CREDIT: ICOPEU.COM/FANSHAWE
The iCopeU Fanshawe site offers mental health help to students in a fun and interesting format.

If you've been feeling stressed out, anxious, overwhelmed or sadder while in school, you're not alone. Macleans reported on a 2011 National College Health Assessment survey at the University of Alberta, which assessed 1,600 students' mental health, among other things. The survey found that, over the last 12 months, over half the students said they felt things were hopeless (51.3 per cent), felt overwhelmed by everything they had to do (87.5 per cent), felt "very lonely" (61.7 per cent), felt "very sad" (65.6 per cent) and felt overwhelming anxiety (52.1 per cent).

The article in Macleans stated that the problems identified by the U of A students are a reality for students across Canada, and that one quarter of university-age Canadians will experience a mental health issue.

Why begin this article on such a seemingly dour note? Because people need to realize that emotional and mental health issues are a lot more ubiquitous than you might think. In a culture that has begun to understand and empathize with the litany of emotional and mental issues that plague many, it is vital that people also are aware of the prevalence of these issues, to recognize any arising symptoms in family, friends or even within themselves, so that they may seek the proper assistance.

Fanshawe College has a variety of resources for students dealing with various personal issues, not just limited to mental health. Fanshawe's Counselling and Accessibility Services (room F2010) are open to all students with a wide range of personal issues, ranging from depression and eating disorders to career choices.

While students receiving counselling come from a variety of ages and backgrounds, freshmen and young adults can be more vulnerable to being caught up in depression, anxiety or stress. "In the young adult years, there is a higher prevalence of first-incident mental health issues," said Lois Wey, manager of Fanshawe Counselling and Accessibilities. "For students who are leaving home for the first time, there's extra stresses, less supervision ... students are more susceptible to drinking and drug use." The shock of freedom, combined with the sheer size and scale of college, comes as a shock to the uninitiated, which in turn may lead some to feelings of isolation and loneliness.

The heightened pressure for academic success also tends to prey on younger students. "Some parents are extremely supportive, and give their kids the emotional boost," said Wey. "Other students have more challenges with family, which leads to more stress."

According to Wey, there are "over 4,000 students" — up to one quarter of Fanshawe's student body — who receive counselling every year. Students may set up a free appointment with a counsellor, and all services are done in complete confidentiality that will only be breached when the possibility of harm to self or others is seen as a credible threat.

While a large majority of schools have their own counselling services as well, Fanshawe goes a step beyond with their own iCopeU website (icopeu.com/fanshawe), also accesible from myFanshawe. iCopeU is a subsidiary of mindyourmind.ca, an award-winning mental health program, and is targeted towards college and university students. The site not only serves as an outreach, but also intends to serve as a reliable online resource on mental health, while educating students in interesting and entertaining ways. One example of this 'edu-tainment' is the "Reach Out" quiz, a Jeopardy-style flash game (interestingly enough, presented by Josh Ramsay of Mariana's Trench) where you rack up points based on correctly answering questions on a variety of topics, from signs and symptoms of disorders to mental health in popular music.

Another interesting component of the iCopeU site is the Coping Kit, a mini-journal of sorts, which encourages students to actively think about what they must do in a personal crisis. The Coping Kit can be printed and referred to for personal use as an exercise to help those with particularly severe personal issues to handle crisis situations better through self-created drills and personal discovery.

Fanshawe's Counselling and Accessibility Services, as well as iCopeU, are freely available to all students of Fanshawe, but the most important thing for people to do is realize there is no shame, no stigmatization in having or opening up about their personal issues, no matter what they may be. That to have any sort of issue isn't a weakness, but is part of the human condition.

After all, our flaws are what make us perfectly human.