The Problem of Stress and Anxiety

Dr. Timothy Moran

Honors Political Science 1010

24 April 2018

Demi Attalla

Claire Orlando

Asiimwe Najjuma

Lisette LeMerise
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A social problem that is not easily recognized is one that is affecting millions of

individuals in the United States. This social problem is the mental health disorder of anxiety

(Attalla 1). Initially, anxiety disorders may not seem to be a serious issue. However, research and

statistics have shown that anxiety is impacting numerous Americans and their mental, physical,

and emotional health. It is necessary to note that anxiety is and can be normal to a certain degree.

However, severe anxiety has the ability to manifest into various anxiety disorders where the

concern lies. Due to the great number of Americans suffering, anxiety disorders have become a

relevant social problem that must be addressed in today’s society.

According to the American Psychological Association, “anxiety is an emotion

characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes such as increased

blood pressure”. In essence, anxiety is capable of affecting the mental state of mind and also

translates into physical changes felt by the individual. Frequently, stress and anxiety are

associated and discussed with one another. This is due to the fact that stress and anxiety are

easily confused with each other. Therefore, it is crucial to note and understand the difference

between the two. Stress is a response to a threat, while anxiety is a reaction to stress. Anxiety is

also known as your fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight response is a mechanism used by

the human body to protect individuals from harm. This normally occurs when something

terrifying is present either mentally or physically. This type of anxiety is important since it is

needed by the human race to be used as survival instincts. However, anxiety becomes an issue

when an individual's fight-or-flight response is triggered with no danger present, manifesting into

an anxiety disorder (Calm Clinic). There are multiple forms of anxiety disorders such as

posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety

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disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. However, the most common anxiety

disorder is generalized anxiety disorder or GAD (ADAA).

Through much research, anxiety disorders have proven to be the most common mental

health illness affecting various individuals across the United States. 1 in ​5 adults, corresponding

to 43.8 million adults, suffer from an anxiety disorder. ​This ratio is proportional to the number of

adolescents being affected in the U.S. as well. ​1 in 5 children between the ages of 13-18 are

affected by an anxiety disorder, translating to 25.1% of the adolescent population (ADAA).

Additionally, studies have shown that individuals born and raised in larger cities have higher

rates of psychosis, anxiety disorders, and depression (ADAA). Areas that increase or highlight

the fear of failure and competition have also shown to have higher rates of anxiety. Such areas

can be the workplace or school where high levels of competition can arise leading to an

unhealthy fear of failure that may develop into a serious anxiety disorder (American

Psychological Association). Lastly, stressful homelife that includes uneven work distribution,

cluttered homes, and unhealthy relationships within the household are major factors that can lead

to chronic stress which in turn can lead to severe symptoms of anxiety (American Psychological

Association). However, in regards to all this information, it is critical to address as well as treat

anxiety disorders at the adolescent stage. Once a mental health illness develops in an adolescent,

it becomes a regular part of his or her behavior and is harder to treat as the child develops.

Therefore, attention should be focused on mental health in children to ensure healthy and proper

development and prevent the onset of serious mental illness later in adulthood (Najjuma 2).

Depending upon the type of anxiety an individual is diagnosed with will result in the

specific types of symptoms they suffer from. However, more common symptoms of anxiety
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disorders include chest pain, headaches, nausea, and sweating (Calm Clinic). Additionally, there

can be more dangerous symptoms of anxiety. The fight-or-flight response at the chronic level

produces high levels of cortisol. High levels of cortisol can lead to clogged arteries that increase

the probability of sickness or death (LeMerise 2). Furthermore, chronic stress, which leads to

anxiety, is known to shorten telomeres which can degrade an individual's DNA (LeMerise 2).

Stress and anxiety are components that are highly prevalent in the city of Detroit as well.

One of the reasons is that Detroit is considered to be a larger city. As discussed earlier, larger

cities are known to have higher rates of anxiety disorders and other mental health illnesses.

Statistics have shown that common sources of stress and anxiety for residents of Detroit are due

to work, money, and the economy consecutively (“Stress By City Detroit”). Approximately 78%

of Detroit residents state that work is a source of stress and anxiety, while 69% is attributed to

money and 65% is due to the economy (“Stress By City Detroit”). Having a steady job and

earning money are two factors that are extremely important to individuals everywhere, but this

can be more stressed in Detroit. Many residents in Detroit come from a lower socioeconomic

status where the need to work in order to maintain a certain income to help support themselves or

their family is very critical. This income is then used to pay for costly rent, groceries, and even

clothing (“Stress By City Detroit”). The effects of anxiety on the global population which were

discussed earlier, are similar to the effects on the residents of Detroit. However, those suffering

from severe anxiety symptoms in the city of Detroit are proven to become less productive

members of society, have a higher chance of dropping out in college, and even have increased

suicide rates (“Stress By City Detroit”).

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In order to treat the mental health illnesses that are affecting the residents of Detroit,

treatment facilities have been established. A few facilities in the Detroit area are Stonecrest

Center, Detroit Behavioral Institute, and the New Center Community Services. While there are

facilities that are implemented, they are not rated highly in their efforts of alleviating symptoms

or solving mental health illnesses. A few concerns that people have expressed in their reviews

were poor quality, improper treatment methods with more focus on medication rather than

therapy, and terrible staff (Attalla 4). Stonecrest Center was rated 2 stars out of 5, while Detroit

Behavioral Institute was rated 2.1 stars out of 5. Reviews went on to further explain that the wait

time to see the doctor after being admitted was horrifically long, taking up to 30 plus hours.

Individuals also complained of unprofessional and rude staff members throughout the floors.

Lastly, many individuals expressed that there was not much cognitive behavioral therapy used,

nor were they given the opportunity to express how they were feeling. Medication and sedation

were heavily focused on rather than therapeutic methods (Attalla 4). 38% of Detroit residents

rate their physical health care grade “A”, while only 26% would rate their mental health care

grade “A” (“Stress By City Detroit”). This in turn corresponds to the unhelpful treatment

facilities that are established in the detroit area.

Since the problem of managing stress and anxiety clearly exists in Detroit, it makes sense

to infer a similar theme across many other locations, leading to a desire to solve the problem.

The issue then becomes choosing the right tactic. In essence, each tactic can be referred to as

utilizing downstream or upstream methods, depending on whether it uses direct action in the

field or implements a policy at various levels of government (Deegan-Krause). Downstream

methods tend to be more direct, but less powerful. They often impact less people at a time, lack
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resources, and are done by individual agents within a structure. In contrast, upstream methods

tend to use institutions that focus on legal-rational power (Weber) within the governmental

sphere to enact policies and potentially change the structure. Depending on design and intent,

they can impact more people, but may still have core flaws preventing them from truly reaching

their potential. Therefore, it is important to assess a variety of actions already taken to

understand the techniques one should or should not use to solve stress and anxiety.

The main downstream approach is one taken by individuals on a daily basis: coping

mechanisms. Stress and anxiety are issues residing in the personal sphere, meaning causes vary

per person, and solutions are just as variable. Marissa Huth, a Wayne State University Honors

student, and Luc LeMerise, an International Baccalaureate high school student, both agree they

suffer from stress, yet their stressors differ based on factors like age, homelife, gender, and

others. While Luc worries predominantly about “homework, friends, and arguments with

parents” since he lives at home and deals with high school drama, Marissa’s stress centers on

“becoming a physician’s assistant while balancing jobs, clubs, and other priorities for [her]

future” (LeMerise). According to an interview with Wayne State University’s Dean of Students

Dr. David Strauss, “the main way to solve stress is by finding balance, but how you find it

depends on you” (LeMerise).

Finding coping mechanisms means that these individual agents must comply with the

structures around them. If desired, one could use their value-rational power to decide to receive

cognitive-behavioral therapy or medications within the hospital setting and use the structure to

their advantage. However, this would also require payment through the Affordable Care Act and

Medicaid, ​the “single largest funder of mental health services in the country” (MHA 1)​. ACA
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helps those in need of prescription drugs and therapeutic services get them since they are

considered an Essential Health Benefit. This means that patients with anxiety can receive

benzodiazepines and visit doctors at lower costs (“Affordable Care Act”). However, this all

depends on the insurance plan chosen. A less expensive plan, like the bronze plan, costs less

overall but has higher co-pays, but a platinum plan works in the reverse (Attalla 5). This

excludes poorer members of society who need medication or therapy visits, but do not have

much money upfront to pay for a better plan. Plus, different plans also exclude certain therapists,

so choices become limited.

With such a restrictive structure, the personal sphere downstream approach can actually

exacerbate the problem since finding an easy coping mechanism can create more stress alone.

This can lead to negative coping mechanisms out of desperation such as substance abuse through

alcohol or medications like benzodiazepines (AddictionCenter). According to Michelle

LeMerise, a mother of two disabled children and in a household of chronic stress, she works as

an agent to prevent herself and her children from “turning to medication”. She would rather

“work out, talk it out, or read a good book” than deal with a structure that may not help in the

first place (LeMerise). Therefore, for this downstream approach to function, one must assess

their own personal values, emotions, morals, and motives to provide their own solution for

themselves or their families. Though this can be effective since stress and anxiety vary per

individual, actual success is limited due to structural barriers and a small scope.

Therefore, it becomes clear that the personal sphere is not enough to provide an impactful

solution if the goal is to serve as many people as possible. Rather, another downstream approach

can be found at the DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan in downtown Detroit. As a hospital,
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the location is full of stress, whether that be from a patient being in pain, a parent concerned for

their child, or having to deal with paying for parking and the construction (LeMerise 2). Plus, the

facility only has one psychologist and one psychiatrist in total according to Ms. Eileen, the

psychology department receptionist, indicating the structure’s limited desire to focus on solving

stress and anxiety. However, Deanna Scanlon, the volunteer coordinator and an active agent

within the hospital institution, has found a way to lower stress by building a smaller volunteer

institution within the hospital structure (​DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan)​. She has

volunteers escort patients through the hospital and provide information about where facilities are

located, utilizing the civic sphere aspect of free volunteers (Deegan-Krause). However, a

limitation of this technique is that, because they are not paid, it can be hard to incentivize enough

volunteers to come regularly, meaning that services cannot always be provided.

Scanlon has also actively advocated for play rooms for kids and quiet rooms for parents,

providing places for patients and their families to take a break and blow off steam. This effort is

made easier since hospitals are found within the market sphere, meaning that Scanlon has the

capability to utilize the institution to ask for available funds (LeMerise). Her efforts for

advocating are also made easier by focusing on a small audience. Rather than the entire state of

Michigan for example, she focuses solely on DMC Children’s Hospital patients, preventing an

overextension of her available resources. Therefore, this downstream policy indicates the

importance of working within a structure, as well as with multiple spheres of influence, in order

to garner enough resources and focus them toward a specific goal.

Finally, a third downstream approach found at Wayne State University is that of Student

Disability Services. According to Randie Kruman, SDS follows the federal government’s
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American Disability Act at a local level to fulfill their motto of ensuring “academic access and

inclusion for students, supporting a view of disability guided by social, cultural, and political

forces” (Wayne State University) and prevent discrimination, providing SDS with legal-rational

power. This means that they provide accommodations for students with disabilities from physical

blindness to mental anxiety. Accomodations can come in the form of special testing

environments such as quiet rooms, or weekly meetings where advisors can provide advice for

further help like meditation (Attalla). Because Wayne State University is within the market

sphere, Kruman serves as an agent within the college structure to provide a smaller institution

that can utilize the college’s vast array of resources, including funds. For example, SDS often

goes over its yearly budget because they cannot discriminate, and Wayne State University can

provide these resources in the form of money and workers because it receives tuition payments

from students (Attalla). SDS can also partner with Counseling and Psychological Services to put

on de-stress events such as the 2016 Doggy Days, allowing them to work with other institutions

to have a larger impact (Alter-Kay).

Overall, SDS works as an effective downstream approach since it focuses on Wayne

State students and works with multiple institutions to gather more resources. However, trouble

resides in the stigma against mental illness embedded in the U.S. and Wayne State University

culture. When one hears disability, they often think of a wheelchair or physical problem, rather

than a mental one. This is caused by American Exceptionalism and the promotion of the

Protestant work ethic which encourages the idea that people should work hard to help

themselves, even if they have a disability (Garfinkel et al. 128). Therefore, SDS only sees a

fraction of Wayne State University’s population: “4.8% of undergraduates, 2.7% of graduates,

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and 4.8% of Medical School students” (Attalla). For fear of being judged, many students do not

visit SDS, making it less impactful than it could be. Yet SDS still works well as a downstream

method, particularly since it works with more powerful institutions to increase its own power and

resources.

Though downstream methods work well to handle the problem while it is occurring,

upstream methods can do more to initiate policies that can even prevent the need for downstream

plans. One of the first examples is that of the Mental Health in Schools Act, created “by

Californian congressional representative Grace Napolitano, who has been implementing this

program in her own congressional district since 2001” (Najjuma 3). Napolitano seeks to expand

this plan to 200 public schools, providing them with $1 million each to promote mental health in

education and prevent the early onset of anxiety (Najjuma 3). Though she has legal-rational

power at the state government level where she is working to promote this policy, Napolitano

lacks both funding and public support based on American values. Americans often want to

provide the classical liberalism approach of preventing harm, but not so much that people

consider the help to be government “handouts” (Garfinkel et al. 19). In 2015, only 2.67% of the

federal budget was spent on education (National Priorities Project), which is not enough to pay

for trained mental health professionals and programs. Plus, “Napolitano said in an interview on

MSNBC that one of the biggest problems in garnering support for the MHSA is due to the

stigma behind mental health issues” (Najjuma 5). Ironically, the program has proven to be

effective in Napolitano’s own congressional district where she has implemented it in 14 schools

(Najjuma 3). With this small of a scale, Napolitano not only needs less support since the policy
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only impacts the families with students at those schools, but she also requires less funding and

can cater her policy to the needs of those specific students.

Similarly, the Michigan Mental Health Commission of 2004 works as a policy at the state

level of government. This commission formed a group of individuals to take recommendations

from various Michigan communities and use their collective minds to think through and

implement various solutions to aid mental health concerns (Orlando 5). They also serve to

decrease the mental health stigma, and they have clearly defined goals such as “making a

full-array of high quality mental health treatment available, ensuring that no one enters the

criminal justice system because of poor mental health care, finding a way to make Michigan’s

mental health system structured and funded, [and] supporting recovery” (Orlando 5). Though this

commission also has to work against American Exceptionalism by dealing with the mental health

stigma and potentially providing too much government aid (Garfinkel et al. 128), it remains true

to Michigan residents by only doing what Michigan residents send in as recommendations,

indicating that they always work to taking into account the people’s values at the current time.

Even with enough power by numbers through community members to get the

commission passed, this policy still fails, particularly since its scope is too large. It is meant to

focus on all mental health problems in the state of Michigan, and because that is such a broad

topic, “18 recommendations are still sitting around (Mental Health in Michigan)” and much of

the funding has been left untouched (Orlando 7) since there is too much to handle. Plus, this

indicates the institution they have tried to set up is lacking in structural foundation, creating a

process that is too slow to have much effect. However, this policy is still applicable as an

upstream model since it indicates the importance of receiving a strong backing for public policy.
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Finally, one of the upstream plans that truly works is that of ThriveNYC, implemented by

New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio with a budget of $850 million (LaMantia). Though it is a

large plan, it focuses solely on the city of New York and thus the local government, allowing it

to cater to the needs of New York’s specific culture. Additionally, “​the “holistic system outlines

54 targeted initiatives, 23 of them new, to support the mental well-being of New Yorkers”

(Canady 1), and has six main foundations: ​Change the Culture, Act Early, Close Treatment Gaps,

Partner with Communities, Use Better Data, and Strengthen the Government’s Ability to Lead

(The City of New York), illustrating its mechanisms for success” (LeMerise 4). This Roadmap

with set goals keeps the institution organized enough to do projects such as the “Today I Thrive”

campaign, which puts thousands of posters aimed at eliminating the mental health stigma on

buses, benches, and the subway system (Eide). They also coordinate with other members of the

civic sphere, such as the Salvation Army, to accumulate more resources and people for support

(LeMerise 5). The same is done with the market sphere, since they work with various schools to

create campaigns like the ​Early Childhood Mental Health Network serving 4,805 children,

teachers, caregivers, and families (McCray, Buery, & Bassett 3).

This policy has been highly effective, for it works closely with higher levels of

government through conferences such as the ​Cities Thrive Conference and the Mental Health

Council​ to receive funding and spread awareness ​(​McCray, Buery, & Bassett 12). This allows

the policy to work closely with the government sphere and with higher levels of government

from the local to the federal, allowing the policy to easily maneuver structural barriers by

providing it with connections, support, and enough funding to continue. As is similar to other

policies, its main struggle is gathering enough support even with the mental health stigma
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persisting. Many believe individuals​ with anxiety or other mental illnesses “are responsible for

their own illness and therefore blameworthy and… dangerous” (Wallace 5). However, by

working in coordination with other spheres and developing many different tactics to fight the

same issue, ThriveNYC continues to be overwhelmingly effective despite adversity.

After assessing both upstream and downstream methods toward solving stress and

anxiety, one can deduce the optimum tactics for strategically implementing a solution. For

example, one of the best methods is working within an institution in order to combine the

benefits of structures and agents. This allows individuals to act independently, while still

following a common, organized plan with set goals. As a mass of individuals, institutions also

have more power, and if they can justify this power, they gain authority (Liu). This is why

another beneficial tactic is to outline one’s policy for all to see, as well as to gain community

involvement in the problem through accumulating volunteers or having community members

submit recommendations. This takes a culture’s values into account, increasing the backing one

can garner since people feel helped and listened to. Additionally, an impactful tactic is to work

with other spheres of influence to gain more support, as well as more resources. For example, by

working with the government sphere, an institution can gain legal-rational power which seems

more credible than coercive power (Weber). At the same time, coordinating with the civic sphere

can give a plan donations, while working with the market sphere can provide funds. Finally, it

appears that all levels of government have the ability and authority to handle stress and anxiety

as a concern. However, it becomes apparent after assessing each policy that the local government

works the best, particularly since it can hone in its scope so as to not spread itself too thin, as
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well as to cater to the needs of its specific people. With these tactics in mind, we were then able

to develop our own routes of action to be as effective and impactful as possible.

One route that could be taken to involve Wayne State students in a plan to address the

anxiety issue at the university is a direct service proposal. The best way to directly involve

students is by making a student organization based on promoting anxiety and awareness within

the university. As college students, many of us feel stress and anxiety on a daily basis, but do not

know that we should be seeking help since it seems to be a common problem. Even if people are

aware of the problem, the stigmatization of mental health makes it hard for people to try to find

help for fear of being judged. The goal of the organization would be to break the stigmatization

by talking about stress and providing methods to improve it in anyway possible. Eventually, we

would hope to have a campus openly discussing mental health and seeking help for whatever

they need. Then we would have an overall healthier and happier campus with an incredible

support system.

In order to put a system like this in place, a lot of time and consideration has to be put

forth. It is easy to make an organization, but being effective is the most important part. To be as

productive as possible, our group would start holding meetings now between the four of us so

that, when an organization is put in place, we can start right away with accomplishing different

tasks. Over the summer, we would continue to have weekly or biweekly meetings so that we

could put in a request to become an official student organization before the summer ends.

Therefore, when the Fall 2018 semester begins, the organization would already be in place. As

the main founders of the organization, we would create a board with the four of us on it having

roles such as president, secretary, treasurer, and advocate. We would start advocating for
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members as soon as we are established with the hopes of gaining 20 to 25 members within the

first month. This would give us a good base of volunteers to help fundraise, spread the word, and

participate.

In the spirit of fundraising, we must also consider a budget for our student organization.

The Dean of Students Office (DOSO) and the Student Activities Funding Board (SAFB) do not

give money up front to an organization. This means that all funding to start off would have to

come from our own pockets. Due to how expensive this can get, we would not spend too much

money right away and start fundraising as soon as possible to minimize the costs. If we were to

hold an event, we could apply for funding through the SAFB with the help of the DOSO. Then,

to supplement, we can apply for funding using Warrior Funder as well as looking outside of

Wayne State for donors and potentially even create a GoFundMe. Another way to receive

funding would be by teaming up with the Student Disability Services (SDS) and the Counseling

and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Wayne State. As a group, we have already made contact

with Randie Kruman, the director of SDS, and made her aware of who we are. Within the

interview, we discussed her ideas on mental health, stress, and anxiety, along with thoughts on

how to change the stigmas surrounding mental health (Attalla). Not only were we blown away by

everything she had to share, but we also agreed with what she said. This relationship can then be

used to start bouncing ideas from our organization off of the team at SDS and hopefully gain

some funding from them in support of our issue. To further help with this idea, we would also

involve Rachel Pawlowski, a Wayne State Honors College advisor, in our efforts by making her

an advisor to our organizations. This will give us an attachment to the Honors College that can

be used to our advantage, and due to her work on the budget board, she can be a major influence
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on how we should develop our budget. Then we can be a fully functioning organization with not

only the backing of members, but with multiple other services already on campus.

Once the Wayne State University Stress and Anxiety Awareness Organization has been

put in place, we can start to use the ideas we have to achieve all of our set goals. The first

proposal we put forward was creating a website for the organization that would include a blog.

Our website would serve as an easy way for people to see what our organization is about,

discover different events we are putting on, and contact us if they are interested. The purpose of

the blog is to act as an online platform of discussion for people dealing with stress and anxiety.

After promotion, the blog will hopefully be used by students to share their experiences with

stress and anxiety, provide consolation to those looking for help, and discuss stress and anxiety

stigmatization and facts. Eventually, the blog will become a hot spot for discussion and end up

launching the organization towards its goal.

Also, there are a few more proposals we have thought of in order to reach our goal of

reducing stigma. We had the idea to a host a Stress and Anxiety Awareness Month that would

feature different events throughout the month to bring awareness and help reduce stress. Some of

these events would be a stress-free dance party, a meditation day, and a color themed day. The

whole calendar will be alternating to make sure that all students can participate, and it would

feature a wide range of events to make the event enjoyable for a wide variety of people. We

would also like to spread awareness by making flyers showing how stress and anxiety can affect

you and different ways to combat it. Making flyers can become expensive though, and due to our

low budget, we would not be able to make too many. Therefore, we also would like to make

low-budget sticky notes with inspirational quotes, statistics, and different places people can go to
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in order to seek help. The best way to end stigmatization is by throwing the idea everywhere with

the hopes that nobody will be able to ignore it when you do. By taking this approach, reaching

the goals set by our organization would be much more efficient and easier to produce. A few

smaller ideas we had were making a Snapchat filter themed after stress and anxiety awareness,

bringing in yoga instructors to teach classes, and having mindfulness sessions lead by the Stress

and Anxiety Awareness Board.

After taking months to plan, hosting stress and anxiety awareness events, creating a

successful online platform, and making awareness visible everywhere on Wayne State’s campus,

the Stress and Anxiety Awareness Organization will be fully functioning and producing a

campus willing to discuss mental health. Once a movement has been started, the organization can

start reaching its efforts out more by looking into supporting policies relating to mental health

that are working on being put into place. By providing these policies with the support of a

university, the proposals will be much harder to ignore, forcing individuals to look at them in a

more serious manner. The final product is to create an organization not only making a difference

on campus, but also making a difference in the community surrounding it.

A second route that could be followed in pursuit of a solution for mental health issues at

Wayne State University is through an institutional advocacy proposal. For this specific issue, one

such proposal could be the introduction of a Campus Wellness Center. This Campus Wellness

Center would be its own, independent building located right on campus as a destination for

students to seek refuge from the multitude of stressors that come with college life. Similar to

how the Mort Harris Fitness Center exists for when students need an easy access facility to

improve their physical health and wellbeing, the Campus Wellness Center would be just that, but
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for mental health and wellbeing. The physical existence alone of such a building would serve as

a declaration to all Wayne State students and faculty that this institution believes mental health

deserves to be given just as much priority as physical health because it plays a different but

equally significant role in the makeup of a person.

One example of a program with similar values successfully being implemented at a

different institution is the Cornell Caring Community at Cornell University in New York. The

key message of the Cornell Caring Community is that mental and emotional health deserve to be

given the same attention as physical health. The Caring Community recognizes that with the

transition into college life comes an inevitable slue of personal, social, and academic stressors.

Many of these internal burdens may be new and affecting students in a particularly intense way

for the first time, which only serves to make the transition all the more overwhelming to deal

with on their own. This is why the Cornell Caring Community so strongly encourages an

environment where faculty and students can engage with one another to provide support for each

other emotionally, socially, mentally and spiritually. The Caring Community advises that

everyone take time each day to do an emotional inventory and evaluate their mental health. To

support this sentiment, the Caring Community provides an array of consultation and support

services available for both students and faculty as they strive to improve their mental and

emotional health day by day. The Caring Community is an active facet of the institution, hosting

many monthly events to both keep students engaged and to keep mental health as part of the

university-wide conversation. It can be seen from the success of Cornell’s Caring Community

that a collegiate institution has much to benefit from providing students highly developed

services to nurture their mental health.

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In order for a proposal as potentially involved and expensive as a Campus Wellness

Center to be legitimately taken into consideration and approved by Wayne State University, of

course a huge amount of support would need to be garnered behind the project first. Beginning

within the university, the initial goal would be to form close relationships with specific agents

who are in positions of power within larger structures of the university. Rachel Pawlowski, the

honors advisor within the Irvin D. Reid Honors College, is a prime first example of such a

person. Being students already within the Honors College, the members of our group are already

well acquainted with Rachel Pawlowski. If Rachel found this idea of a Campus Wellness Center

to be a potential success on this campus, she could help us gain support from other members of

faculty and from the Honors College as a whole. Our group also conducted an interview with

Randie Kruman, director of Student Disabilities Services at Wayne State earlier in the course of

this project. Through this interview, we know that Randie Kruman is a fervent advocate that

students facing mental health issues and mental disabilities should be accommodated to

attentively, in the same way that students with physical disabilities most usually are. She strives

to make this the reality within her role in Student Disabilities Services, and if we were to keep in

contact with her and win her support for this proposal, she could aid us in getting support from

the larger structures of SDS and CAPS.

In addition to Rachel Pawlowski and Randie Kruman as alleyways for support from the

Honors College, SDS, and CAPS, our group would also take advantage of the fact that Wayne

State University is a highly active research university. We would seek to collaborate with

research labs from Wayne State’s School of Medicine and other research facilities on campus

that are actively studying the psychological and neurological aspects of mental health and how it
 19

affects populations within the university. We could publicize their research findings as evidence

that mental health is a legitimate issue with definable causes faced by students on Wayne State’s

campus. We would also continue to gather support within the institution by partnering with

existing student organizations that are focused on mental health issues, as well as by posting a

survey on Academica regarding how effectively students feel Wayne State currently supports

their mental health. This survey could also be used to evaluate how much the student body would

be in support of the construction of a Campus Wellness Center.

The next step would be to expand our collaborative horizons to structures within the

greater city of Detroit, and even within the state of Michigan. A man named Willie Brooks was

recently appointed as the corporate executive officer of the Detroit Mental Health Authority. If

we were able to reach out to him or one of his representatives and begin the formation of a

relationship there, we could potentially gain his personal backing for this proposal and support

from the entire structure he represents. We would also reach out to local mental health facilities

in the city such as the Detroit Behavioral Institute, Stonecrest Center and New Center

Community Services. Support from these facilities would be significant, especially as ideas of

exactly what resources need to be available in the Campus Wellness Center come into

conversation. The various successful aspects from each facility could be used to create a model

for Wayne State’s Campus Wellness Center. Increasing the scope even more, we could move our

outlook from the civic sphere of local facilities to the government sphere of state organizations

that have a role and responsibility of ensuring proper mental health of Michigan citizens. Such

structures include Mental Health First Aid MI and the MI Department of Health and Human

Services.
 20

After a significant amount of support has been accrued from both university and citywide

levels, this proposal would be ready to for official introduction to the provost of Wayne State

University, Keith Whitfield. The university provost is responsible for all faculty matters, the

instructional mission of the university, student retention, and academic policies and decisions.

He is in charge of Wayne State’s strategic plan, which has already been set from 2016-2021. The

university's strategic plan states that the university mission is for Wayne State to be “a thriving

institution… where every student has a clear pathway to success and the opportunity to flourish

in a diverse, collaborative and innovative environment.” Surely, such an institution needs to have

resources in order for its students to prosper academically, physically and mentally. A student is

not simply a brain that studies and works to achieve good grades. Every individual student at

Wayne State University and at any institution needs to balance their physical, emotional, and

mental health needs in order to be able to achieve the academic success both they and the

university seek. For an institution to support an academically successful student is to support

their physical and mental health as well.

The entire process needed to gain support, officially propose, and construct a Campus

Wellness Center would indubitably be long term, most likely requiring many years to reach full

completion. Thus, a timeline is a necessary tool we will use to organize the steps that must be

undertaken. This timeline features 4 main checkpoints: reviewing the budget, initial networking,

the proposal, and further networking. Beginning in April 2018, we would begin to seriously

review Wayne State University’s budget, paying special attention to how much money is

currently being allocated to mental health services and calculating what kind of an increase

would be needed to pursue the development of a Campus Wellness Center. Then throughout the
 21

coming summer months of May-August 2018, we would begin networking with both university

level and citywide level agents and structure, including Rachel Pawlowski, Randie Kruman, the

Honors College, CAPS, SDS, Willie Brooks and the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Alliance.

Thirdly, at the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic school year in September we would

officially bring this proposal to Keith Whitfield, the provost of Wayne State. We intentionally

seek to introduce the proposal early in the school year, seeing as this will allow time for

networking while also factoring in that the university’s strategic plan has already been set for the

next 4 years. Finally, after officially proposing the addition of the Campus Wellness Center to

Wayne State, we would spend the remainder of the academic year continuing to further our

relationships with those willing to network, and continuing to amass support throughout the

university and throughout the Detroit community at large.

The final product of the Campus Wellness Center would be an entire building dedicated

to improvement of mental health for all students. It will be marked by its warm and welcoming

environment that makes students feel at peace upon entry. The Wellness Center will feature a

plethora of resources at the disposal of the students such as counselors, tutors and safe rooms.

These will serve to help relieve academic stress faced by so many college students, as well as

provide students with a destination for when they simply need to be alone and recuperate. To

directly confront the stigma associated with mental health issues that so many internalize, the

Wellness Center will be decorated with informational posters and pamphlets to dispel common

misconceptions about mental health and provide accurate information, tips and coping

mechanisms for those affected. This will be a place where students can go for help, for
 22

information, for relaxation, and to improve the overall mental well being of the student

population.

After careful consideration of both the direct service proposal and institutional advocacy

proposal, we have decided that the best plan of action is creating a student organization through

the direct service proposal. Although the institutional advocacy proposal has great ideas and a

promising future, it is a much more expensive plan that requires a lot of time and effort in order

to be put into effect. On the other hand, the direct service proposal is considerably cheaper and

an easier way to start having an effect to Wayne State’s campus as soon as possible. Also, due to

the stigmatization of mental health, it appears that a Campus Wellness Center is not the main

priority of students on campus currently. By first creating a student organization, awareness can

be built to an eventual point where students start to push for the wellness center proposed in the

institutional advocacy proposal. In an extreme case, the wellness center could be put up without

the support of the student organization, but that would require a major donor to step forward with

the money in order to push the plan along. Therefore, the most effective plan is to create a

student organization that will grow and build on itself until a wellness center is a possibility.

Overall, the main goal is to transform a small group fighting to bring awareness to the

community within Wayne State into a movement of large amounts of people advocating for

stress and anxiety awareness within Detroit, Michigan, and further if you can imagine it.
 23

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