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During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about mental health and substance use have grown worldwide. Anxiety, depression, social isolation, and inability to cope with stress affected many people’s lives, including Kent State’s students, faculty, and staff.

Starting March 2020, the College of Public Health’s Center for Public Policy and Health’s Division of Mental Health and Substance Use (DMHSU), in collaboration with Dr. William Lechner from the Department of Psychological Sciences, began a longitudinal study to assess KSU students’ mental health and substance use during the pandemic. The researchers found that psychological distress increased, showing higher levels of anxiety and depression. Simultaneously, as the stress grew following the campus closure in March 2020, students’ alcohol consumption rose, increasing risky drinking behaviors, especially among those already experiencing anxiety and depression.

According to Deric Kenne, Ph.D., associate professor of health policy and management in the College of Public Health, there are many factors that could have contributed to this. “Some students were less affected, while others were more impacted. Some had family members who passed away because of COVID-19, some lost their job, some struggled with classes, especially when everything went online,” states Kenne. “Data suggest that students’ mental health was negatively impacted. We were already seeing annual increases in depression and anxiety, but during the pandemic it increased more than we would have expected based on the historical trend,” Kenne explains.

To help reduce the negative effects of the pandemic, the DMHSU offers a variety of programming to support student mental health. The DMHSU was awarded a three-year Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in Fall 2018 and again in Fall 2021 to fund More Aware, which is a collaborative initiative to enhance mental health at Kent State. 

"Supporting the mental health of those at KSU is extremely important, and this is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Kimberly Laurene, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Public Health. “We are partnering with the Division of Student Affairs on More Aware to elevate the work on student mental health that is already being done across the university.”

To support Kent State’s community in coping with the distress caused by COVID-19, DMHSU began offering several different mental health awareness trainings throughout the pandemic designed to teach people how to recognize signs of mental distress and how to connect individuals to appropriate professional services.

"We offer a variety of mental health awareness trainings, including Awareness, Interaction Direction (A.I.D.); Kognito; Mental Health First Aid; Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR); and Validate, Appreciate and Refer (V-A-R),” says Laurene. The trainings differ in focus and target, as some are directed to students while others are for faculty and staff. “We want to be accessible to everyone. For example, in terms of time commitment, the trainings range from 20 minutes to 8 hours, and we have sessions that are in person or virtual,” Laurene explains.

In addition, More Aware holds U Good events, which are workshops to encourage Kent State’s students to adopt healthful behaviors. U Good events feature different topics, from improving your self-esteem to alcohol misuse awareness. “U Good events are designed to have the students engaged in different activities, like creating flowerpots or scented play-dough, while reflecting on their mental health,” Kenne states. During the pandemic, U Good events have only been offered virtually, however, starting in February 2022, in-person sessions were back on campus. “We are also continuing to offer the virtual U Good format, which is beneficial to students who might not be able to make it to the Kent campus,” adds Laurene.

DMHSU’s efforts to provide mental health awareness and education go beyond Kent State’s borders. “We are in the process of making our own custom created AID training  a formal training. We have been working with the Design Innovation Hub to create a manual that other institutions and organizations outside ������ can use,” Kenne states. “Moreover, we partnered with the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Portage County and 13 schools in Portage County to provide trainings for teachers, administrators and staff. The objective is to offer them the skillset to detect students having psychological distress, engaging with them in a conversation and helping them to connect with services sooner rather than later.” Kenne concludes: “We also are going to be providing several trainings to the community. Everybody who is a resident or works in Portage County can come to these trainings for free and learn how to recognize distress, engage individuals and help connect them to services.”

To learn more about DMHSU Mental Health Awareness trainings for KSU students, faculty and staff, click here Address: /mhsu/MHAT

For more information about U Good events click here Address /mhsu/ugood

To see the calendar and register for the Mental Health Awareness trainings and U Good events click here  Address   /mhsu/events

Pictured: Deric Kenne, PhD, and Kimberly Laurene, PhD.