Natalie Davis

4500 W Yost Rd.

Stillwater, OK 74075
xxx-xxx-xxxx

Governor J. Kevin Stitt

2300 N Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105

October 24, 2019

Governor Stitt,

I would like to begin by saying I appreciate all that you have done and continue to do for our
great state. Mental health has become an epidemic in colleges across the country. I am writing
to ask that you represent the voice of these students to the best of your ability as well as help
to find a solution to this growing problem.

I have struggled with mental health in my years in college. I started my freshman year of college
at Oklahoma Christian University. I had to reach out for help many times while I was there. My
struggle with extreme anxiety led to missing class, grades dropping, and forced me to never
want to leave my dorm room. After a week into my second semester there, it became obvious I
needed to make a change, so I moved back in with my parents and transferred schools. I was
lucky to have my parents welcome me back home and do what they could to help, others are
not so lucky. After changing schools and moving back in with my family, my anxiety only
subsided a small amount. I eventually gathered enough courage to reach out to the counselors
available to me through Oklahoma State University. The response was not what I expected.
When I finally received a response, I was told they were not accepting any more patients. The
resources offered to me were not available because they did not have enough counselors to
handle all of the students that were reaching out for help. This needs to change. I have reached
out to professors to explain why I missed their class is because I was too depressed or anxious
to even get out of bed, I was not believed. Professors hear excuses for missing classes so often,
they no longer know what is true.

According to an article written by an unknown author on health line, a study conducted in 2016
found that around the world the overall population of college students struggling with mental
health was thirty-nine percent. That does not seem like a lot, until you look at how many
students that number would equal. Another article written by Nicole J. LeBlanc on health
harvard states that a more recent study conducted in 2018 by the American College Health
Association found that sixty-three percent of college students in the United States struggled
with overwhelming anxiety within the last year. That means that over half of all of the college
students in the United States, which is 19.9 million students, struggle with anxiety. Not only has
the number of students struggling with mental health gone up, so has the suicide rate. Why is
more not being done about this?
There are resources available, but there is not enough. Colleges offer students on campus
counseling, they make it affordable and easily accessible. The problem is, there is not enough
counselors to care for all of the students that need help. There needs to be more counselors
hired to account for all of the students. Not only are more counselors needed, but more
education on how to get in contact with them. Higher Education Today reports that only ten to
fifteen percent of students are using the resources. If only ten to fifteen percent of them are
using the resources and there are not enough resources, what would happen if more students
reached out for help? There are peer groups that can be a temporary help to some students,
but they have to be made aware of these groups. Students need to be educated so they can get
the proper help so they can succeed.

The American College Health Association reported that studies have shown that anxiety and
depression are the most prevalent cause of poor academic performance. Students are failing
classes, skipping, and dropping out because of the epidemic. An article on higher ed today
shows the results of a survey done on various college presidents. The article found that
majority of college presidents, if monetary resources were not an issue, would hire more staff
to work as counselors. Tuition is already too much for most people to bare, there has to be a
better way of getting the funds for mental health help on campuses across the United States.
The article on higher ed today clearly shows that presidents are doing what they can to help the
students and decrease the problems with mental health on their campuses, but as one
president said, “We can’t just solve the problem by hiring more counselors.”

The issue of mental illness amongst college students is more complex than simply going to
counseling. It is a bigger issue than the colleges themselves can handle, this is something that is
going to take more than just money to fix. Professors need to be understanding. More
counselors are needed, better resources, and more peer to peer communication about hard
topics. Mental health has become an epidemic in colleges across the country. More action
needs to be taken, so Governor Stitt will you help? College students can not do this alone and
colleges are not equipped for such a large quantity of students that are taking that step and
asking for help.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read my letter. Please consider all that I have
said and try to be a voice for these students struggling with mental health help find a solution.
You are more than welcome to call me in response to my letter, if you choose to do so my
phone number is 817-454-3452.

Thank you again,

Natalie Davis
 Works Cited

Berger, Matt. “Mental Health and College Students.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 27 Sept. 2018,

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/college-frosh-mental-health.

Fees, John. “College Student Mental Health and Well-Being: A Survey of Presidents.” Higher

Education Today, 12 Sept. 2019, https://www.higheredtoday.org/2019/08/12/college-student-

mental-health-well-survey-college-presidents/.

LeBlanc, Nicole J. “Anxiety in College: What We Know and How to Cope.” Harvard Health Blog,

27 Aug. 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/anxiety-in-college-what-we-know-and-how-

to-cope-2019052816729.

Sienkiewicz, Taylor. “Mental Health Resources for College Students: On-Campus &

Off.” Peterson's, Peterson's, 14 June 2019, https://www.petersons.com/blog/mental-health-

resources-for-college-students-on-campus-and-beyond/.

“The NCES Fast Facts Tool Provides Quick Answers to Many Education Questions (National

Center for Education Statistics).” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a

Part of the U.S. Department of Education, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372.