![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Pescara-Kovach.jpg\")
<\/a>Pescara-Kovach<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cStudents in colleges across the U.S. are struggling and we are no different. Students everywhere are really overwhelmed right now, and more of us need to understand that,\u201d said Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach, professor of educational psychology and director of the Center for Education in Mass Violence and Suicide.<\/p>\n
Pescara-Kovach said a number of national surveys completed over the past year have shown a high number of students are struggling with anxiety and depression. College poses challenges in typical years, she said, but the impact of the pandemic and related social isolation have led to an even greater number of mental health concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to normalize the fact that people are struggling, understand what that means and reassure them that there is help available,\u201d Pescara-Kovach said. \u201cMy message to faculty \u2014 myself included \u2014 is to remind ourselves just how much students are going through. And, yes, there may be times we have to be a bit more flexible.”<\/p>\n
Pescara-Kovach said faculty come to know their students throughout the semester and that any significant changes in their behavior or academics are worth looking into.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a simple, \u2018Are you OK? Is there anything I can do to help?\u2019 We often struggle with not knowing how to have that conversation,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are tough topics, but asking the questions are so important. You never know when you are saving a life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event will also feature an overview of free resources available through the UToledo Counseling Center, information on how faculty and staff can reach out to students, report concerns about a student\u2019s well-being, and an opportunity for individuals to share their own personal stories.<\/p>\n
The event is sponsored by the Center for Education in Mass Violence and Suicide, the Counseling Center and the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, as well as the Lucas County Suicide Prevention Coalition and Equality Toledo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cFree to Talk: An Interactive Conversation About Mental Health\u201d will take place 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, in Collier Building Room 1200.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":876,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,47,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69703"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69706,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69703\/revisions\/69706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}