We hear about mental health a lot. But we don’t hear about it enough.
That’s something we at the Northwestern News hope to change.
In this week’s edition of the News, we’re kicking off a series of stories talking about mental health as it relates to you, a college student.
For this week’s story, reporter Kaylea Brown interviewed a number of people to find out how mental health affects college students and how the stigmas surrounding mental health are changing.
The purpose of this story is simple: to show that mental health issues can affect anyone and everyone. Every day, we’re likely to interact with someone who has battled – or is battling – a mental health issue. These issues are more prevalent than we know, and we need to be more cognizant of them.
It’s also a reminder to be kind to everyone around you. We don’t always know what other people are dealing with, and we should all try to be people who make other folks’ days better.
I’d also like to take a moment to explain the practices the News used to ethically and accurately report this story.
Brown worked on this story for nearly two months. She took the time to research the issues, conduct interviews and synthesize that information in a way that’s easy to read, understand and relate to.
The News also chose to conceal the names of two students in this story, one of whom contemplated suicide. We chose to keep their identities hidden to protect their privacy and their personal health information.
Some may question why we chose to make up names rather than allow them to simply remain anonymous. There are two reasons for this. First, having two anonymous sources in the same story would be confusing. Second, we want to show you, the reader, that these sources of information are still human – just like you.
We hope that you appreciate this story and the stories to come.
Mental health is important, especially to college students. Let’s talk about it more.
— Jordan Green, Editor-in-Chief