Battling a mental illness is like a crook at night, it will sneak up on you putting your life at risk.

As students get back into their daily routines, one thing that comes with the pressure to excel in school is mental illness.

According to Lethbridge College’s 2016-19 Student Health and Wellness Plan, “79 students reported a mental illness as their primary diagnosis with 147 students reporting mental health diagnoses affecting their academic participation.”

Harmoni Jones, health promotion coordinator at the college, says first-year students who jump right into college from high school experience stress when they fall behind in a class and don’t access the services the college offers early enough.

“As soon as they come to campus, I encourage them to access the services early because if they are overwhelmed with stress, sometimes students end up withdrawing and/or not being as successful as they could have.”

Jones added mature students become stressed because they have a family to support, which means balancing school and a part-time job or the challenges of learning new technology.

Emily Nanninga, first-year Business Administration student, took her first year of college before taking a two-year break before she returned this fall
In those two years, she hopped from job to job because she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Coming to the college, she is now motivated to start going to her classes and take school more seriously.

 “I need to take advantage of all the success workshops that are available to me and just be prepared every day to learn.”

The school offers student success workshops and tutoring in the Learning Café as well as counselling services through Health and Shepell Counselling Services.

For people who are battling mental illnesses from being homesick, Jones said go home whenever possible but also participate in the many activities put on by The Lethbridge College Students’ Association.

The college is working on adding Kognito, a virtual coaching program, to the support services available to staff, faculty and students.

Jones think this will increase students, faculty and staff knowledge of mental health and suicide by running through effective scenarios to get others to open up and talk about what is going on.

The health promotion coordinator believes it will be easily accessible and crucial in spreading the knowledge and the seriousness of mental illnesses.
“We had a ton of feedback that our programming like mental health first aid was a 12-hour course and they wanted something that was one to two hours and accessible online which I am hoping will increase the utilization of it.”

Having stress isn’t always a bad thing, according to Jones, it helps us be motivated and persevere through adversity.

But when it becomes toxic or chronic stress, that’s when you need to get help right away.

“It’s unhealthy and takes a toll on our well-being. Now that’s where you should connect with support like a Shepell counsellor that can help that student overcome those toxic stress points.”

For students to be successful at Lethbridge College, Jones added college is exciting and she encourages students to take advantage of the different opportunities available to you.

Those opportunities don’t just mean the activities around campus, but also support services the college offers.

Health and Shepell Counselling services is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.