“It’s ok to not be ok” is not enough
Content warning: this submission contains the writer’s opinion on serious mental health topics
As we approach the end of a very long and, for many, very draining semester, it is becoming more and more noticeable to me that the Colby community is afraid to talk seriously about mental health. It is not that the administration does not try to talk about mental health— Barbara Moore sent students an email reminding us that the counseling center exists, and sharing two new apps— but they consistently fall short, because they do not address the right concerns.
Colby’s focus on mental health is purely centered around student productivity. It is understandable, because productivity is an aspect of mental health that is safe and easy to discuss, and students being productive directly impacts the success of the College. That being said, a productivity-based approach to addressing mental health struggles barely scratches the surface of the challenges students face.
Low productivity is not a cause, it is a symptom. We are burnt out from chronic stress about COVID-19 and being asked to balance pre-pandemic workloads with the extra work of navigating the still-ongoing health crisis. People on campus have lost family members to COVID-19 and friends to suicide this semester, and we are still being told that our greatest struggle is our productivity. Refusing to talk about “scary” issues, either through some misguided idea that saying them aloud might speak them into existence, or because words like “suicide” and “anxiety” are taboo, causes more harm than just ignoring that we are struggling altogether.
Do not get me wrong, my productivity has definitely wavered this entire semester, as has seemingly everyone’s— I have not woken up a single day this semester feeling any more rested than when I went to bed. Still, more importantly, watching so many people struggle with things like panic attacks, grief, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, or eating disorders, and then hearing the College acknowledge only the struggles that visibly impact the administration, feels disrespectful. This is especially true when they are at the root of a lot of the stress that is breaking students down.
I began the year with a lot of uncertainty about my disability accommodations, especially around how to stay healthy and safely eat my food. I have spent a lot of time worrying about whether or not the seemingly understaffed and overwhelmed health center will be able to treat me if I get ill with one of the many sicknesses that have gone around campus this semester, or from getting food poisoning from the moldy, spoiled, or bug/slug-laden food from the dining halls.
This is not the first time that the point has been raised that Colby is afraid to speak about less palatable mental health issues. The year before I arrived here, The Colby Echo published an article that pointed out that, despite one student’s dying wish that we talk more about suicide on this campus, the College was still dancing around the topic, saying only that it is “ok to not be ok.”
The fact that it has been nearly four years since that article, and almost eight since Peter Cronkite `15 died, speaks volumes about Colby’s inability to learn how and what to say, despite very clearly expressed student wishes. When they say that it is “ok to not be ok” and then define “ok” as “able to be productive enough to finish your classes out,” it sends an implicit message that if you are struggling with anything more serious than a dip in productivity, you are an outlier, and do not belong at Colby.
This is not to say that I think Colby cannot do better. I think it will not do better. There are systems within the college that are trying— the Counseling Center is stretched to its limits trying to handle the influx of students who need support, and they are genuinely trying to help everyone who needs it.
There are also several new support groups that have formed, such as the grief support group, mainly led by folks from the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, but the overall college itself is falling short and has given far too many signals that they do not wish to change.
There are many things that need to be done, such as increasing funds so that Counseling can hire more counselors, or investigating how department- and college-wide policies and schedules are affecting students, and then listening to the response. But at the bare minimum, the College needs to acknowledge what students are actually struggling with, not the palatable and milquetoast symptoms of all of those struggles.
~ Caleb Richardson `23
