How to Keep Up with Mental Health

The weather is getting cooler, the sky is getting gray and the semester is in full swing. This means that keeping up with your mental health is more important than ever. 

With everything that we have to keep track of as college students, we tend to let ourselves slip through the cracks. Having such a large workload tends to make us feel overwhelmed and like we have to do everything on our own. MSU has a number of resources that could potentially benefit you in times of stress. 

Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) is a resource on campus that is available to all students. This service is located on the second floor in the Swingle Health Center in between Barnard Hall and the SUB. There are a number of services available, such as individual counseling, group counseling, couples counseling, self-help resources, crisis counseling and many other resources to help relieve stress. While there are services for those seeking more long-term help, they also offer Let’s Talk drop-in counseling services. Let’s Talk is a walk-in service available to anyone who feels that they need a one-time meeting to discuss some smaller problems in their life and to just talk to someone about their stress. For more information about Let’s Talk and CPS at MSU, visit www.montana.edu/counseling or talk to the lovely workers at the front desk on the second floor of the Swingle Health Center. If the university resources do not seem to be able to meet your needs, there is plenty of help that is available around the Bozeman area. 

It sometimes feels necessary to prioritize our education over ourselves, but our mental health is just as important. A way to make sure you are taking care of both is to contact a tutor or get a study buddy. Montana State University has a tutoring service called SmartyCats located in the Allen Yarnell Center for Student Success in the SUB. You can schedule an appointment and find a SmartyCats tutor by visiting https://www.montana.edu/aycss/success/smartycats or by visiting the office in the SUB. More educational resources for students is the help that is available in the Math and Stat Center and Writing Center in Wilson Hall. All of these are available through the University. 

During times of great stress, no matter if it is personal, educational or professional, there are resources available to help you. While declining mental health can make you think that you are totally alone, you’re not. The resources that are available at MSU are in place because thousands of people before you struggled with similar, if not identical, issues. Help is all around you and there is absolutely no shame in reaching out to professionals for counseling. Don’t hesitate to reach out to those around you if you are ever going through a tough time.