Hands-on mental health course to be offered spring semester

A therapy room at TCUs Counseling and Wellness Center in Jarvis Hall. Credit: Courtesy of Madeleine Cook

Ohio State’s Department of Psychology is offering an interactive, experiential mental health and personal well-being course this spring in an effort to introduce students to evidence-based coping mechanisms for stress, anxiety and depression.

 As students grappled with the social and academic repercussions of COVID-19, adding to the emergence of increased mental health concerns in America’s youth, two professors in the Department of Psychology and licensed clinical psychologists — Dr. Jennifer Cheavens and Dr. Daniel Strunk — decided to co-teach this one-credit hour course. Cheavens said this class, called Arts & Sciences 5194 Group Studies, is meant to teach coping tools through exercises and group discussions anyone can use. 

“It’s something people can use in their professional lives later, something that we as faculty use every day, and it’s something you can use to help friends or yourself,” Cheavens said.

Cheavens said the class will meet virtually Wednesday mornings, discussing a new skill each week to help students learn how to tackle their current or future issues.

Strunk said he hopes students are open to the exercises taught in the course.

“It takes openness to experience because it’s a more experiential course than most that we teach,” Strunk said. “To the extent you can throw yourself into the exercises and give things a shot, even though you might have a mode of hesitation about it, those are the kinds of things that would really help [the students] grow.” 

Strunk said the class is open to both undergraduates and graduates, with specific assignments tailored to respective audiences to ensure students acquire applicable skills.

Strunk said past sections of this course have held about 100 students, allowing students to hear a range of different perspectives.

“There’s a lot of people talking about their experiences, and you realize you’re not alone,” Strunk said. “Although everyone has very different circumstances, there are difficulties people share.”

While the class serves as a graded course, Cheavens said students should not allow the anxiety of receiving a grade to discourage them from enrolling in the course.

“We are wholly uninterested in the grade,” Cheavens said. “The assignments are for you to practice your skill each week and turn something in to graduate students who read over your work.” 

Spring enrollment is low, and Strunk said he believes this is a result of the misleading title in the course catalog. 

“The biggest reason is that it’s listed in a goofy way,” Strunk said. “It’s listed as ‘Arts & Sciences 5194 Group Studies,’ so there’s nothing in the course schedule that explains what it is.” 

At the time of publication, Cheavens said there are currently around 30 students enrolled in the spring course.

Strunk said he hopes more of the Ohio State community will showcase interest in the course to bolster students’ mental health.

“If a student is feeling like they’re struggling with stress, this is a good course,” Strunk said. “If you’re not struggling with stress, I still think it’s a fine course to learn in wanting to be ready so as the inevitable challenges of life come, you can learn how to respond to these challenges.”