Bolster mental health support for graduate students this fall

While many campuses have bolstered mental health support and promotion broadly in recent years, graduate students have too often been overlooked. Studies have shown that graduate students are six times more likely than the general population to experience depression and anxiety—but graduate students are rarely the focus of our outreach efforts. And in a recent survey, only 58 percent of institutions said they had a plan to promote the mental health and well-being of graduate students. Below, we share two innovative ways to promote and support graduate student mental health.

The Graduate Student Wellness Initiative at Montana State University aims to increase awareness of and foster peer discussions about well-being. It focuses on four components of graduate student wellbeing: physical and mental wellbeing, basic needs, community and mentoring, and career fulfillment.

As part of the initiative, a group of graduate students serve as Wellness Champions to promote awareness of mental health resources among graduate students in their departments. Wellness Champions host health promotion and education activities for their departments, connect newly admitted students to department expectations and resources, and continuously update peers on student health and wellness services throughout the year. The program promotes greater mental health awareness among graduate students and encourages utilization of the various wellness resources the university has available.