CBC mental health presentation

By: Justin Crouch

CBC Windsor hosted a mental health presentation for students who suffer from stress-related anxieties and depression associated with studies and life stressors.

A live broadcast was held discussing various mental health struggles with psychology professionals on Feb. 15, at the University of Windsor’s Erie Hall.

Sophie Rutter is a fifth-year psychology student at the university.

“I struggled with anxiety since I was a little kid … I was experiencing multiple panic attacks a day, I wasn’t sleeping or eating,” said Rutter.

Rutter related a lot of her anxieties to school-related pressures.

“You ask for an extension once and they’re like ‘okay’ but then I’ll have another legitimate reason and they’ll say ‘oh well you’re just taking advantage of this,’” she said.

Rutter continued to speak about the issues concerning her professors’ responses to students who are dealing with daily mental challenges.

“When you have a community approach you’ll get empathy and compassion for one another.” said panelist Dr. Mohsan Beg.

“I don’t want to see people suffer alone, it’s a devastating thing,” said Dr. Melanie-Anne Atkins, who is a wellness coordinator at Western University and is passionate about mental health.

On the topic of recovery, Atkins said it looks different to everybody.

“I think only the person can know when it’s time to move on but I would hope that they have the social supports to move on after the fact,” said Atkins.

As the panel discussion ended, the audience spoke up about their struggles during a question and answer period. Eleane Paguaga Amador broke into tears when she was speaking.

“We’re basically begging for help because it’s really hard to be in engineering, and I’m not crying because it’s hard to be an engineer, I’m crying because I lost a friend in my first year and there was nothing for him and we could have prevented his death,” said Amador.

Amador’s emotional comments brought awareness to the idea of school-related pressures not being the sole factor of stress related anxieties. The accumulation of work and social life was a frequent topic of discussion throughout the entire presentation.

Atkins said she believes the best place to reach out to struggling students would be on the web. That’s where talking, listening and videos all play a role in notifying those who are not aware of the various mental health aids, that there is still hope.

For free metal health services information call 1-866-5312600.