More Students at Montana Tech seek treatment for their mental health

Butte, Montana – On the Montana Tech campus, playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fantastic way to unwind, but more and more students are discovering that they need to get professional therapy to deal with the numerous strains of college life.

“I think that our students, I know our students need it. The volume of students I’ve seen in the last two years has been pretty phenomenal and it’s continued to climb,” said Montana Tech Mental Health Counselor Tara Kloker.

Through a collaboration with Mantra Health, Montana Tech is able to provide students with face-to-face conversations with telemental health counselors via laptops or other devices.

On campus, there are QR codes that students can use to access the system and schedule an appointment.

“The real thing that we’re focusing on is trying to allow our students to be seen when they need to be seen and when they can be seen; we never want counseling to be another stressor,” said Kloker.

On the campus of more than 2,200 students, Kloker is the only mental health counselor, and she sees an average of six individuals every day for one-on-one counseling.

Financial concerns are one of the reasons that students claim to make going to school stressful.

“I work two jobs while going to college, so balancing that is a really big thing and organizing your time and just having some way to get that stress out,” said Montana Tech student John Freze.

Hadassah Wilson, a student, has not sought mental health treatment, like Freze, but she says she is grateful it is available because college is so stressful.

“I’m on the track team, so it’s difficult to find the balance between homework, going to classes, practices, and also working. So it’s kind of difficult to make time for everything, so that does cause a lot of stress,” said Wilson.

Many of the students Kloker counsels struggle with issues ranging from test anxiety to suicidal thoughts, according to Kloker.

It appears that young people are eager to seek counseling.

“Our students are much more open to it and they also are kind of expecting to have that access,” she said.