My project is on the topic of mental health stigma on college campuses and how both campuses and college students can eliminate that. While it has been very interesting to research, I have hit a few roadblocks or dead ends that have made the project somewhat more difficult or take me longer than it should have. There is not as much research on college mental health programs as I would have preferred. The research is mainly in the category of mental health in general, and there are comparisons statewide, but research in the specifics of college mental health is somewhat sparse and/or difficult to track down.

Even more specifically, was for my qualitative data post, I had wanted to compare and contrast the quality of some of New Jersey’s college’s mental health program, and I was not able to track down any research similar to this. Additionally, I was planning to send surveys to college students regarding their college’s mental health programs, but due to the current pandemic, I was not really able to network with others at colleges, nor did I feel like it was very appropriate to do. Therefore, I had to approach this section of my project from the standpoint of just analyzing what programs colleges offer based off of what they listed on their websites. Due to some of the roadblocks, and my interest in continuing this project after this class, I have had to revise my schedule of when I would get certain things done quite a few times.

Technologically, I have had questions with how to change some of the design aspects of the theme with WordPress. I used to work with WordPress a few years ago but since then I have forgotten how to maneuver certain functions. I also switched my theme because of certain functions that I wanted to include worked better with a different one than the one I had previously downloaded. Otherwise, I have had no issues in uploading or saving my work. My website is not where I want it to be just yet, however, I wanted to focus on the content first, and then revisit the design and physical look of it afterward.

Altogether, while I have a great deal of knowledge of mental health stigma, especially among college students, through this project, I have been able to learn a lot of new information and facts as well. Prior to the research I have conducted for this project, I did not know that the first college health program was created in 1861 with the standards for which mental health in colleges should follow were not set until Syracuse in 1931. I have also learned about various mental health programs at different colleges all throughout New Jersey. I really did not think that the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) had the most advanced or innovative mental health programs, at least from my perspective of learning about it on the website, out of them all. I am very excited that I was able to finally start a project like this through this course as this was something I had wanted to do for a while, and I really look forward to continuing this, especially when colleges officially reopen. I hope to work with counseling centers at various colleges and help them spread their programs and better support their students.