[Mental Health Blind Spots, University⑧] "Student-Excluded University Mental Health: Building Student Participation Governance Is Essential"

Jang Eunha, Vice President of Mental Health Korea


"Mental health support at universities is focused only on counseling and treatment

Even then, stigma makes students hesitant to seek help

Some students describe seeking counseling as a 'public execution'

From awareness to solutions, students themselves should take the lead"

"When we divide the mental health support system for university students into three levels, we barely have the first and second. All the focus is on the third level, which is counseling students in crisis."

Jang Eunha, Vice President of Mental Health Korea—a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting youth-led mental health awareness and improving mental health environments—pointed out the "lack of prevention" as the biggest problem in Korea’s university mental health support system on October 7. She explained this means that rather than focusing solely on counseling and treating students in crisis, universities should start by changing the environment itself to prevent students from facing such crises in the first place.

Janha Jang, Vice President of Mental Health Korea

According to Vice President Jang, the first level of the university mental health support system is "everyday prevention" for all students. This includes helping freshmen adapt well when they enter university and making them feel connected to professors and seniors. She noted that while universities are increasingly adopting interdisciplinary and liberal arts programs to broaden students’ career options, this trend has also raised concerns that students struggle to feel a sense of belonging. Jang emphasized, "It's important to let students know they're not alone." She continued, "At some universities in the United States, professors ask students on the first day how they would like to be addressed. This allows students struggling with issues such as gender identity to feel, 'At this school, it's okay for me to speak honestly and seek help.'"

Thus, the first level entails creating an environment that universally gives students the sense that they are "protected." The second level centers on "early connection": faculty and staff are trained to quickly notice changes in students and provide support, and robust systems for anonymous self-screening or online counseling are made available before students require professional intervention. Only after these first and second levels are established, Jang said, should the third level—professional counseling and treatment—come into play.

However, she pointed out that at domestic universities, support is heavily skewed toward counseling and treatment, the third level, while the earlier stages remain fragile. As a result, the inadequacy of prevention and early connection systems causes a surge in students seeking help from counseling centers, overwhelming these services. Even when students wish to seek help, concerns about being "labeled" discourage many from knocking on the center’s door.

Vice President Jang argued that because mental health policy discussions have focused mainly on counseling and medical professionals, support systems have leaned heavily toward counseling and treatment rather than prevention. This has solidified a perception that mental health is the individual's problem to solve—via counseling or medication—rather than an environmental issue that the university community should address together.

For this reason, she noted, students may fear being seen as "problematic" or "in need of treatment" the moment they ask for help, which creates further reluctance to seek support. For example, during Mental Health Korea's feedback sessions about university mental health environments, one student remarked, "At our school, the fact that someone used the student counseling center is called a 'public execution.'" While some suggest making the names of counseling centers more approachable, Jang stated, "That’s just one idea—it's not a fundamental solution."

Vice President Jang emphasized that university students must have direct participation in designing mental health policies. Beyond token participation, she argued, students need to act as "co-designers," jointly defining mental health issues and creating solutions. "Otherwise, we’ll end up with policies once again that students don’t actually feel relevant or helpful," she said.

Mental Health Korea has launched the "Young Mind Link" project in response to these issues. Young Mind Link is a youth-driven mental health initiative run in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Center for Mental Health. University students themselves assess mental health environments and lead improvements in policy and preventive education. This year, the project’s third cohort involved more than 220 youth leaders and over 10,000 participants from 50 campuses across the country. An online campaign, "Let's Face It Challenge," is also taking place this month.

Vice President Jang concluded, "Students often say things like, 'I don’t feel a sense of belonging,' 'I don’t feel connected,' and 'I’m always alone.' Investing in programs that enhance students’ sense of belonging is not only vital to protecting university mental health, but also a critical investment in preventing the dropouts that universities are worried about."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.