You are not alone.

It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted this article to be about. I know a lot of us feel like school is getting out of control, lots of us are feeling homesick, and generally most of us are under a lot of stress. Midterm week is always a time that is tough on our mental health. This might be the first time that you are going through a challenging time with your mental health, or this might be the 100th time. If you get anything from this article, I hope it helps you realize that you are not alone.

I have struggled with my mental health for as long as I can remember, and I have since been diagnosed with clinical depression. Although it is under control now, it took a couple of hospital stays, a couple of months of group therapy, and one on one counselling, and too many years of ignoring the fact that something was wrong for me to get here. I know how lonely it can get inside your head, and even though I am not going to say that “I know how you feel”, I can definitely relate to how you are feeling.

We live in a society where we aren’t supposed to talk about how we are feeling. We are supposed to put on our happy face and pretend that everything is ok. I think this is completely ridiculous; all it does is makes us feel alone.

If you need to talk to someone, there are so many places where you can do just that. You can head over to Counselling Services in Needles Hall, Engineering Counselling in CPH 1320, or you can reach out to someone you trust. There is also Good2Talk, a help line for university students. Their phone number is 1-866-925-5454.

If you need advice in how to navigate the mental health system, if you have questions about mental health and mental illness, or if you just need to talk, don’t hesitate to find me in the Orifice (CPH 1327). Just remember, you are definitely not alone.