VOA慢速英语--网站帮助大学生处理心理健康问题

Website Helps College Students Deal with Mental Health Issues

Mental health is no small issue at colleges or universities around the world, including the United States.

The youngest students at U.S. colleges are just out of high school. Most first-year college students are just 17 or 18 years old; others are usually between the ages of 19 and 24. For many, this is the first time living away from home. In some cases, they are far from friends and family members.

College students quickly learn that they have a lot of responsibilities, some of which they alone must face. They will have hours of intense study, as well as more critical needs, like eating and sleeping well. Some students need to find a job and work to help pay for their education.

On top of this, students are meeting new people, making new friends and establishing their identities as independent adults.

With all of these demands coming together at the same time, it is no surprise that many students struggle with mental health issues. Feelings of worry, nervousness, emotional stress and depression are just some of the issues they may face.

Most U.S. colleges and universities provide mental health services and have trained specialists to help their students. But Nathaan Demers notes that such resources are not always enough of a solution.

Demers is a trained clinical psychologist. He is also vice¹ president and director of clinical programs for a website called You at College (YOU@College).

The site is a joint² project of Grit³ Digital Health, a Colorado-based business, and Colorado State University, in Fort⁴ Collins, Colorado. It aims to create solutions for mental health issues in ways that go beyond traditional methods.

How does YOU@College work?

In 2013, several Colorado State students ended their own lives. The university’s administration admitted it was facing serious problems with student mental health, and needed a solution, Demers says.

It was then that administrators⁵ reached out to a former CSU student who was the head of a company called Cactus⁶ Communications. A few years earlier, the company and Grit Digital Health set up an internet-based tool to help adult men learn about mental health and seek support services. The website used humor to make treatment of mental health issues feel less like a duty and more like an enjoyable activity.

Demers notes the Colorado State administrators wanted something like that. Yet they also understood that college students have their own special needs. College students are often very busy and have little free time to spend doing something that feels like work, Demers says. They also usually do not see mental health issues for what they are.

“They’re stressed out of their minds,” he told VOA. “They’re not keeping up in the classroom, so they’re coping with drugs and alcohol. They’re not sleeping well, missing class because of it. But you know (they say), ‘I don’t have a behavioral health disorder⁷. Someone else should be going to the counseling⁸ center. That’s not me.’”

So when the university and Grit Digital Health began working on YOU@College, they tried to make it as appealing to college-aged people as possible, Demers says. Instead of making an online tool dealing⁹ mainly with mental health, they organized the website around three ideas: succeed, thrive and matter.

‘Succeed’ relates to issues of success, both in education and one’s career. ‘Thrive’ relates more to issues of physical and mental health. And ‘matter’ relates to finding a purpose and connecting to others at one’s college or university.

When a student first uses YOU@College, they are given a short test that examines the student’s personal qualities in all three areas. Based on the results, the website suggests news stories and videos to students. It also has links to other materials that offer advice on how to deal with issues they may struggle with.

Demers notes all of the site’s material is based on the latest mental health studies, takes into consideration current events, and is presented in a clear and enjoyable way. However, most important of all, he argues, it makes suggestions for school-based resources students might use to deal with their problems.

Who needs tools like this the most?

Sam Jennings says information like this is extremely important, especially for first-time students. Jennings is the dean¹⁰ of students for South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.

After YOU@College was launched at Colorado State in 2016, about 20 other schools expressed interest in the website. They have since agreed to work with Grit Digital Health on developing it for their students. South Dakota State started working with the company earlier this year.

Jennings says that colleges and universities try their best to inform students about all the different support services they have to offer. But it might not always be clear to students exactly what kind of support they need for a given problem. And first-year students are often given more information about their new school, community and surroundings upon arrival than they know what to do with.

“There’s no way they’re going to keep all that front of mind when the need comes up six weeks down the road…when…they are in crisis,” says Jennings.

He adds that he has researched similar online tools before. But none of them offer such direct advice for which resources students might find helpful as YOU@College. This includes meeting times for special student support groups, and the location of counseling centers and names of the people who work there.

All of this makes it that much easier for students to seek help sooner, before their problems build to a point beyond their control. To date, YOU@College has had over 58,000 users at Colorado State alone.

Pushing students towards taking action earlier is especially important considering how much more demand there is for support services, says Lynn Linde. She heads the Center for Counseling Practice, Policy and Research at the American Counseling Association.

Linde notes many young people are highly informed about the problems facing the world today. And as a result, some feel less safe and more worried than earlier generations. So more of them seek out mental health support services, and many colleges and universities struggle to meet the increased demand.

Seeking help sooner helps ease the pressure on college counselors¹² when issues begin to increase in severity, she says. And having tools available online is especially helpful for the current generation of college students, as they grew up using personal devices for almost everything.

However, Linde warns that over-dependence on technology can lead to other problems. And the rules and laws governing traditional counseling services do not yet exist for more modern mental health resources.

Also, websites and other online tools will never does as much good as meeting with a counselor¹¹ in person.

“They are never going to replace…the relationship that develops between the counselor and…the student or the group,” said Linde. “They go on this journey together.”

I’m Pete Musto.

And I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

nervousness – n. a state of having or showing feelings of being worried and afraid about what might happen

stress – n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life or work

clinical – adj. of or relating to a place where medical treatment is given

psychologist – n. a scientist who specializes in the study and treatment of the mind and behavior

beyond – prep. more than something

coping – v. dealing with problems and difficult situations and trying to come up with solutions

counseling – n. advice and support that is given to people to help them deal with problems and make important decisions

dean – n. a person whose job is to give advice to the students in a college or high school and to make sure that they obey the school's rules

location – n. a place or position

journey – n. an act of traveling from one place to another

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

4 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

5 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

6 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 counseling   

n.咨询服务

参考例句：

• A multimillionaire media magnate has shocked his employees with his candor by telling them all that he's putting his business affairs on hold to enter an alcoholism-counseling program. 一位身份数百万的媒体大亨，坦诚地告诉他全体员工他将暂时搁置他的事业以便参加戒酒班，令员工大为惊愕。
• She will need medical help and counseling to overcome the tragedy. 她将需要医疗帮助和心理咨询来平复这场悲剧。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

11 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

12 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册