CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Studies continue to show mental health is a big stressor for college and university students.

A recent survey from TimelyCare found 71% of college students are dealing with anxiety, stress and/or depression. 

But being outdoors can play a big role in reducing stress levels. 

According to the National Park Service, just five minutes of walking outside improves mood, self-esteem and relaxation. Additionally, being outside regularly reduces anxiety and depression.  

A North Carolina university is focused on ways to get the word out about these mental health benefits.

Melinda Frederick is the director of counseling services at Wingate University. She’s been in the behavioral health field for over 30 years.

Frederick says one of the things she loves about her job is working with a community that supports students with mental health.

“This past fall, we had a collaboration with the Jed Foundation. They came in and helped us do an assessment and create a strategic plan on how we would address mental health, not just from a counseling perspective but also from a wellness perspective from all departments,” Frederick said. “Since that time, we’ve been implementing those things we realized we could do more of.” 

Wingate has been using a campus-wide approach to support students with mental health, which includes providing ongoing counseling services for students.

But Frederick says some students are still hesitant to get the support they need. So her team is bumping up its efforts to address mental health by meeting more students outdoors.

“At the counseling center, we support students individually with counseling, but we really love getting out on campus and doing prevention and talking about how to be well,” Frederick said. “We did several lyceums this year where we invited the campus to come and learn about a topic. One of the topics was on nature. We had talked about nature quite a bit between us counselors and how we used it among our own self care. We learned there’s a lot of research that backs up we feel better after we’ve spent time outside. We decided to teach the students what we were learning.” 

Wingate’s Office of Counseling Services recently launched a Nature Therapy Event to raise awareness about ways being outside can improve one’s mental health. The event included mindfulness and visualization activities. 

Frederick says based on the feedback, being outdoors has already been a huge help for students. 

“We did a survey afterwards and 100% of the students who attended said they’re going to take action and be outside more in some way,” Frederick said 

Frederick says they plan on increasing outdoor activities in the upcoming academic year to help ease students’ stress loads.

“Either have meetings on different topics outside where we sit on the grass and have conversations, or maybe going over to the campus lake,” Frederick said. “It’s not necessarily students who come to the counseling center, it’s all students. We all can benefit from different things in our lives to help us stay more balanced and manage stress because we’re all stressed.” 

Part of the university’s support efforts including training students to be peer support ambassadors on the campus. 

The peer students participate in a six-week spring training course, introducing them to basic information about mental health, such as warning signs for someone who may be struggling, so they can recognize these issues in themselves or their friends. 

“We teach them about what to do, how to get a friend to counseling services if they need it,” Frederick said. “We talk to them about suicide prevention, how to ask that person about what they’re thinking and how to get them the help they need.” 

Seniyah Brown studies Biology at Wingate. She’s also one of the peer support ambassadors on the campus. 

Brown says she was motivated to become a peer support leader so she could help other students trying to balance it all. 

“College is stressful,” Brown said. “I wanted to learn ways to help my peers who may be going through the same things.”

Raven Lee is a counselor intern at Wingate and trained Brown to be a peer support ambassador.

Lee supports students with their mental health needs. She says her services are helping students manage life so they can keep their mind on their studies. 

“When they’re struggling with classes, grief and loss, breakups,” Lee said. “Supporting students, being flexible, providing what they need to feel better and overall have a great academic experience on campus.” 

Lee says the benefits of doing calming activities outdoors, such as painting rocks, is good for students’ mental health. 

“Depending on what students are feeling, coming outside could be a good way to take their minds off what’s bothering them,” Lee says. 

“We’re just regular people, you don’t have to be scared to talk to us,” Frederick says. “Don’t deal with something all by yourself.” 

Frederick says Wingate provides 10 free counseling sessions every semester for its students.