Mental Health of Business Students: Coping for the Long Term

Transcript

Ida Kesner: [0:00] I think, today, many students have mental wellness challenges. It even happens well before college. Students, whether in high school or even before, have had or are facing challenges today that we never expected.

[0:28] By the time they get to college, we already inheriting many of the issues that they faced in their prior life. I think what makes it especially challenging for business schools is that students come into often rigorous programs. That adds to the stress.

[0:48] Perhaps, they have financial challenges that are plaguing the family, especially for first-generation students. That adds to the stress level.

[0:58] Then the whole issue of migrating from one situation to another, being in a college environment for the first time, is a very challenging experience for students. That too raises the stress level.

[1:11] Business schools are basically a microcosm of what's going on at a broader setting and a microcosm of what may be going on in the university setting, but the rigors of business school add to that and really necessitate that we focus on how to help students cope with the stress, how to help students develop resiliency strategies for them that will last them a lifetime and throughout their careers.

[1:37] Business schools should really focus on all of the ways that they can educate students to develop resiliency skills, to develop skills that help them minimize and reduce their stress, cope with their stress if you will.

[1:52] I'm not a fan of Band-Aids. I'm not a fan of creating individual counselor or sessions within the business school, but rather exactly what we are known for, education.

[2:06] We've created programs in my school that aim to teach students how to cope with the stress they're feeling, how to develop mechanisms that will serve them throughout their careers as opposed to one-shot solutions for what they may be facing at any one point in time.