The Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) newly-created Mental Matters subcommittee is hoping to improve the University of Minnesota’s mental health resources for students of color and LGBTQ+ students.
Mental Matters is a student-led subcommittee under USG’s larger Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Peter Nguyen, who is heading the subcommittee, said members are working on getting input from students on the University’s mental health resources through a survey.
Mental Matters is working on sending the survey, which is open to all University students, to as many students as possible. The plan is to identify the main issues with the University’s mental health resources from the survey results before proceeding with a plan of action, according to Nguyen.
“One thing that’s critical for this project is discovering a need and identifying the issue,” Nguyen said. “We want to get input from students, particularly students of color and students who identify as LGBTQ+, on their mental health needs and their experiences accessing mental health resources at the University.”
Grace Gong, a member of Mental Matters, said so far, survey results indicate students are unfamiliar with how to access the University’s online resources because the website can be difficult to navigate.
“Students are unfamiliar with how to access the Student Counseling Services and Student Academic Success Services,” Gong said. “Those two had a lot of responses saying students are not familiar with them at all.”
Nguyen said there is also concern about the University’s lack of representation among mental health providers.
“In terms of counselors and people to reach out to within Boynton or other services, students are feeling like they’re not very representative within their background or upbringing,” Nguyen said. “Students are finding it hard to relate and express their experiences to certain counselors.”
Athira Nair, the director of USG’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, said Mental Matters plans to continue collecting survey responses until mid-April. Afterward, they plan to consolidate the information and present it to University administration through a resolution or letter of recommendation.
“We are also looking at collaborating with certain centers on campus such as the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence and hopefully hosting workshops to bring more attention to this issue,” Nair said. “By getting more students and faculty on our side, it might be easier to bring this information and our message to administration.”
Nair said Mental Matters has a strong personal significance to her. She said while this project started last semester in USG, it had been overlooked because of bigger projects going on. She said she is passionate about making meaningful change this semester.
“As someone that identifies as queer and [a person of color] POC, it was really, really important to see an expansion of these resources,” Nair said. “Having people in my committee that are very passionate about this and want to take steps forward instead of letting it fall by the wayside is something that’s really special to me.”
