Letter to the Editor | Mental health aid must complement pandemic response

Letter+to+the+Editor+%7C+Mental+health+aid+must+complement+pandemic+response

By Sanam Virani

In response to the article “Students feel burnout from ceaseless semester:”

With a pandemic, elections and endless deadlines, we are truly living in unprecedented times. Many students are feeling burnt out and like they can’t seem to catch a break. I don’t think any student imagined that they would be paying thousands of dollars to sit in front of a computer for days on end and lose the best part of the college experience: the social interaction.

With increased screen time, burnout and lack of social interaction, many students feel like their mental health is being affected. Despite knowing all this information, it seems as if some of the administration simply does not care. Some professors are assigning more work and struggling to empathize with their students. Perhaps, professors are also feeling the same burnout and stress students are feeling. So, if that is the case why is nothing being done about it?

There needs to be more mental health awareness throughout campus. As the article mentioned, many students don’t know about the resources available to them. However, it should not end there. Professors should be more educated on mental health and burnout as well as receive resources to take care of themselves.

A positive relationship between students and professors can lead to a positive impact on school performance and motivation. If professors are more understanding about what a student is going through, especially nowadays, a student will want to do better and put in more effort. Mental health is no joke and if not taken seriously, burnout, depression and anxiety will continue to increase.

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Sanam is a graduate student in Social Work.

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