According to an April 2020 survey by Active MindsAbout, 80% of college students have experienced a negative impact on their mental health during the pandemic.
Kognito has just released the updated At-Risk Mental Health for Students to help students struggling with their mental health, especially now amid the pandemic.
College students and mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened mental health challenges among college students. Such problems have already been on the rise before the virus crisis hit. In the last half-decade, the number of students seeking campus counseling has surged 30-40%. Simultaneously, enrollment has increased by only 5%. Now, also, students are grappling with canceled internships, abandoned study-abroad programs, or family illness or deaths from COVID-19. They have a sea of changes in campus life - if they are on campus at all.
This perfect storm of need and the fact that two-thirds of suicidal college students tell a friend first are driving increased interest in online mental health training. Students seek resources that can provide the mental health support they need, either off or on campus.
At-Risk Mental Health for Students
Kognito pioneered this online strategy 10 years ago with At-Risk for University Students. It offers a suite of products that educates faculty, staff, and students about mental health and suicide prevention. It helps improve academic performance, student retention, and campus safety.
At-Risk for students is an avatar-based simulation designed to help students recognize signs of distress in themselves and their peers. It also aids in the practice of effective communication techniques to give peer support. (More than 300,000 students at 300+ institutions have been trained to date.)
Significantly, a recent study at one university showed that students who have participated in Kognito training seek mental health support for themselves at twice the rate as students who have not.
The updated version, At-Risk Mental Health for Students, includes more focus on resiliency skills, a more extensive diversity of students and stressors, self-care checklists, the availability of campus resources beyond counseling centers, and various other enhancements to address evolving needs.
