Add mental health care

By Caitlin Clift, Berkeley| 7/15/2022

As a college student, it’s quite frustrating to constantly hear mental health be painted as a Generation Z issue. The discourse surrounding the mental health of our generation isn’t just our problem.

It’s the economic instability. It’s the hate crimes and police brutality we witness. It’s the mass shootings we experience. It’s the pandemic we are growing up in. It’s the climate crisis we may die in. It’s the build up of decades of our leaders and older generations failing us.

Yet, here we are, not being taken seriously, and expected to figure it out ourselves.

To properly address the mental health crisis, we need to prioritize sustained, reliable funding. As a University of California student, I am only guaranteed three counseling appointments each semester. Not to mention, it is not guaranteed that the counselor will be the same one each time. To find my own therapist, I had to wait three months just for an appointment.

Struggling students should not be expected to fill in these resource gaps on their own. The mental health crisis is not just a Gen-Z issue. It’s time to fund our schools.