Test your mood

As fall term draws to a close and with finals just around the corner, many students are feeling stressed.

Hoping to lighten the load, the Center for Student Health and Counseling staff held a Test Your Mood event on Wednesday.

Riza Liu/VANGUARD STAFF

Marina Kabot Sturos, a criminology major, fills out a mental health survey to test her mood at Wednesday’s event, held in both Smith Memorial Student Union and Ondine Hall. Around 100 students participated.

“Sometimes you don’t take the time to think about yourself—especially when you’re in a busy school environment, have a lot of work to do, have a lot of pressure, deadlines and schedules,” said Suzanne Eklund, a senior speech and hearing sciences major who attended the event.

“You don’t always take the time to look at your own self to see what your needs are,” she added.

SHAC’s Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Marcy Hunt-Morse organized the event that was held in both Smith Memorial Student Union and Ondine Hall.

Hunt-Morse said the test is an anonymous mental health survey that allows the taker to score how high their anxiety level is as well as test for mood changes and whether or not painful memories affect them.

“For a lot of folks, there’s some stigma to this, so they don’t want to be identified,” Hunt-Morse said. “This just provides them with another means to get some assessment so they can see how they’re doing.”

After attendees took their tests, SHAC counselors sat with them and reviewed their scores. In some cases, the counselors suggested scheduling a counseling appointment at SHAC.

“When we sit down with them, they’re in front of us, and we can still have the conversation about where they’re at and what they need in order to feel better,” Hunt-Morse said.

Around 100 students attended the mood screenings between the two locations. Many saw it as a useful opportunity.

“I think a lot of students might be under a lot of pressure that they aren’t completely aware of,” said Brittney Eagan, an undeclared freshman. “Filling that kind of thing out and getting another perspective, you can highlight the things that are potential issues and can fix it.”

Nathan Rochester, a senior sociology major, attended the event because he is interested in opportunities available at SHAC.

“My interest has become a little increased this year because of the changes to the student health plan and the additional services that can be provided to students,” he said.

Rochester also has a minor in psychology and is interested in a future counseling career.

“This is a good way to get a feel for the testing that is current,” he said.

Rochester learned about the event after it was announced in his psychology class, which offered him extra credit. The class announcement was one of several promotion methods that Hunt-Morse used. She also advertised the event through email and Facebook.

“We try to promote it to faculty and staff, to encourage students who they maybe concerned about or who are just potentially interested in getting a check-up,” Hunt-Morse said. “That’s probably one of our most successful strategies, is working with staff to encourage students to come.”

Hunt-Morse feels this event was a good opportunity to promote Portland State’s counseling services and help pique students’ curiosity, as well as get out of her office and educate students about the available resources with help from faculty and staff.

“Some of it is students’ own curiosity around it, but I also think some of it is encouraging faculty and staff to help their students be curious,” Hunt-Morse said. “A lot of times, students don’t even know we have a counseling center on campus and counseling services.”

While Hunt-Morse was in charge of the screening in SMSU, SHAC clinical social worker Carla Riedlinger hosted the screening in Ondine Hall, where more than 40 students screened. Students and their knowledge of the event surprised her.

“A lot of people seem to know what’s going on when they walk in the door,” Riedlinger said.

Russell Jones, Ondine’s resident director, also helped with the Ondine screening. He advertised the event to entering students with the phrase, “Test your mood before you eat your food.

“It’s a good opportunity for students to evaluate where they’re at,” Jones said. “If they feel like they need some extra support and resources to be academically successful, that’s what SHAC is here for and that’s what University Housing Life is here for, as well.”

A raffle featuring two fitness-training packages and a gift card to the Portland State Bookstore was held at both screenings.

There were also several fliers available explaining how to handle certain situations such as loneliness, relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder and stress.

“How we feel impacts a lot of how we move through our days,” Hunt-Morse said.

“[T]his provides folks with that opportunity to get a checkup and see how they’re managing and doing, some folks are doing great. Others are saying, ‘Wow, this has been very difficult for me.’”