Pitch for Mind Over Matter


According to an article posted in Times Magazine, “In spring 2017, nearly 40% of college students said they had felt so depressed in the prior year that it was difficult for them to function, and 61% of students said they had “felt overwhelming anxiety” in the same time period, according to an American College Health Association survey of more than 63,000 students at 92 schools (Reilly). Mental illness is something that affects each and every one of us daily, whether it stems from ourselves or from the people we surround ourselves with. For this reason, I have decided to propose a company that partners with college campuses across the United States to improve the way they handle mental illnesses as a united institution called Mind Over Matter.

From personal experience at the University of Southern California, and hearing friends complain about the poor treatment, lack of resources, and insufficient communication between the institution and students, this idea arose. I recently had one roommate visit the health center in hopes of finding a therapist to console; she left completely unsatisfied with her visit. They even handed her a list of recommended therapists in the area, where half of them didn't even exist. I see a vast and impactful opportunity for Mind Over Matter to step into college campuses and help strengthen the way in which an establishment handles mental health. Especially with the number of colleges in the United States, the market is endless. Without healthy students, a University is nothing.

Our mission is to start encouraging the institution to allocate funds to the health center, increase transparent communication between health center and students, add a required college course on mental illness, provide wellness programs, and increase staff, in order to create a healthy college experience for our youth. Mind Over Matter is unique in that it works together with the students, health center, teachers and institution in order to come up with the best plan to support and maintain healthy students. In order to create transparent communication between the health center and students, we will be sending out, through the health center, mandatory short surveys on attitudes and emotions in order to identify people who are struggling and could benefit from our help. We will also be sending out monthly emails reminding individuals of updated group therapy sessions, meditation, yoga or wellness programs that we will be adding to the various health centers. We will educate freshman resident counselors, teachers and school staff on the various accommodations and programs available at the center and encourage them to inform their students of these resources throughout the semester.

Another part of our plan is to encourage the school to have a required half psychology, half occupational therapy class for incoming freshman. The psychology portion of the course gives background knowledge of different mental health problems. The occupation therapy portion offers individuals real tools to prevent and address mental health problems. It is part of our business model to seek out professionals in the form of professors and therapists and place them into a University to complete these tasks mentioned above. We will have professional employees working on the marketing and communication portion of the plan as well.   

There needs to be more of an open dialogue between students, teachers, health centers, and institutions regarding mental illness in order to be supportive of their students. All of these moving parts need to unite to produce the most supportive, healthy college environment. This partnership will benefit Universities in that students, and their families will feel safe attending an institution that is supportive.  It will benefit students in that they will feel supported, more productive and healthier. This is where Mind Over Matter steps in to take action and create change that will benefit both parties.


Works Cited

Reilly, Katie. “Anxiety and Depression: More College Students Seeking Help.” Time, Time, 19 Mar. 2018, time.com/5190291/anxiety-depression-college-university-students/.


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