Loyola University Chicago is built on the foundation of the Ignatian heritage of caring for the whole person – cura personalis – in an environment that promotes student growth, so the school should be liable of taking every step necessary to obtain more knowledge on ways to help their students at all costs. A step in this direction is making Mental Health First Aid a mandatory training for all faculty.
 
Mental illness affects students in every college across America. A survey from the American Psychological Association found that 41.6 percent of college students experience anxiety, and 36.4 percent experience ongoing symptoms of depression. It’s well known that the COVID-19 pandemic spread fear and grief across the world. The CDC reported that during August 2020-February 2021, the percentage of adults with symptoms of an anxiety or a depressive disorder increased from 36.4% to 41.5%. Universities are catering to larger populations of students with mental health issues than ever, so the time to act is now.
 
How can university faculty help these populations at Loyola? Mental Health First Aid equips professors with methods for reaching out to students with mental health disorders. LUC faculty will learn the signs of a student struggling with mental illness and the appropriate measures they could take to help. From the APA, 93% of professors have concerns over their students’ mental well-being yet most feel ill-prepared to help. If faculty are properly trained to support student mental health, LUC could see a difference in student attendance, performance, emotional development, and graduation rates.
 
To fight the growing disease of mental illness at our school and to uphold our Jesuit values of community and care, we should mandate ongoing training to faculty for how to identify mental health issues in students and how to assist them in accessing appropriate mental health supports.
 
Please sign this petition to urge JoAnn Rooney and Loyola University Chicago Administration to mandate training through Mental Health First Aid for all faculty!