When I originally set out to write this, I had proposed an article on the way we discuss mental illness in daily life. In an ideal world, I would like us to stop throwing around phrases such as “crazy” or “psycho” when we encounter people or situations we do not like. I believe that to do so is to enforce harmful stigmas about people with mental illness. In light of recent events, assigning mental illness to the entitled male shooters who destroy the lives of many people is to further enforce those harmful stereotypes in my mind.
These ideas are still important to me. They are constantly present to me. But they sadly cannot be the focus of this article.
Recently, The Thrill published an article concerning future changes to Kenyon’s Peer Counselors. Changes to college policy would remove confidentiality, peer-led small group meetings, and the 24-hour hotline from the PC’s services (or at least make them directly supervised by college counselors).
It is one thing to use the language of mental illness incorrectly or harmfully. It is another thing entirely to pretend that mental illness is not a serious problem within our institutions, within Kenyon, and within our country. This article is no longer about ideal worlds. It is about necessary ones.
For the past two weeks, since my last counseling appointment and psychiatrist appointment, I have been falling apart. My psychiatrist told me that he thinks it is likely that I have bipolar disorder. I laid in bed with a friend and asked if she ever worried about not ever getting better, a very present concern for me. She nodded solemnly and replied, “All the time.”
We are the lucky ones who have counselors we like and semi-regularly see. But I know that my first-year-self hated going to the counseling center. She always felt, frankly, like shit when she left. I know students who are not honest with their counselors for fear of being hospitalized or fear of being asked to return home. For them, for myself, the confidentiality peer counselors have is key not only to succeeding in our studies but in staying alive. The hotline gives us actively present help that would feel less tangible from a national hotline. Kenyon claims to value the peer counselors’ opinions about the proposed changes to the peer counselor’s duties, but everything peer counselors have been saying and doing points to the opposite. Why should we put our faith in the Kenyon administration when they have so consistently failed us?
Kenyon’s official statement declares that Kenyon’s mental health services are on par with those of other institutions. They fail to explain to students that the health services at other institutions are just as inadequate as our own. There are not enough counselors to promote well-being on this campus. I wish I had the time to care for each friend who has been falling apart as they wait two weeks for their counseling or psychiatrist appointments. I wish I wasn’t so constantly scared that my friends and I might not make it to the next week. When our health and counseling services shut down on the weekends, who should we turn to without facing hospitalization in Mount Vernon?
Kenyon’s Peer Counselors help to alleviate this concern. To an extent, I can understand the college’s concern. But they must understand that the greater disservice to our campus would be if the peer counselors’ duties changed as drastically as planned. The PCs were put in place after a suicide, from a fear that students did not have proper support networks. Even with the PCs as they currently stand, I hold this concern for myself and my friends. I fear the consequences of these changes. Please. Contact our administrators.
Dean of Students, Robin Hart Ruthenbeck hartruthenbeck1@kenyon.edu (740) 427-5136
VP of Student Affairs, Meredith Bonham bonhamm@kenyon.edu (740) 427-5136 (same # as dean of students)
President Sean Decatur president@kenyon.edu Office of the President: 740-427-5112
Director of Counseling, Chris Smith smith5@kenyon.edu Counseling Center (ask to speak to Chris): 740-427-5643
Create this necessary world. I would not be begging if my life and the lives of my friends did not depend on it.
Image Credits: Feature: Katherine Connolly, 1, 2, 3