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Going over how mental health is affected in Greek life
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Going over how mental health is affected in Greek life
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Going over how mental health is affected in Greek life
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Shelby discusses the challenges and perceptions of college, focusing on Greek life and mental health. She shares her personal experiences and conducts surveys to gather opinions from those involved in Greek life. The survey results show that most participants feel secure about their mental health within their organizations. Shelby interviews friends in Greek life, including Alex and Lily, who discuss the prioritization of mental health and available resources in fraternities and sororities. Bree, a non-Greek friend, shares her observations of the pressure and exclusion within Greek circles. Shelby concludes that college and Greek organizations can both strain and positively impact mental health. Hey, and welcome to Tea with Shelby, where we dive into the heart of college life. I'm your host, Shelby Herkis, and today is kind of a closer episode to home. It's going over the challenges, perceptions of college, and mainly Greek life and mental health, and how it impacts our mental health as college students. So before we jump into the conversation, I want to share why this topic is personal to me. Like I said before, I am in Greek life. I've experienced the highs and lows, the behind the scenes, and the horror. It's more than the glamorous image that everyone might give on social media, and that's with our mental health, which is what I want to elaborate more on today. As we embark on this exploration, it's important to acknowledge the challenges we might face, even bias, especially through my surveys that I did. I wanted to make sure that there was no, I didn't have a bias on, or people not wanting to say things because they don't want to get in trouble with their sorority or frat, especially the boys. I know it's always harder for them to speak about how they're mentally doing or how physically they're doing. I just want to assure everyone also that we'll be addressing these very transparently and aiming towards trying to portray an image that doesn't affect any bad or good in Greek life. So I bet we're all just thinking, why does this matter? Mental health has not been a big thing until I feel like recently, especially because of my generation. So I wanted to get some big, how do I put it in words, I want to say the main idea almost, and then also some personal opinions from peers that I know in Greek life and also outside. So I wanted to make sure that there was a mix of both in this research. My goal here isn't to just share stories, I want to make a positive change with the use of people's experiences, good and bad. So to start, let's go over the survey that I made using a Google Doc. I sent this to my personal sorority and also people that I knew were in other affiliated Greek life, like frats, and then some of my friends that also were in Greek life. So the first question I obviously was going to ask was, are you part of Greek life currently? And 93% said yes, and then the rest said no. Then the next question, these are kind of broader questions also because I wanted to figure out more deeper questions to ask for my individual surveys. So this question I asked was, does your organization make you feel secure about your mental health on campus? The results said 87% felt secure, which I thought, honestly, I thought that was going to be way less. So 12% said no on that, which is okay because you don't have to feel secure from an organization, you also have friends around you and your family. And then I had an open-ended question asking, what are some examples of ways that your sisters and brothers have helped you keep a positive and healthy mindset on our campus? And some examples are that they encouraged me to be involved in my chapter and allowed me to conspire with them. I thought that was a really good example. And then another one was, they're always there for me no matter what. I can text my sister and I know that they're always willing to go above and beyond for me. And then of course, there wouldn't be an open-ended poll without some silly answers. And then it's like, raise your parties, hang out with them outside, just like stuff that doesn't affect the question, but there's always going to be those type of answers with open-ended. So I kind of expected it. An answer that was pretty neat to me was this one, where the person said, a primary example for me is I had a seizure at our lodge. And everyone from activists to people I've never met to Pledge Brothers I've barely even been close with at the time, they all made sure I was okay. Not only in the moment, but helping me get to the doctor, but afterwards they all continued to text me and make sure to keep them updated on what's going on. They made sure I didn't feel alone or scared at the time, and that was the most comforting thing I could have had in all the time I was going through. Now that was an answer I was definitely looking for. That was from a guy too, which I think, I think that says a lot, because I know frats get way, or fraternities, sorry, get way worse of a rep than sororities. So knowing that, that probably makes a lot of the biggest difference in whenever anyone hears, because I feel like if I went through that type of thing with my close friends, that would put a lot on my mental health. So knowing that someone was there for that person whenever they needed, definitely, definitely probably puts a better look on the organization as a whole. So leading on his statements, I'm going to go over, I'm going to give my friends different names just for today, so I'm going to call my friend Alex. And he's in a frat here at Tech, so I interviewed him and these are some of the questions that I asked him and his responses. So the first question that I asked was, can you share your thoughts on how frat members prioritize and support their mental health and their overall well-being as members? So from my knowledge, my friend Alex here, he loves Anne, maybe, doesn't always have the best time at his frats, but he said it's crucial to acknowledge that mental health in fraternities is a multifacial issue, which I think what he meant by that was that there's ups and downs in both things, but everything always comes together and he can definitely rely on his brothers. He said that he wanted to recognize in the fraternity culture, there's a lot of social events and parties that they have to uphold and make sure that goes perfect every time and that there's nothing bad that comes of that because if there is or if there's any issues or anything, I know most of the pledges. I'm a freshman, so all my friends that are in anything are pledges of some sort or we're just now getting initiated and he said that because he's a pledge, it's a little bit harder for his mental health because they're always busy and they're having to always be on alert, having to help their brothers in certain things, just not really thinking much about the pledges feelings, more or less they're active. And the next thing I asked him was what resources he thought were available through his frat and he said when it comes to resources, it's often dependent on the certain frat, but he said that his frat helped him a lot whenever he was going through a hard time with his family. So that's always good news to hear. He said they gave them breaks or himself breaks whenever he needed them and he also had a hard time paying his dues so they let him off with that and I know that's one thing that he was really stressed about was that and his frat was very accepting of it, which is something that I didn't expect really to happen, but I think frats get a bad look for the most part. But I mean there might be people in it as well that. So after Alex, I went and interviewed my friend, Lily, and she's also in a sorority here at Tech. And I know my friend Lily here has had a really hard time getting involved because of her mental health before she was even in it honestly. Because when you get into a sorority, it's very hard if you don't get the one you wanted and so I know she felt like an outcast and that hurt her a lot. But let's see what she said. She said that she loved the sisterhood aspect and this built in support system where you can lean on your sisters during a tough time. But sometimes if you're not in the right clique in your sorority, she said, it's really hard. So she's glad that she was able to finally find that clique even though it took her maybe longer than some of the other girls. So she said once she found her real group of friends, it did help her mental health a lot. And then secondly, I asked what resources she got from her sorority. And she said that she got connected to the counseling service from them and that some of their philanthropy events also had to do with mental health. So she would go and help out other kids that were going through a hard time that made her feel a little bit more secure. And it helped her realize that these hard times will go away eventually. And then the last person I interviewed was Bree. And she's not in any type of group like this, but she's friends with Lily. So she's seen how these types of organizations can help and not help a person. And she had to say, she said that there is always a constant stream of events and social gatherings and expectations that you have to be there or you're missing out. Just undeniable pressure given from these things. And she just knows that that for her mental health wouldn't help her, which I agree. I think if you're having to deal with something that causes a lot of pressure, why do it when you already have so much going on? I mean, we're all college students. This is already hard enough. So I guess I agree with Bree there. She also brought up how Lily felt left out. She said, I've witnessed situations where friends got excluded from certain events within their Greek circle just because they weren't in another sorority or a better sorority, quotation marks. And I know it affects their mental health, leading them to sadness and frustration. Which, they're all true. And I couldn't really ask her for resources because she's not in the Greek life. So that's all I really asked Bree there. But I think from this research, it's shown how colleges, campuses, and these organizations can really put a strain, but also a great effect on your mental health by growing us to become adults that we're going to become in the future. Very near future, now that I'm thinking about it. But yeah, thanks for listening to TU Shelby on my unadvised reviews for your day-to-day college questions in life. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
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