Mat-Su College making strides in student mental health

PALMER — Thanks to the efforts of students, staff and community organizations, Mat-Su College is addressing the issue of student mental health head-on.

One of those students is Everret Hamilton, who said he first ran for Student Government Council president because he “didn’t wanna just be someone who complained.”

Now in his fourth semester as president, Hamilton has gotten to know the student body of Mat-Su College better than most. He recently started a campus Health and Wellness Committee, which surveyed students on whether they would use a gym if the facility were made accessible to them. The answer was an overwhelming “yes,” Hamilton said.

“Exercise is the best way of getting rid of stress, and if you get rid of stress you’re more likely to be successful, and that’s what we want,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said he saw some students get “really on edge” around finals week, but that academic anxiety is not the only kind of stress Mat-Su College students experience. Hamilton said he (like many of his classmates) works more than one job while going to school, in addition to being involved in multiple extracurricular activities. Some students are veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, many have children to care for and others simply have no family structure, which can be a stressor in itself.

“Mat-Su College has a particularly unique set of students, and not everybody that goes here has a support system,” Hamilton said.

That lack of support, added to the long, cold, dark winters in Alaska, can be extremely discouraging, he said. According to the most recent statistics from the state’s Division of Public Health, Alaska’s annual suicide rate has consistently been among the highest in the nation.

But Mat-Su College students are a resilient bunch, Hamilton said, and several on-campus groups have been working to provide even more relief as of late. Mat-Su Health Services now provides up to three free counseling sessions for currently enrolled Mat-Su College students and referrals for additional services, if necessary. The student-led Mat-Su Monitor newspaper has gotten in the habit of printing tips for success in times of stress, like in the December 2015 issue. Student government has developed a semi-annual tradition of “snack week” — a healthy or sugary break from studying held in the atrium all day, every day during finals — and brought in therapy dogs for students to pet in passing at various times of the year. With a portion of a recently awarded grant, the council also plans to bring a host of motivational speakers to campus next year.

The Mat-Su Health Foundation’s Healthy Impact Grant of $195,864 to the college is expected to pay for a new healthy lifestyle education program for students and provide professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.

“The message we want to send to our students is that we recognize that life is complex and different things interfere with success in reaching academic goals,” said Dr. Diane Erickson, director of the college’s Office of Academic Affairs.

Erickson said she applied for the grant as a way to “remove remaining barriers to care” and prevent any potential action stemming from behavioral health issues (rather than in response to an actual, current problem.)

“As a community college, for us to be this proactive … is pretty significant,” she said.

The increase in behavioral health services at Mat-Su College may also take some load off other staff members. Hamilton said academic advisors and professors often end up serving as informal counselors to struggling students, and while the non-academic advice is appreciated, it maybe a bit misplaced.

“It’s great that they’re facilitating those things but that’s not necessarily their job position,” he said.

Still, that ability for professors and advisors to really know what’s going on in their students’ lives is a blessing to the small school like Mat-Su College.

“It’s more personalized,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said the mental health efforts at Mat-Su College are part of the University of Alaska system as a whole moving in a positive direction.

“I think the university is working toward a lot of positive changes, and I have high hopes for our new president,” he said, after meeting with UA President Jim Johnsen on Jan. 20.

Hamilton’s classmate and student government secretary Hannah Grothe said she sees good things for the future of the college as well.

“I feel like we’re in good hands.”

To learn more about Mat-Su College, visit matsu.alaska.edu, or call 745-9774.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.