Codify mental health days for college students

I am writing to highlight the necessity of Bill SB2606, which is currently pending approval in the state legislature. This bill advocates for Illinois universities to grant students five mental health days per academic term.

An allowance of five mental health days for students would go a long way toward helping students who are undergoing distress due to problems in their family, community or personal issues. There are days when students need time to process what is going on in their life and often school can be an added pressure in those times, which only compounds the issue.

While many professors are understanding and allow students some absences, these are often limited to when students are physically sick. And so, it can create scenarios where students are unsure/guilty about using those absences for mental health days. This can be doubly true for students who come from communities in which discussion of mental health is taboo.

Codifying mental health days specifically would help to destigmatize mental health within college campuses and support students in treating their mental health with the same priority as they would their physical health.

As a university student grappling with anxiety, there have been instances where prioritizing my mental well-being by taking a day off has unfortunately led to grade repercussions. Additionally, there have been occasions where despite attending classes, I found myself mentally absent. Such experiences emphasize the critical need for mental health days.

To summarize, because of the benefits both to the students themselves and to foster a greater community acceptance of mental health issues, we ought to be in support of Bill SB2606 which seeks to add five mental health days for university students in Illinois.

Devon Kruse-Wu

Urbana