Opinion: UNC mental health institutes should make a text hotline

Chances are you’ve seen at least one person running at an odd hour (say 4 a.m. in the morning) or walking back from the gym when you’re heading to your 8 a.m. class. There seem to be many people who take care of their bodies, but what about their minds?

Mental health is just as important as physical health because both contribute to healthier living — inside and out. UNC has done a commendable job of creating a safe and stigma-free environment where students can comfortably seek and find help with issues concerning mental health. However, an abundance of resources can overwhelm and dissuade those who are unfamiliar with mental health.

Thus, Counseling and Psychological Services should look for a grant or examine other options to create a text-based hotline. This hotline would be specific to UNC so students can receive personalized suggestions for resources, organizations and centers.

Texting would greatly expand accessibility to UNC’s various mental health institutes.

Beneficiaries would include: those who find phone calls anxiety-ridden, those who are deaf or hard of hearing, those who wish to remain anonymous, those who do not feel comfortable speaking in English and even those who find it easier to write out their thoughts.

Similar to other crisis hotlines, this one would enable students to have a conversation with another person about a range of topics like defining mental health and clarifying what happens at a first-time visit to CAPS.

This suggestion is not meant to detract from the successes achieved by UNC in terms of providing a variety of mental health resources.

Student-run organizations like Rethink, Stigma-Free Carolina, Active Minds and Embody have active presences on campus. The Department of Psychology has a community clinic that is accessible for those in the Triangle. The campus health fee ($190 per semester) covers CAPS services such as psychological evaluation, brief therapy, groups, crisis intervention, prescriptions for psychotropic medication and consultation to the campus and parents. There is also an online screening that is brief and confidential.

Help is definitely available, but it is not presented in a centralized and accessible way.

Creating a hotline would help streamline the initial contact between the student and the counselor, helping the existing organizations on campus better achieve their goals.

Texting is already one of the most common forms of communication among college students. Thus, those seeking help might feel more comfortable if they were able to express themselves in a casual and familiar way to student-volunteers who would man the hotline.

Accessibility to mental health resources is as critical as awareness of mental health. However, mental health awareness should not be relegated to a single day, week or month.

Every moment is critical and thus, maximizing access would ensure that Chapel Hill community members can always take care of their minds as much as they do their bodies.