College is supposed to be an exciting time for focusing on a career, but many students spend their days of learning in despair.
Community colleges in particular must address the issue of poor behavioral health or undiagnosed depression among a growing number of students, said Melissa Ockert, a doctoral candidate in USF鈥檚 College of Public Health (COPH). Ockert recently spoke at the 2025 North Carolina Behavioral Health Convening, a conference assembling the state鈥檚 college and university student services and behavioral health professionals.
Her presentation, 鈥淏est Practices for Behavioral Health Among Community College Students: A Public Health Approach,鈥� outlined the need for enhanced support of behavioral health in the community college setting and provided an overview of best practices and statistics.
The research shows that we have a lot to gain by implementing mental health strategies in community colleges. Research shows that many students reported that poor behavioral health impacted their academic performance. Also, students with poor behavioral health report higher withdrawal rates.
Melissa Ockert
Ockert currently serves as dean, Health and Wellness at Durham Technical Community College in North Carolina, where she has seen first-hand how students can struggle. She is pursuing her DrPH in advanced practice leadership in public health at USF through its remote learning program.
When she started at USF, her original research interest was in behavioral health of students entering college, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her faculty mentor then encouraged her to consider the students she works with every day in Durham.
鈥淚 was interested in what happened from high school to college that protected students from behavioral health decline,鈥欌�� she said, 鈥渁nd how could we help students become more resilient to the challenges that college students face during this transition.鈥欌��
The pressures facing many community college students during COVID included loss of family members or jobs, money worries and lack of basic needs. The results of those challenges speak for themselves, according to Ockert鈥檚 study of students both during and after COVID. Statistics include:
- 85% said focusing on school and work was significantly difficult
- 76% noted having trouble maintaining a routine
- 55% did not know how to seek help from a behavioral health professional
Attending college, Ockert says, is a 鈥渃ritical transition time鈥欌�� that for many young people and can exacerbate a decline in behavioral health. These individuals are too often separated from family and peer support in college and the adjustment can be increasingly difficult. Making matters worse, this age group is less likely to seek help for mental illness.
Melissa Ockert presented a lecture while attending the 2025 North Carolina Behavioral Health Convening. (Photo courtesy of Ockert)
鈥淭his was a particular issue during the pandemic because of lack of access to behavioral health services (telehealth was not widely available), lack of financial means to afford it (including lack of insurance), stigma and simply feeling like 鈥榯hey don鈥檛 have a problem鈥� or feeling that they can handle it themselves,鈥欌�� Ockert added.
So, what does Ockert hope to accomplish from her research? Taking a thoughtful, public health approach to address behavioral health in community colleges is a good start.
鈥淚t allows us to look at the larger system that not only impacts student behavioral health but also serves to address it,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淲e can look at the challenges that impact our students such as poor access to resources of all kinds. Then, we can use an organized, focused strategy to address these challenges.鈥欌��
That strategy includes:
- Creating a 鈥渃ulture of caring鈥� by ensuring broad engagement of college leadership, faculty and staff in promoting student behavioral health
- Providing access to a broad array of behavioral health services and activities for students to build coping and resilience skills
- Promoting social support opportunities to engage with peers, faculty and staff
- Examining college policies that may be barriers to promoting good behavioral health
- Building strong partnerships with other post-secondary institutions and other organizations to provide behavioral health services to community college students
Because of the limited research and data on the behavioral health of community college students, Ockert believes her work is important because 鈥渨e serve our mission by caring for our students in ways that consider their mental, physical, and financial health, quality of life and wellbeing.鈥欌��
But if health professionals fail to address these issues, then community colleges can鈥檛 provide the education young people desire, and many might be reluctant to move on to larger institutions, such as USF.
鈥淎s an educator and a future public health professional,鈥欌�� Ockert said, 鈥淚 hope that I can use my experience and skills to address this part of our commitment, and in innovative ways.鈥欌��