When will mental health become a priority?

I recently had a heart to heart with a very close friend of mine. We were discussing the things we were going through at the time, and the access people our age have to mental health facilities. It isn’t a secret that many twenty somethings such as myself, (and my friend) do not have access to health care. We work jobs that don’t offer health insurance and for my friend who is a graduate at CCU she can’t come to the on campus clinic and talk to a counselor, because she’s no longer a student.

So where can she go?

Do we just leave those young adults who are in her situation to fend for themselves? Does she just accept her current mental state and hope like a scab the wound will just heal on its own? This article unfortunately doesn’t offer any solutions to this problem. I can’t solve the mental health crisis for young adults in the U.S., but what I can do is let it be known that the problem exists. Coastal has many resources for their students.

From physical to mental health our fine University takes initiative in trying to help us in any way possible. But where does the support go after the student has graduated? What happens to the alumni who don’t find a job in their field right after college that offers benefits? What about those of us who are stuck in the food industry trap that Myrtle Beach has created?

All these questions don’t have a simple answer. They also don’t have just one solution. What I’m hoping to gain from this is for one person to read it and know they aren’t alone in the battle against mental health. I am hoping that one person who has a possible solution even if it’s just for a few individuals, takes it upon themselves to make it happen. I’m hoping that those in charge of our mental health resources at our university can make possible exceptions to the student rule if their alumni have nowhere else to turn.

This topic is bigger than our community, it is bigger than our university, but if just one person decides to take a proactive step in the right direction, who knows what could be possible.