By Jackie Pena
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Long Beach State staff sought to find solutions to better aid students struggling with mental health issues.
According to the Health Minds Network 2021,“53% of students felt their emotional health/mental difficulties have hindered their academic performance in the past three days or more.”
Inclusivity and awareness mean recognizing mental health. As a student struggling with my mental health, it is reassuring to see my university prioritize the issues I experience daily.
Having read about Beach Wellness, I remember those who came before me and sacrificed their own mental and physical health for others. I acknowledge that working through mental health issues takes time.
Since I was 12, I have been a victim of my mind’s negative thoughts, yet no one around me considered the possibility that I was suffering.
Years have passed. I am now 19 years old, still no diagnosis to my name, but I continue living knowing I will always be mentally ill.
Mental health was overlooked in the past: that is the gist of it.
We brush it to the side, believe it is not there, that it does not exist. Yet at the same time, we know something is wrong.
Seeing this issue receive the recognition it deserved decades ago indicates that as a society, we are taking a step in the right direction.
From 2022 to the present, staff at CSULB have been working endlessly to create goals and establish their mission to “promote well-being and support students.”
As a part of these efforts, CSULB has introduced mental health simulations that bring an immersive simulated training experience to all staff and faculty. This helps build empathy, promote active listening skills and facilitate referrals to campus wellness centers from staff to students.
All staff and faculty on campus, including state and auxiliary staff, are eligible to partake in this training experience. Once the player clicks the “Play Now” button on the webpage, the simulation begins.
“This initiative puts students first and aims to make every student on campus feel a sense of community,” Fidel Vasquez, a fourth-year economics and political science major, said.
Depending on the choices made by the player, the training can take longer.
A score of 4 out of 5 is needed to progress to the next module. In total, four training modules can take roughly 15 to 45 minutes to complete.
For testers who want to complete the entire training in one sitting, a recommended one-hour time frame should be set aside to accomplish all four modules.
Once the player has completed their training, they will receive a digital badge via email. A certificate of completion can then be downloaded from the game platform.
Mental illness, if not treated, can be detrimental to one’s health and wellness. It is vital that society has started to take mental health issues more seriously.
CSULB is taking the necessary precautions to tackle informing its population about various mental health and trauma-focused scenarios.
Dear little me, something was never wrong with you. Everyone is struggling with something.
