College Students Report that Remote Counseling is Necessary to Maintain Their Mental and Emotional Well-being

An unbranded, anonymous survey of college students released by META Teletherapy finds students at colleges and universities providing mental and emotional support resources are more engaged with their coursework.

META Teletherapy, a remote counseling solution for educational institutions, surveyed current college students about the mental and emotional impact of the pandemic and specifically how they’re coping with the stress from COVID-19. Of those students, 84 percent reported that their emotional or mental health has been impacted by the pandemic.

The top three methods for self-treating their emotional and mental health during the shutdown were exercising, hobbies/creative outlets, and mindfulness activities (meditating, yoga, grounding, journaling, etc.). 14 percent of college students reported engaging in prescription or recreational drugs.

The study also shows that 30 percent of college students have engaged in counseling with a licensed therapist specifically to cope with the pandemic. 63 percent of students reported their school made remote counseling available and 74 percent reported currently taking advantage of remote counseling or planning to.

Moreover, three out of four students acknowledge that remote counseling is necessary to manage their emotional and mental well-being, while only 3 percent said remote counseling was “Somewhat unnecessary” and 0 percent said “Very unnecessary.” 24 percent of students were “Unsure yet” if remote counseling was necessary to manage their emotional and mental well-being.

The study also examined how students rate their college or university’s response to providing emotional and mental health support to students. Half of the students reported only an “Average” response, while only 11 percent reported their school’s response as “Excellent” and 17 percent reported “Below Average” or “Poor.”

On a measure of 1 (least) to 10 (most) about how helpful their college or university’s emotional and mental health support was in remaining engaged with course work, 27 percent reported a 1, 2, or 3; 44 percent reported a 4, 5, or 6; and 30 percent reported a 7, 8, 9, or 10. This indicates that emotional and mental health support has an impact on keeping students engaged with their course work.

 The full report can be found here: https://www.meta.app/how-students-cope-with-pandemics-survey-report/

* META Teletherapy used Survey Monkey to collect responses from 296 individuals across the United States who are currently attending college.