Supporting Student Mental Health During The Holidays

Amaura Kemmerer, LICSW 
Executive Vice President of Client Engagement 

The holidays can be an emotionally challenging time for everyone, and college students can face unique issues associated with returning home after experiencing the freedom of independent living. It is not uncommon that friction or strained family relationships can make going home more difficult for some students, while other students may not have a home to return to for the holidays, magnifying feelings of loss and sadness. Life on campus can be a place where some students are openly able to express their identities or tap into a support system of friends that doesn’t exist at home. Anxiety about finances and gift-giving are common concerns from students, and some students return home so that they can work to support their college education, leaving them overwhelmed from the lack of a break. 

The continued stress of the pandemic has introduced another set of concerns for college students over the holidays as travel and gathering with friends and family may still feel uncertain or unsafe. Coupled with a fall semester that brought unprecedented demand for mental health support, students are likely to be seeking support to cope with the myriad of challenges that might develop during the holidays.

Increasingly, colleges and universities are implementing mental health solutions for students whether they are on campus, home or traveling during a break. For some students, being able to connect with a counselor over the holidays is critical, whether that is an in-the-moment conversation with a counselor to process a difficult situation or to access teletherapy from another state. Offering a program that supports students’ needs, wherever they may be geographically, can help problems from worsening over the holidays and relieve the pressure on the campus counseling system following the winter break. While counseling is critical for some students, others may be better suited to self-directed support, like mindfulness and meditation to relieve stress and improve sleep. 

Christie Campus Health offers a full continuum of evidence-based mental health and wellness services designed to meet students where they are in their readiness to connect to support, with the right level of support for their needs. The platform components can be implemented as a comprehensive mental health and wellness solution or modularized to fit the specific needs of an institution. The components, offered at no-cost to students, include:

• Wellness Website and App: school-branded online portal that includes exclusive educational materials and tools
• Premium Headspace Membership: leading meditation and mindfulness app, proven to reduce stress and anxiety and improve focus and sleep
• Internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT): self-directed program to help students understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviors
• 24/7/365 Support Line: unlimited, in-the moment care to students in the U.S. or abroad
• Counseling sessions: face to face or teletherapy, 50,000 clinicians available in the U.S.
• International support: over 80,000 international clinicians in 200 countries
• Virtual Psychiatric Clinics: psychiatric assessment and medication management
• Navigators: personalized care coordination to simplify access to campus and community resources

Christie Campus Health’s offerings can help colleges and universities that are looking to respond to the increasing demand for more services of more types. We strive to complement and expand the work already being done by campus counseling centers. While serving students is the core of the CCH approach, we also strive to partner with and support counseling center staff through special benefits like quarterly webinars with continuing education credit.  To learn more about Christie Campus Health, visit us at https://www.christiecampus.com/