This is my first semester in the Mental Health & Wellness counseling program. I graduated with a BA in Anthropology back in 2020 and have been working in higher education ever since, first as a Registrar and now as a Certified Academic Advisor at my local community college. I’m still pondering on whether I want to continue with the LPC bridge program upon completion of my current program, but I do know that I intend to seek a higher position in Student Success once I finish and receive my M.A. from ASU.

Outside of higher education I love to read fictional romance, write fictional romance, and watch fictional romance! (I love fictional romance, can you tell?) I have two children (Both age 6!) and two cats, one whom I co-own with my best friend (The cat, not my kids!).

My biggest goal for this course is to learn more about mental health and the traumas I might encounter with the people I meet, both professionally and personally. As someone who has lived with trauma and poor mental health, I know how important it is when I feel heard and understood. I want to be able to be that person for other people and avoid doing more harm than good. I hope to learn to recognize and act when I encounter situations that require aid.

Prior Knowledge Assessment_

For my quiz I took the one hosted by the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/quiz/index.htm

I did not realize that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 10-24. I felt the air leave me in shock when I read that. 

The experiences I have with mental health stem a lot from my own trauma from early childhood to adulthood and the friends I made along the way. I found that sharing trauma with others was a way to bond and learn about the struggles others faced, and in a way I feel that it helped shape my empathy for those living with poor mental health because I was living it and seeing it every day. The biggest takeaway from those experiences is that togetherness was a vital part to becoming healthier mentally. I wouldn’t be here today if not for people that cared about my mental health. I feel that this is why learning that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in young people hit so hard. That’s reality.

With that in mind, I’m excited for this course and looking forward to learning more about the topic because I work one on one with students everyday – the same young people that fall within that age bracket above. Regardless of my future role in higher education, the skills I learn in this course are going to be invaluable. By having the knowledge to assess, acknowledge, and apply what I’ve learned in this course I hope that I can touch at least one life and make them feel cared for.

Independent Research_

In my independent research I found a peer reviewed article published on the National Library of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527955/

I chose this article to talk about because I work closely with college students and their mental health is something I’m particularly interested in. What I liked most about what’s included is that not only do they discuss the typical college student within the article, but they also mention non-traditional students and the struggles they face in addition to studies. As a community college a large part of our population of students are non-traditional and have responsibilities outside of education such as family and work. Their struggles are different than the average 18-year-old freshman that has just graduated from high school and the approach you take with them isn’t going to be the same. I appreciated the holistic view in that each student is individual and their lives can impact their mental health differently. It was disheartening to read how prevalent poor mental health and crises are within higher education, but also uplifting to know research has been conducted to identify these issues so that we can begin to create solutions. I plan to keep reading about this!

The documentary I chose to watch was Athlete A - wow, is my biggest reaction. Hearing directly from the survivors was powerful. I truly hope that they can find peace moving forward.

The information I learned from this assignment will help with my current and future career thanks to the resources I was provided and was able to locate after research.