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College can be frustrating when you live with a mental health condition, but I am living proof that earning a degree while living with a mental health diagnosis is obtainable. Your college career may not look like your peers’ and it may take you more than four years, but it is an amazing journey and you will have built so much character and resilience when you finally get that beloved piece of paper. Here are four tips for college students managing a mental health condition:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan.

Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” When it comes to managing a mental health diagnosis and attending college, I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t learn to plan out every little detail of my schedule until I was a working adult enrolled in online classes, and managing bipolar. I feel as though if I had learned this as soon as I was diagnosed, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to finish. I have found that it is important to manage every assignment and appointment. From that dreaded English paper to your 4 o’clock session with your favorite therapist. I’ve learned to use different organizational tools to plan such as planners, note cards, sticky notes and of course, my beloved iPhone. Find your magic tools and get to planning! Stay at least one week ahead.

2. Take Advantage of the Resources at Your Institution.

I was away at school for a few years before I began to take advantage of the resources available on campus such as therapy and other mental health services. I struggled for a while before asking for help. Partly due to my pride and partly due to just plain ignorance, I had no idea that there were so many opportunities to get help. They vary by institution, but nowadays most campuses have some type of mental health services and or resources for students. If you’re like I was and find it challenging to ask for help, think of how much more time and energy you’ll have when your issues are being addressed and not looming over you. Think of how it will feel focus on your courses, personal projects and passions instead of focusing on how you feel stuck and unable to move forward.

3. Communicate with Your Instructors.

Contrary to popular opinion, your college professors are there for you. I know in high school and in other parts of society it is taught that your professors don’t care if you succeed. News flash: they do! That’s why it is important to build rapport with them and let them know what’s going on with you. They can’t help you if they don’t know what you’re dealing with. At some colleges, this is as easy as having your diagnosis documented or simply sending an e-mail at the beginning of the semester letting your professors know ahead of time while at other schools you have to be registered with some type of disability services office or other resource. It can be overwhelming, but simply communicating with your teachers goes a long way when you’re mid-semester and your symptoms arise.

4. Stay the Course, but Remain Realistic.

There were so many times that I wanted to quit and to be honest, there were times when I did give up, but something always pulled me back. I believe this something was my desire to complete what I had started and ultimately accomplish what I knew in my heart of hearts I could do. At times, I felt like taking on a full course load in order to speed up the process, but I had to be realistic and know that too much on my plate would not be beneficial mentally or academically. In staying the course, I learned to slow down and revel in small victories, such as successfully completing one or two courses per semester. Over time this built my confidence in my ability to finish. This pace was perfect for me and my lifestyle. I was on a realistic path to completing my degree and it worked!

You will get overwhelmed and want to quit. Some days you’ll have more doubt than desire to move forward. You will also have days when you feel on top of the world and unstoppable because you are working hard and killing every obstacle in your way. It’s all a part of the process. Every failure serves as a lesson and every success becomes a metaphor for the next.


Adapted from the blog post Degrees and Diagnoses: Four Ways to Get One While Living with the Other at kontentlykara.com

Call for Proposals: Seeking a Research/Evaluation Partner to Focus on Mental Health and Higher Education Institutions in North Carolina

NC Youth & Family Voices Amplified Program

UNC Greensboro Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships

The mission of NC Youth & Family Voices Amplified is to amplify the voice of NC’s youth and families in systems and services that support their mental health and well-being. We do this through education, community partnerships, and support to enhance family-driven and youth-led care. To learn more about NC Voices Amplified, please visit https://ncvoicesamplified.uncg.edu/. 

NC Voices Amplified is housed within the UNCG Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships (CYFCP), and it is supported by a contract with the NC Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child and Family Well-Being. 

This year, as part of our strategic capacity-building activities related to Youth Peer Support in North Carolina, we will conduct a statewide needs assessment and develop an outreach plan specific to engaging higher education institutions (including 4-year colleges and universities and community colleges) across North Carolina. A focus will be on building connections between the Youth Peer Support movement in North Carolina and mental/behavioral health-related activities on college campuses. 

Requested research/evaluation services: We are seeking a collaborative research/evaluation partner to work with NC Voices Amplified and CYFCP staff to plan and implement two key deliverables:

1. A needs assessment that should include both quantitative and qualitative data
2. An outreach plan with recommendations for how NC Voices Amplified can effectively engage higher education institutions to promote youth and young adult mental health based upon the findings of the needs assessment

Project budget: The budget for this project is $15,000. The researcher/evaluator will be contracted with UNCG following UNCG’s contracting processes and policies prior to the project’s start date.

Project timeline: This project must be completed by June 30, 2023. 

Application process: We invite interested prospective facilitators to develop a brief (i.e., 1-2 page) proposal, plus a budget which can be included on a third page) to answer the following question: 

What do you propose to do within the budgeted amount of $15,000 to (1) conduct a high-quality needs assessment and (2) develop a needs assessment-informed outreach plan, with both deliverables relating to how NC Voices Amplified can best engage higher education institutions across North Carolina in its work related to Youth Peer Support?

Please indicate in your proposal how your research/evaluation approach will honor and elevate the lived experiences of youth and young adults.

To apply, please submit your proposal to Christine Murray at cemurray@uncg.edu by November 15th, 2022. 

Please note: Submission of an application in response to this Call for Proposals is a first-stage inquiry in the contracting process. No received response to this inquiry will be viewed by UNCG as any type of official contract between UNCG and the prospective facilitator.