Re-Thinking Mental Health

I am no stranger to mental health issues. Growing up in a small rural school, I saw mental health take a toll on
my friends. In 8th grade, one of my best friends lost her dad to suicide. In 10 th grade, one of my best friends lost
her mom to suicide. The final blow that hit home was two years ago when my dad committed suicide at the
beginning of my sophomore year at CSU. From there I witnessed it in my fraternity and with other friends in
the university community. When I traveled to Honduras as part of my fraternity’s mission trip I was tasked with
finding a “Passion Project.” There was no doubt that I wanted to focus on mental health and what I could do to
improve the lives of many. As an education major, mental health has taken a front row seat in my heart and
mind as I work with youth every day in school. I am focused and driven to create tools and resources for other
teachers to use with students to break the silence surrounding mental health.

Suicide is a leading killer of young people in America. I aim to develop creative strategies to help educators
break the silence of mental health through the creation of games and activities that transform the way we think
about mental health. My research will be primarily focused on classroom observations and scholarly research to
develop my strategies.

Through my research I am going to need to perform the following tasks:

1. Research mental health statistics in students
2. Research major factors influencing students’ mental health
3. Observe student behavior in classrooms
4. Observe and research ways that mental health are currently discussed
5. Compile reasoning to develop new strategies
6. Create games and activities
7. Test new methods on students
8. Organize all my findings
9. Compile into research paper

Resources:

Eisenberg, D., Downs, M. F., Golberstein, E., & Zivin, K. (2009). Stigma and Help Seeking for Mental Health Among
College Students. Medical Care Research and Review, 66(5), 522–541. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558709335173

Blanco, C., Okuda, M., Wright, C. et al. Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers:
results from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;
65: 1429–1437

American College Health Association. American College Health Association–National College Health
Assessment: Reference Group Data Report, Spring 2008. American College Health Association, Baltimore,
MD; 2008

Gallagher, R. National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, 2008.

http://www.iacsinc.org/2008%20National%20Survey%20of%20Counseling%20Center%20Directors.pdf

US Department of Education. The Condition of Education. US Department of Education, Washington, DC;

2018

Kessler, R.C., Foster, C.L., Saunders, W.B. et al. Social consequences of psychiatric disorders, I: educational
attainment. Am J Psychiatry. 1995

Angst, J. Comorbidity of mood disorders: a longitudinal prospective study. Br J Psychiatry. 1996; 30: 31–37
Weitzman, E.R. Poor mental health, depression, and associations with alcohol consumption, harm, and abuse in
a national sample of young adults in college. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2004

Drum, D.J., Brownson, C., Denmark, A.B. et al. New data on the nature of suicidal crises in college students:
Shifting the paradigm. Prof Psychol Res Pract. 2009

Timeline:

Student teaching begins – January 4, 2019

Formal Thesis Proposal – Turned in to Honors by February 4, 2019
Rough Draft – Completed by April 12, 2019
Penultimate draft – turned in by April 19, 2019
Oral Presentation – Given May 6, 2019 @CoBank Center for AgEd
Final Copy – Turned into Honors by May 13, 2019
Thesis Evaluation Form – Turned in by May 15, 2019

Final Product:

My final product will be in the form of a research paper and several games varying in level of risk for students
to begin identifying areas of mental health and how to self-evaluate their mental health status.