Creative collaborations can support students’ mental health

BURLINGTON, VERMONT — The traumas and losses of the pandemic combined with the pressures and pervasiveness of social media and technology use to create the perfect storm in college students’ lives. That left many students’ mental health in tatters, placing more demand on counseling centers, which were already stretched thin. And it's not going away soon. It takes about seven years to work through a trauma and about one to two years to work through the loss of a loved one — but that's when support systems are available to help, according to Jeremy Butler, Chief Innovation Officer at Integrated Community Alternatives Network, a nonprofit organization (www.ican.family).