Tortured by tests, harassed by homework, stressed by social obligations—where does a Duke student turn?
Mental Issues and Needs of Duke Students is a new service offered by the Duke Student Health Center, designed to help both undergraduate and graduate students answer this and other questions. Created as part of the Healthy Devils health promotion program, MINDS seeks to help Duke students deal with college-induced stress and depression.
Currently, MINDS is comprised of five peer educators and two staff advisors. John Blackshear, clinical director of Counseling and Psychological Services, is the program’s primary adviser. Blackshear is aided by co-advisor Andrea McMillon, a health education specialist.
McMillon said she hopes that through MINDS, students will feel more comfortable voicing their worries about stress.
“Everyone experiences mental concerns to some degree,” she noted. “We want students to feel safe talking about them and not ‘crazy.’”
The program seeks to “help students cope with difficulties brought on by stress and erase the stigma surrounding mental illness,” said sophomore Colleen Lynch, a MINDS peer educator. Lynch said the program’s goal to eliminate the prejudices associated with mental illness is necessary because of the “high stress environment here at Duke.”
Originally conceived in Spring 2004 and organized this semester, MINDS aims to resolve stress-related problems at Duke by launching campus-wide awareness events. Information will be available at sessions held in dorms across campus and on the Bryan Center walkway. There, students will have the opportunity to obtain brochures and get in contact with mental illness counselors on campus and in Durham.
Although MINDS is not targeting any specific group, special emphasis will be placed on freshmen. “A lot of the programs will be geared toward freshmen because they’re still in the transition period and still getting used to college life,” Lynch said. Senior Ruby Lekwauwa noted information for freshmen will focus on issues like leaving home for the first time, not getting enough sleep and being overwhelmed by homework.
McMillon said she believes MINDS, as the only student health group that addresses mental health directly, is an important addition to the Healthy Devils program. Although other peer education organizations—such as ESTEEM, which educates students about eating disorders, and DELISH, which informs students about sexual health—often respond to mental health issues in their programming, only MINDS places those concerns at the forefront of its efforts.
MINDS advising is not only for people who feel they personally have mental concerns; the organization also offers services to students who want to help friends or classmates. McMillon said even those who are “just curious” are welcome to get involved or schedule a meeting.
Contact information is available via the student health website. The peer educators of MINDS have been also advertising their services on the Bryan Center walkway and in the Marketplace. In addition, they will sponsor a health awareness week in April.
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