REACHING OUT
A DIGITAL Story
WITH KOEN IfilL
Meet Koen
Koen is a first-year UNC-Chapel Hill student from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is double majoring in English and political science. He enjoys reading and writing poetry as well as playing a variety of musical instruments, including the piano and the drums.
Koen's first semester challenges
Ever since the beginning of high school, Koen planned to attend college as a biology major. He focused on becoming successful and earning a high income, and he believed biology was the best way to achieve this goal. However, he struggled through his first biology class at UNC-CH due to a lack of interest and difficulty connecting with other students who genuinely enjoyed the subject.
Koen experienced a sense of isolation that is common in many first-year students. Koen shared that unlike during high school, where he had a safe place to retreat after an intense day of school to his home and family, he found that living in a dorm made it difficult to find any time to recharge. This led to feelings of hopelessness, unintentional distancing of himself from others and a drop in his grades.
Unfortunately these feelings are not uncommon for college students.
“Especially for guys, it just felt more like a weakness to talk about my problems.”
– Koen
Asking for help
Koen initially found it challenging to reach out to others for help with these problems. This is the case for many men in the United States due to the stigma surrounding therapy. However, after Koen received his grades for his first semester and knew he could’ve done better, he decided to go to Counseling and Psychological Services. After several sessions, he found it much more helpful than expected.
The benefits of therapy
Koen said he greatly benefitted from therapy. One of his main takeaways was realizing he didn’t need to major in biology to be successful. He is now majoring in two subjects that he greatly enjoys, and instead of dreading going to class, he looks forward to learning.
Full video
Mental health resources
Mental Health America – Information on mental health
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988
UNC Specific:
Counseling and Psychological Services: https://caps.unc.edu/
Heels Care Network: https://care.unc.edu/resources/