Nonprofit Provides Life-Coaching Services to Students With Mental Illness

Photo courtesy of Tangram Life CoachingTristan Ginn doesn’t mince words when he speaks about one of the biggest obstacles he must overcome in order to make it through college.

“I have had a lot of struggles with bipolar not getting in the way,” said Ginn, 19, a freshman at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, or IUPUI.

While high school was a simple matter of paying attention in class and completing homework, college has proved to be a “whole different ballgame,” Ginn said.

“Personally, I have found that college is pretty stressful,” he told Diverse recently.

Of course, freshman year—and the years that follow—can be tough for any student. But for students who struggle with mental illness, the college experience can be overwhelming—so much so that many give up, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.

Indeed, 64 percent of young adults who are no longer in college do not attend because of a mental-health-related reason, according to NAMI’s “College Students Speak: Survey Report on Mental Health.”

Depression, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder are the primary diagnoses of these young adults, NAMI says.