College of the Overwhelmed
Yesterday there was a fascinating program on campus. ”College of the Overwhelmed,” which is part of WF’s Voices of Our Time speaker series, brought national experts in college counseling and mental health to campus. The head of Harvard’s mental health service spoke about the many pressures that today’s students face - from eating disorders to substance abuse to depression. It was really fascinating. Here is the conference link: http://www.wfu.edu/voices/overwhelmed.html
One of the things that pleased me the most about this program was that so many departments from Wake Forest took advantage of the offering. I saw colleagues from the counseling and learning assistance centers, athletics, student life, faculty members, the dean’s office and many more - as well as Dr. Hatch, who looked like he was taking copious notes.
Following the Virginia Tech tragedy, I think people who work on college campuses have a much better understanding that the health and wellbeing of our students is everyone’s business. We all have a responsibility to help each other and watch out for each other. And in our type of close knit community, there are so many caring people and I think that can make a tremendous difference.