 some mental health stuff. So Professor Turner if you would love to go and introduce 0:16 yourself. Hello, I am Professor Turner. I am an assistant professor in the 0:21 Psychology Department here at Stonehill college. I am also the director of clinical 0:26 training and I am responsible for the psychology health science and neuroscience students 0:32 that are interested in internships. I have my PhD from Wichita State University 0:37 in Clinical Psychology and that is my first passion is just being a psychologist 0:43 and doing individual therapy in groups with children and adolescents. 0:48 I've done my training per se in mostly children and trauma. So I did 0:54 my formal internship at UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester and then I did 0:59 my postdoc at Children's Hospital in Boston. So that's me, I've been really all about kind 1:04 of health and wellness and and children and adolescents and focusing in on 1:09 trauma. Important stuff we definitely need to address. As a psychology 1:14 student I have taken a multicultural psychology with Professor Turner. 1:20 Definitely take it if you can. It's a wonderful class I was so excited to teach it and what 1:25 people don't know about that class as my first semester here. You know there's not a lot of 1:30 diversity on campus especially diversity in the sense of faculty members and so some of the diverse 1:35 students in the psych department and actually no our science department came to me and said you know we really need 1:40 more representation within the Psych Department and it just so happens that the Psych department 1:45 I think just had recently had like kind of an audit. And that was one of the things that had come back 1:50 as a ways to introduce more diversity and inclusion within the curriculum. 1:56 So when the students came to me and said that they wanted something like that it was just easy to figure okay 2:01 how do I do this, how can I create this class and my department was so supportive. I 2:07 really wouldn't be here if our department wasn't as supportive as they are. So it was awesome. 2:12 Once the student said that they wanted it, it was something that was just necessary to do anyway and 2:17 it's really fun. It definitely overlaps with mental health for me in many ways. So 2:22 lot to learn. Yeah definitely. So jumping right in, how did you become 2:27 interested in mental health and psychology? Okay, so I thought about this because I did 2:33 have access to the questions early and I was looking through them and I was super excited because I 2:38 think that for this first question it really happen to me in high 2:43 school and I don't think that that happens often and I try to be mindful when I'm talking to students 2:48 about like their love and their passion and we ways to explore it because I know 2:53 I'm a little bit of an anomaly in the sense that like I knew in high school. 2:58 My first introduction to psych came in high school when we take our intro to psych classes, our general 3:03 psych classes. I just fell in love with it and I knew from growing 3:08 up in Roxbury in Boston that I wanted to do more for my community. 3:13 And it was through the help and guidance of my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, 3:19 family members that I have that kind of worked in crisis centers 3:24 worked as a social worker and my grandma is a retired social worker from DCF. 3:29 so it was through their guidance that they would like you know can you not do social work because 3:34 we want you to make some money and I was like what, what do you mean? And they were like we really 3:39 want you to have kind of some more doors open for you, so look at psych and so 3:45 your grandmother tells you what to do and you kinda just do it right. so when she told me that I did the research and I was 3:50 like okay I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna get a PhD. I had no idea 3:55 what that meant when I said that out loud as a high school student but what I didn't 4:00 know is that I wanted to be able to be as the most use 4:05 for my community and stopping at a masters wasn't gonna do that for me and my goals. 4:10 And I wanted to, I had this idea that if I had a PhD I would be able 4:16 to sit in the room and be heard and that the color of my skin wouldn't close doors for me 4:21 that the actual level of education that I had would open more doors and that me being educated 4:26 would make people listen. Now let me tell you that's not always the case. 4:32 Right? I had to learn that the hard way but I don't regret the degree in the past but 4:37 it was a long process to kinda get there and learn the kinda pitfalls along the way especially because I went 4:42 to the Midwest to get this degree so that in itself came with 4:48 a whole host of its own issues and challenges but I'm 4:53 here right. I'm here and I'm happy to be here and it definitely for me, 4:58 that interest in love and passion of helping people understand their mental health 5:03 the love the psychology starting in high school for me. I remember taking 5:09 AP psychology and my senior year and that's like when it clicked for me. Yeah absolutely 5:14 love it. Okay, so as a Psych Professor and Clinical Psychologist do you feel 5:20 it is important for students to have an open conversation about mental health? 5:25 So the easy answer is yes, I feel it is very important for students to have open dialogue 5:30 about mental health and the importance of understanding our mental health but I really 5:36 think we as a college if we're talking about Stonehill College, we will do a 5:41 disservice if we put the ownership on students. If on the backend administrators 5:46 faculty and staff aren't normalizing the need for a conversation about mental health. 5:52 we can expect students to jump in and do that work. If faculty within the classes 5:57 don't acknowledge that sometimes students need a mental health day just like faculty take their mental health day right? 6:03 I take mine when I need them. If administrators don't put money behind 6:08 programming that helps the campus like the Jed foundation come to our campus and do a 6:14 sweep and do a survey to see what's the mental health climate here and what 6:19 we need to change what we need to implement where do we need to put money to make change happen for our student staff 6:24 faculty as an administrator see the mental health on campus. It's not just the students so it's 6:29 not fair to say okay it's not fair to answer the question just for the students because if it doesn't 6:34 start on this campus and it doesn't become normalized that we have to talk about 6:39 this and this is a part of our daily living this is something we all go through all. 6:44 Not some people not a subset of us all of us go through them all of us have days when we feel down 6:49 all of us have days when we feel anxious Right now it's, okay. 6:54 It's finals week. It is now we're recording this this is getting 7:00 ready we've got days. We are counting down till finals. That means everyone's in this 7:05 library working on papers, being anxious about okay what I gonna get, what is my final grade 7:10 gonna be? Everyone's at teacher's office hours like okay can I get some extra credit can 7:15 I do this can I do that like there is an abundance of mental health on our campus 7:20 right now and campus wide because we're getting into a season of really needing the buckle down the study to get 7:25 the final grade. And so we just need to recognize that, it's not students 7:30 that need to normalize that on their own.It is this college normalizing that so the students kinda 7:36 can take a deep breath and say okay yes. It becomes a simple conversation as okay 7:41 did you go to your PCP appointment. It should just be as easy as that yearly you going to PCP 7:46 appointment right like you go and check your medical body. You check your body with a medical provider. 7:51 No one says anything about it because it's normalized but we need to do a better job at 7:57 normalizing the mental health piece of that. Absolutely like also I've heard so many stories of 8:02 like the RAs. Yes, they get the brunt end of that. You know they don't have all the training 8:07 they should have, or training. You say all the training we talked to some, we've 8:12 talked about this issue you bringing it up on you know we've talked about this in multicultural psych that you know 8:17 some of the RAS just in our class have mentioned just feeling 8:23 especially when specific issues happen on our campus. When things happen on our campus is 8:28 there's this overwhelming feeling of needing to support. But 8:33 we forget that the RAs are students too. They're students. And 8:39 not all psych majors and they're not all psych majors and they shouldn't really feel that they 8:44 have to be that level of mental health support for the students in the dorm. I 8:49 think that there is some level of training. of okay how to have those difficult conversations 8:54 and who to get them to and that's great. But them being the frontline 8:59 for some of this stuff is not, I don't think it's the Stonehill intent. 9:04 Right like I don't hear that in meetings that that's our intent but that actually is what happens. 9:09 Yeah and we have the stress relief week through the Health and Wellness Office. Yeah we actually do. 9:15 The beginning of the year fresh check day I make that mandatory for my students 9:20 to attend, there's so many things that the Health and Wellness department offers 9:25 and trainings that they offer that I think a very useful and 9:30 it's only two promoting them in your classes of the faculty member that students understand these 9:35 these additional resources there for them. I've spoken to faculty and they didn't even know what Health and 9:41 Wellness was. And it's like what you don't know? Like please. It's 9:46 not just about the mental health but nutritional support right that some of these students need like 9:51 that really coming out of that department and it's necessary. So 9:56 sort of bridging that like there's obviously certain mental health issues like depression, 10:01 anxiety, maybe suicide, suicidal ideation that are common for people 10:06 around our age and what do they look like and what are some symptoms? It's tough 10:12 because they're very different and I think that this is when you wanna be mindful of culture 10:17 as well. Alright so I'm gonna I'm and answer the question because that's what I've came to do 10:22 but I also wanna preface this that at the end of what to be mindful for 10:28 as a student listening to this.So overall I think 10:33 if we're talking to the college student population things like feeling hopelessness, 10:38 excessive worry, guilt, avoidance procrastination, changes in 10:43 sleep and eating patterns, social isolation, difficulty sleeping 10:48 difficulty concentrating, decrease energy, and et cetera. These 10:53 things are the things that you're looking for as a change in pattern in your friend and yourself and 10:58 and your roommate and it's not to say they're diagnosed with anxiety. 11:03 It is not to say they're diagnosed with depression, it's to say are they are struggling? 11:09 Is there a mental health quote unquote concern that you want to talk to that 11:14 person about? Say hey I noticed you know you haven't really showered in the last couple 11:19 of days. I noticed that you're not really eating I noticed that you're not engaged in the same activities that you once 11:24 were engaged and that's your friend being able to have that open dialogue that says listen I 11:30 care about you and I'm noticing the shift. I'm noticing these behaviors. 11:35 Because a lot of times the students that you're just not comfortable with that conversation too and I'm 11:40 not promoting that these signs and symptoms as your job to go and investigate 11:45 this either, as a student when you see those signs and symptoms that I've identified 11:50 I think it's it's worthy to maybe speak to your RA and say okay what can I do? 11:56 Where's the resources on campus? How do I to get this person or to encourage them to 12:01 go to counseling services. How do I encourage them to have a dialogue with their parents or their family or friends 12:06 and loved ones about kind of what they're going through. I don't believe that our students need 12:11 to take that on for themselves. I think that especially with this time of year 12:16 that it's put a lot of additional pressure on yourself that you have to fix your roommate, you have to fix your friend. And that's 12:22 not the case. If you've got the relationship with that person you absolutely 12:27 can have a conversation with them that says listen I'm noticing these things you know what 12:32 can we do together do we need to you know and that gets into your other question of like things that you can do 12:37 can we go take a walk, can we go get something to eat, can we read 12:43 something together, can we listen to this podcast? You know I think that there is 12:49 things that they can do with these people to encourage and support them but I don't want anyone 12:55 to hear this and feel like they have to be the answer for solving the mental health of someone else. 13:00 This is very important because I think that that has come up in my classes like okay well I have 13:06 this friend and I'm really concerned and there's a change in behavior and 13:11 and it may even be to the point with the person is displaying some 13:16 suicidal thoughts. Self harming behaviors that they're saying that they want to harm themselves 13:21 and they just wish they weren't here and and some triggering things that to a friend can be really alarming. 13:27 I think that you seek help and you seek support for your friend but you don't become a mental health counselor. 13:32 You are student, you are daughter, you are a friend but you are not a mental health counselor. 13:39 Right? And know that and have good boundaries and support your friends through 13:44 what they're going through but you can't take on the role of a mental provider when 13:49 you are not trained to do that. Like it's important to do research and everything but 13:54 lead them in the direction. Lead your friend in the right direction, be there to support them 14:00 in that direction. And let the professionals do their job. Because when you try 14:05 to do your job you get burnt out because you don't know what you're doing. 14:10 So what's a common misconception about mental health? I think I started talking about that a little bit 14:15 already I'm jumping the gun but it's okay. I really am all about people understanding 14:21 the difference between mental health and mental disorders. Okay. Mental health. We 14:26 all have mental health. Good quote. 14:31 Quote that. We all have mental health right. Like we said 14:36 right now it's a Friday and this library is very busy for a Friday. 14:42 You know why? Because next week is finals, final research papers are due, final papers are due. 14:47 In the psychology department we have our poster presentations on Monday that students getting are 14:53 ready for. There's a lot of work to be done right now and people are anxious. 14:58 Especially freshman. This is the first time that they're going through this. This 15:04 is like okay you know the transition to get back home and to get done and have that 15:09 final grade. It's a lot, you got through your first year you know there's a lot of pressure right now. 15:14 And then if you struggled at all through the semester your anxiety has increased 15:19 at this time because you need those final grades to be good to pass the 15:24 class to not come home and tell your parents that you know you failed one class 15:29 or you got a D. Scholarships, you can't you know if you're an athlete the pressure on 15:35 there and faculty members. We got a lot of grading to do right now. 15:40 Okay. And they're giving us a deadline of when this has to be in for seniors, when transfer students 15:45 have to have things in. So we all as a campus feeling this pressure. 15:50 That impacts our mental health, that impacts our sleeping, that impacts the way we eating. I'm 15:56 eating junk right now because I don't have time to meal prep the way I would 16:01 when I'm not so stressed out with the level of assignments I have to grade and the things I have to do. I know 16:06 that it's a certain level of time until I can get back on a good sleeping and eating and 16:12 exercise routine, but right now is not the time right? So the common 16:17 misconception is this idea that identifying that you are going 16:23 through some anxious behaviors or you're feeling sad or there's 16:28 an increase in your worry or anxiety there's an increase in your guilt that immediately 16:33 assumes that you're diagnosed with anxiety. It's normal to be anxious, it's normal. 16:38 Because if it wasn't normal this whole campus wouldn't be going through it. So you're not alone as 16:44 you sit and you're in your dorm room and you're struggling with how to get these papers done how 16:49 to balance all of these things, you drop the ball on something. I've done that all week. 16:54 I'm supposed be at seven places at one time and I can't because I'm one person. And you have the kids. 16:59 I have two children right and the husband that want me to be home at a certain time. I 17:04 was on campus last night till about nine thirty at an event and then here again this morning. 17:09 We all are going through it. That's our mental health that is us checking in 17:15 on this idea that we know this is a difficult time and they'll be some struggles with our mental health, 17:20 our brain, and how it's functioning right now. The diagnosis is separate. You really qualifying 17:25 for DSM diagnoses of anxiety depression is a different ball 17:31 game and that comes from a professional right and so I understand that difference 17:36 and understand that misconception that you're not crazy quote on quote because you are 17:41 struggling with your mental health we all at times in our lives times in our day times 17:46 in our semester struggle with her mental health and it's normal. It is normal. Yes. 17:52 Do you want to bring it all in with the culture? Yes so I always want to 17:57 have students being mindful of how race, 18:02 ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, 18:07 religious beliefs, nationality, how these various identities 18:12 that we hold can have an impact on our mental home depending 18:18 on how they are viewed in the spaces that we occupy. 18:23 So in the space of Stonehill, how do students that have certain 18:29 identities feel before we even get finals? 18:34 Are they supported on this campus? Do they feel like they have a community where they 18:39 feel comfortable and when they're vulnerable or need support they know where to go to? 18:44 Is the office of intercultural affairs the only identified space for 18:50 everyone and every piece of identity? Is that fair is that what we really 18:55 want? And how does that have a role and impact on the 19:00 mental health that worry anxiety depression guilt chain 19:05 across the nation? How does that play a role into what 19:11 those student struggle with? If there's only one hub and one space for everyone 19:17 to go or one identified space for everyone to go to that struggles with that has 19:22 one piece or more of these different identities. I think we doing a disservice 19:28 Right? And again like I've already said my feeling that Stonehill right 19:33 now in terms of mental health is that the Health and Wellness department along 19:38 with counseling services does not want that to be the case and 19:43 that there's money behind an initiative behind making the change with that. 19:48 And so I'm excited to see how that kind of impacts the culture 19:54 on campus with mental health. But how it also trickles down to someone's 19:59 sexual orientation, how it trickles down to 20:05 the LGBTQ community, how it trickles down to Black Lives Matter, how do those 20:11 students have a voice or have some say in how their 20:16 mental health is separately affected on this campus. Is there is a room for that? Are we gotta have 20:21 that dialogue? So it's just kind of like a wait and see but I'm excited to see that there's have money behind 20:26 it and there's an initiative and that shows me the administration understands 20:31 that this is important because then they wouldn't put the money behind it. And so 20:36 how do we make sure that everyone has a seat at the table and everyone feels heard? Well said. 20:42 So jumping back what are some tips that students can use to improve and also 20:47 address mental health? Yes but let's that's that's tie this back up. 20:53 Health and wellness, okay? You have a department on campus that is 20:58 built to do this. So while I love to promote the things that I'm doing I'm first 21:03 gonna start with health and wellness and talk about the many many many activities throughout the semester 21:08 that I as a faculty member make sure that I promote in my classes, but I think that faculty and administration 21:14 can do a better job at not just promoting these things via e-mail because students get bogged down with e-mails, 21:19 right? When you get seventeen e-mails before you even wake up and look at your phone and it's like all these 21:25 events to go to and there's this singing thing and there's a concert here and then there's this mental 21:30 health. It's overwhelming because you're trying to sort through okay what's the professor telling me I need to have 21:35 a test or what's the professor telling me this or which ones are really important? 21:40 We've gotta find a different way to have access to these students and I think that faculty, 21:45 what I found is that me actually promoting it in my class makes a difference. Yeah 21:51 like I know a bunch of people do like extra credit stuff. Yes and that 21:56 all works and I I think that you know it's funny that you said the extra credit piece like I think that's wonderful. 22:01 but I also want students to get in the mindset of caring about your own mental health without it being 22:07 a part attached to your grade in a class. yeah. In previous semesters in 22:12 multicultural I've definitely offered extra credit and I had to. I purposely 22:17 was mindful to not do that this semester because the things that I'm promoting are for you 22:23 and the things that I'm promoting are directly linked to students complaints 22:29 about what the campus doesn't offer and sometimes 22:34 the campus offers it but you're in your dorm and you have to get up and 22:39 get out and seek that support that's given to you and a lot of times these things 22:44 are feeding you and I tell you as administrators we don't know what else to do. It's like okay 22:49 we've got the food they're saying they want more support they're saying you know the faculty need 22:55 to talk about this more, the administration needs to do this more, and then health and wellness will do it and 23:00 it's like twenty soon show up. Yeah it's very disappointing and you 23:05 can speak to that because you had what was the day that you guys had your got consent day. 23:10 Got consent. You're worked very hard work very hard, I loved your flyers I took all 23:16 the extra flyers because you know what I'm gonna do on my mental health board that's outside of my office that I'm gonna be promoting 23:21 all that information and and I can tell you that students complain 23:26 that these things are not happening. But they are, they are. So maybe they overlooked that e-mail 23:31 or the seventeen that she sent out? Because she bombards right because she wants 23:37 students to come to but if you overlook that and at least on Monday, Tuesday, 23:42 Wednesday when you have class your professor's saying say hey by the way there are these things going 23:47 on campus you guys should check it out. A little nudge, right? Maybe not extra credit 23:53 but a little nudge. So the answer to that I think that on campus you could start health and wellness. 23:58 My office is in the Shields building two thirteen I am this summer 24:04 working on a mental health board and I will be absolutely taking a lot of information from health and wellness and 24:09 it's just another location to streamline the events that are going on in campus how to have 24:14 access to counseling services. Looking at symptoms of depression and anxiety, 24:19 tips for healthy relationships and boundaries, things that my students have been working on the semester 24:25 but I also think just a plug in self care daily 24:30 exercise, journaling, going to therapy, deep breathing exercises, 24:35 staying organize. At this time this is the easy time if you look around your 24:41 room right now. This is the time when we're not doing the laundry, right? Where our cars look 24:46 a mess. When we're eating junk because that's the fastest thing to kinda grab 24:51 and sometimes doing a check in on just your environment, cleaning 24:56 out your bag, cleaning out your purse, cleaning your car. Can relieve some of that 25:01 and it could be a fifteen minute activity before you get out of your car just take a trash bag and kinda get all that stuff 25:06 out or go through your purse and throw away the receipts and things that you have in there. I think that 25:11 promoting kinda staying organize at the most stressful times it's critically important. 25:16 And like health care is also a very interesting topic because people are like yeah I can watch 25:22 Netflix so like for an hour and procrastinate. 25:27 No, no, no procrastination is not self care. Netflix you want 25:32 to do that after finals. Right, you reward yourself and say to yourself okay that show that 25:37 I wanted to watch I'm going to watch that when I finish his paper. You absolutely can do 25:42 that, reward yourself with the things that you want. Maybe you can't binge and watch all eight episodes but say to yourself 25:47 okay I'm gonna get three episodes when I finish these five pages. Then reward 25:52 yourself and even have the ice cream. I'm all about it. Have the ice cream or if you're not an ice cream, lactose intolerant 25:58 take a walk right. Go take a walk have your water with cucumber and lemon 26:03 Whatever it is that you need to do. That's healthy. Yeah I say ice cream because that's my 26:08 thing right now so like you can splurge a little bit like that. This is my time to splurge so. 26:13 Oh, sleep. Absolutely, sleep is a good one. Making sure that we're getting our eight hours 26:18 because for students it's no way. What are they getting? Four? Three? All that 26:23 caffeine and red bull. Oh my goodness Red Bull, stay away from it right now. It helps you to keep going 26:29 though right? I don't use it. Yeah but you see students like that's the quick by. 26:34 Red Bull or those. Are students still using those energy shots? Yeah. 26:40 Oh my gosh those are not good. Sorry don't, don't drink that. So some tips? 26:46 Self care, walking, daily exercise journaling, therapy don't be afraid to use 26:54 it. Using positive self talk. Stop putting yourself down. Students sometimes 26:59 are the worst for themselves. Like worst advocates. I've had students 27:04 in my office in tears and they're like I just feel so bad and I'm like are you getting that from your parents are your 27:09 friends saying that and they'll be like no and I'm like so you're making this all up. 27:15 This is all your mind like you're actually doing well. You're not doing bad, you're doing well and 27:20 and things are going well you're just getting overwhelmed because this is the time that we're in. 27:25 And so I can practice that self talk for you but you have to do that at home or 27:30 in your room you can't be the one in your mind kind of doing all that negative 27:36 talk because you're really buy into it and I think that. It creates that worthlessness 27:41 it creates that hopelessness and if you want to change that you start with your mind and you start to talk positive 27:47 to yourself. Break things down into smaller steps, break things down into small activities like I said 27:52 instead of feeling like okay I can't do anything that I love right now I have to shut myself out to the world. Okay 27:57 get that paper done and then reward yourself with the things that you love. But have some some balance 28:03 to it instead of kind of isolating yourself from all your friends and family and the things that you once 28:08 enjoyed you know do a little bit of this and then you can can do a little bit after. 28:13 Hang with your good friends. It's hard like everyone, like some people 28:19 might need that attention or affirmations or reassurance. Affirmations 28:24 that's a good one.They're trying to do their own things so it's hard for people who need that reassurance 28:30 to get that from themselves. Affirmations are all in my office. I think I I live 28:35 by affirmations and I'm glad you just said that because if you come into my office. There's only affirmations 28:40 on my wall. A couple of pictures from my kids but mostly affirmations 28:46 because walking into a positive space when I'm overwhelmed is important. Like right now 28:51 I know I probably can spend an hour organizing my office and that is not getting done until after finals. 28:56 But not doing that is making me walk in and I look at the mess. 29:02 I look at the grades, I look at these portfolios that I'm not done grading. I look at my 29:07 psychotherapy practicum class and the work that I have to grade for them and it 29:13 can be overwhelming especially when I'm walking into a cluttered space. So 29:18 now I am gonna clean my office because I made myself feel bad through the negative 29:23 talk. I made myself feel bad, I'm gonna go clean my office because I know on Monday when I walk I'll 29:28 be able to take a deep breath differently then if I walk into that mess. We 29:33 kinda already talked about the last two questions like what does seeking help look like for a college student and how 29:38 can a loved one or a friend support someone with mental illness. 29:44 Yeah and please you know with both of these I feel like you know we talked about these in my classes so 29:49 please feel free to jump in and support what I'm saying or add 29:54 your opinion to it. I think that seeking help looks different for different people 29:59 right and your culture. In my class we talk about 30:04 culture and people that come from a collectivist community and what 30:10 seeking help really looks like in that community may be different than what 30:15 an individualistic community kinda looks. The individualistic community 30:20 may have more of approach of going and seeking out individual therapy but in a collectivist community 30:26 talking to someone might be the opposite of what you wanna do, you wanna keep that information within the family. 30:33 You don't wanna really have people in your private affairs or your private business is what they may call it. 30:38 And as a mental health provider being mindful that when you do have someone coming from a community 30:44 like that for help that that's a huge deal. That's a big step, 30:49 and it needs to be celebrated and and encouraged and supported 30:55 as how difficult and challenging that may be. I think on this campus, you know, 31:00 we have counseling services but a lot of times like you said the RAs, the RDS, 31:05 peer mentors, faculty become that first line of defense before someone 31:10 gets the comfort or the courage to walk into counseling services. 31:15 You know also in my class between I know that before my students kinda made this aware 31:22 to me I never really thought about it. We had a talk about mental health a couple weeks back 31:27 and a few of the students pointed out that our counseling services department is 31:33 within campus ministry and what that means religiously 31:38 to someone that might be in a space where they're seeking out mental 31:44 health services but feeling that that's going against their religious beliefs or feeling 31:49 that the religious piece of it has an implication on kind of their mental 31:54 health and feeling comfortable to walk in. Tying it back to like when you seek support what that looks like. 31:59 Because some of the students were like yeah people may not feel comfortable going in there just because of that. 32:06 I was like oh my gosh I've never thought of that. Never did I think about that and I've been in there 32:11 a couple of times and never was I like oh this is. I thought like you know it seems kinda peaceful. 32:16 That was my thought, it's very like serene and quiet 32:21 when I've gone through there but it's just didn't dawn on me. Some people have anxiety 32:27 about religion. Yes and again speaking to students, 32:33 that was awesome to hear that and be mindful of that because I think that 32:38 someone that would impact them. Now what 32:43 are they doing? Are they seeking services off of campus, is their way to get them access 32:48 to off campus counseling other than having to walk in the counseling services and get a list of referrals? 32:53 Is there a way that you know faculty members, health and wellness, someone else could have this list of referrals 32:59 for students that don't feel comfortable even walking into counseling services? I think 33:04 is you know other things that maybe we can do that might come out of the Jed foundation 33:09 's research of our campus that might be helpful for students that don't walk through that 33:14 door. There's a back entrance or just another smaller location. 33:20 Something, maybe. I know locations are tight here and then 33:25 the last question where you were talking about supporting someone. Okay so 33:30 listen students, it is not your job to be a mental health provider. 33:35 Supporting someone and taking on their mental health are two different things. 33:41 Support, what that would look like is maybe if they wanted you to walk with them to counseling services. 33:46 Maybe if they wanted you to be there when they had a difficult conversation with a 33:53 significant partner, with their parents, with a friend, they wanted you there 33:58 for support. They wanted to take a walk and they want someone to be there with them. 34:03 They want to go to get something to eat and eating is difficult 34:08 for them and they want you there for support with them. That's wonderful that is that is the level 34:14 of friendship that is as natural and seems appropriate to do 34:19 in the context of helping someone through kind of their mental health or their mental disorder. 34:25 Being the one to lead in intervention like I've had people come to me about this like oh 34:31 you know I want do this intervention. Uh no. And not that having conversations 34:36 with friends because you care about them and support them isn't important that's great but 34:42 the way in which you do that conversation that doesn't make a person feel like you're you're 34:47 attacking their mental health or attacking their mental diagnosis that they have one 34:52 is very different and and it's a very fine line. So I think it's a tough question but I think that 34:57 as a student with your friends, roommates, family, 35:03 neighbors, making sure you have good boundaries and making sure your support feels 35:08 comfortable for you. When the support stops feeling comfortable for the students and then you know the mental 35:13 health is now seeping over to you. Once someone's anxiety or someone 35:18 presentation of anxiety type symptoms or presentation of depression is now causing you to feel 35:24 overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, sad. Then there's an issue, 35:29 there's a boundary issue and that for yourself you need to step back and try to address that. 35:34 One of my students did a healthy boundaries pamphlet that'll 35:40 be outside of my office come the fall and it was really awesome because she talked 35:45 about, I think it came from her own experiences over 35:50 the four years of dealing with multiple roommates. I mean you guys have these suites and there's sometimes like twelve 35:55 girls in them. Tto think it's just kinda be all wonderful relationships is just bizarre 36:01 right because that's not gonna happen and so there is going to be this process where you're learning 36:06 how to have healthy conversations, have limits, set boundaries. Be able to communicate 36:11 with each other what those boundaries and limits are and not make yourself feel guilty because you're setting 36:16 positive limits for yourself. It's okay to say no. it's okay to say no. It's actually 36:22 a wonderful tool. But sometimes it's a process for you 36:27 to learn to be comfortable with the perception of someone of you. You cannot 36:32 change the way people perceive you. But you absolutely can change 36:37 the way you present yourself. So if you can't change the people around you, you just have to change the people 36:43 around you. Your goal is to always present yourself the way that you feel comfortable. 36:48 If someone's perception of you is changed because you're now setting limits for yourself. I 36:54 hate to tell you this but that probably just's not the best friendship for you. Once someone's judging you because you're 36:59 doing the things that's right for you and sometimes that the real change becomes that we have to change 37:04 those people that are around us because they're not a supporter for us and that's very hard for you college students to do. 37:09 Because we wanna be friends with everybody. We wanna be nice to everybody and we don't 37:15 want anyone to not like us. You know to graduate with three friends you know stick with those three and it's gonna be fine. 37:20 Maybe one, you think? Is it getting that low? You have two or three really close friends. 37:25 You only talk to one on a daily basis. Maybe and that's like good right. You got this suite 37:31 of six to twelve people no they're not all coming with you after this. 37:36 You can respect everyone and respect our differences but we may not be 37:41 best friends and may not be close after this. It's kind of when you see 37:46 those people that have all of their high school friends they still talk to. It's scary. I'm 37:51 like what's wrong, what's going on with you. Well this as fun. 37:56 Thanks so much for having me! I hope I answered all your questions. Yeah you did. Well I hope everyone have a lovely day. Thank 38:02 you so much for listening. Have a nice one! 38:07 This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance.