Depression and Suicidal Risk at Colby College James Gonzalez English 115A * Professor Sheriff Depression and Suicidal Ideation There are several factors at Colby College that tend to lead to depressive thought such as: Academic stress Separation from family Lack of a fulfilling social life. Colby is a very academically rigorous institution, which can prove challenging, and at times, too challenging for students. Homesickness and seclusion from peers also has a huge effect on students and can be a catalyst for depression. Those who succumb to depression are five times more likely to commit suicide than those who aren’t suffering from the mental issue. This is a serious issue that should be addressed and dealt with to ensure that students are in a better environment for their college experience. Building Awareness and a Support Group Club After looking into what Colby had to offer in terms of counseling and psychological help, the Garrison-Foster Health Center came up. The building has a Counseling Center inside which is open for all students to use for free. However, most students are not even aware that these services are openly available to them or they have no idea how to make an appointment to schedule a counseling session. If students were made more aware of such sources of help for them, then perhaps they would be able to cope with their depressive thoughts better. Most students also have trouble opening up to others and finding an outlet to deal with their issues of depression and suicidal ideation. If there were somewhere that students felt comfortable talking about their problems with depression, besides counseling, then it could improve the lives of every single individual participating in the discussions. Making students more aware to Counseling Services One of the best ways to solve the problem of depression and suicidal risk would be by better informing them to the existence of the Counseling Services in the Health Center. The best way to go about doing this would be through freshman Orientation. Taking some time out of Orientation for first-years to talk about the Garrison-Foster Health Center and the option of counseling would help students realize they have sources for help on campus when facing issues like depression. Starting a Support Group Club Not all students feel comfortable going to a counselor for help with their problems or to any kind of help source that they feel would not truly understand what they are dealing with. This is the reason that founding a club which functions as a support group for students would be an ideal solution. This way, students would have a place to go where they could talk about their issues with their peers and others who are dealing with the same struggles. Everything would be kept in confidence and no one would have to do anything they felt uncomfortable doing. The club would simply work as an outlet for students to voice their thoughts and problems in a place they feel comfortable and accepted in. Figure 2: Some statistics on depression and suicidal risk amongst college students Works Cited Kerr, Michael. “Depression and College Students.” Healthline. 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. Patel, Sahil. “Wash. U. Students More Stressed than Undergraduates Nationally.” StudentLife. 12 Apr. 2012. Web. McAdam, Megan. “Child and Teen Depression.” Wordpress. 19 Jun. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Copyright Colin Purrington (http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign). The Initial Steps In order to make the support group club a reality, there are some preliminary measures that need to be taken for the club to have a place where students feel safe to talk and recognition as a formal club. Talk to Dr. Tashia Bradley about forming a support group club in the Pugh Center (a place where many different popular clubs are found) and convince her to allow us a room in Pugh. Once Dr. Tashia Bradley approves of the club and finds a room for it, the next best step would be to talk to the other clubs in the Pugh Center and see about working with them to get the support group club some recognition on campus and in the community, After word spreads about the club, there should be some elections held to determine club positions and ideas for the club to grow and become more integrated on campus. Then allow the club to grow on its own from there. Figure 1: Social seclusion is one of the biggest causes of depression The Research Process Several of the sources used to look at correlations between depression, suicidal risk, and college factors came from newspaper or journal articles. These sources was useful in determining the link between depression and suicidal thought as well as showing what aspects of college life were the heaviest stimulants of depression. The rest of the sources were mainly interviews with Colby students about the topic of depression on campus and possible ways to seek help to treat it. Acknowledgments I would like to thank all of those who participated in my research and agreed to being interviewed. Even though some requested to not be named, I still appreciate that they were willing to talk about their past experiences out-loud to someone else.