Task force tackles mounting stress levels

With national college stress levels on the rise, many students are looking for ways to cope. Thanks to Penn’s Healthy Living Task Force, they will soon have more help.

The Task Force, a coalition of students interested in offering support to members of the Penn community, began their first training session of the semester for students Sunday.

Characterizing itself as a “college life peer-to-peer helping network,” the group is offering students the opportunity to take a more active role in supporting their peers who are coping with the pressures of life at college.

The Task Force, which has been training students since 2006, is a joint effort by Cogwell, a Student Activities Council-funded peer health group and the Lubavitch House at Penn.

Nursing sophomore Julie Sternbach, who is one of the group’s student leaders, noted that the program is reducing stress because students are learning coping mechanisms both for their friends and themselves. Not only are these mechanisms effective, she said, but they also apply to the world outside of Penn. “The skills we are looking to teach are not just for college life … It’s all about reaching out to others and helping by connecting.” She added that the group has plans to expand this year and become more established on campus.

Approximately 15 new trainees took part in a discussion Sunday with Henry Bleier, a consultation psychiatrist at the Philadelphia Veteran’s Medical Center and a member of Penn faculty. Bleier tackled a wide range of issues that may impact college students, from depression and addiction to everyday stress. “Coping is an active process,” Bleier said. “It requires resilience, problem-solving and the ability to reach out for moral support … Moral support provides the structure to bear the weight of depression.”

Bleier’s over-arching theme was the value of being an active listener. According to him, letting a friend express their mind to a sympathetic ear is “98 percent of the job.” Bleier went on to say that a listener’s most important job is to ask questions and listen rather than interject with their own opinion. “Sometimes as a listener you need to take a deep breath and bite your tongue.”

The program is primarily looking to empower students to help each other. “We took the networking approach because it works best with the way students interact on Penn’s campus,” Ephrain Levin, associate chaplain at Lubavitch House and Task Force director, said. “Through the training, we are hoping that students can help their friends cope and be active helpers on Penn’s campus. It’s community service right here in our own community.”

College freshman Dan Bernick, who plans to complete the training, found the session informative. “I have a much better understanding of the differences between ordinary sadness and serious depression because of the talk. Being able to see that distinction will help me determine if my peers need help.”

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