Recognize and Reach Out:

Anxiety
Emily Milz and Maggie Letki
HPEB 301
April 24, 2017
Mission Statement
Our mission is to equip students with the knowledge to recognize the legitimacy of
anxiety symptoms, provide a comfortable environment to discuss anxiety, and also
to spark motivation to reach out for help and support from USC’s numerous
resources.
Everyday Anxiety or Excessive Anxiety?

-Feeling worried about the grade that you will get on a tough exam in the upcoming
week.

-Being unable to focus on an assignment due to worrying about doing well on it or

thinking about other deadlines.

- Feeling uncomfortable in an awkward social situation.

-Having restless sleep before every exam and feeling fatigued during times of high
stress.
Introduction: What Is Anxiety?
-Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear that interfere with daily activities,
are difficult to control, and are out of proportion to actual danger of situation (Mayo
Clinic)

-Restlessness and feeling on edge

-Being easily fatigued
-Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
-Irritability
-Muscle tension
-Sleep disturbance
-College students find it difficult to distinguish eustress (positive pressures) and
distress (harmful anxiety/pain)
How Does Anxiety Affect USC?
-18.2% of USC students consider anxiety to be the factor that most significantly
impacts academic performance (NCHA 2013).

-Over 12% of USC’s population has been diagnosed with anxiety by a physician in
the last year (NCHA 2013).

-According to NCHA data, the percentage of students diagnosed has recently

increased.

- 43.0% of males and 50.7% of females have felt overwhelming anxiety

At USC at some point within the last year.
Program Overview: Recognize and Reach Out
-Educational workshop consisting of small group activities and discussion

-One-time session lasting two hours, participation capped at 20 people/workshop

Questions to Answer:

-What is anxiety? In what ways do symptoms present in everyday life?

-How does anxiety affect college students, specifically the USC community?

-What are perceived barriers of seeking treatment or encouraging others to do so?

-How can we overcome these barriers?

Anxiety and Social Cognitive Theory
-Anxiety results from biological and environmental factors and in itself is NOT a
behavior.

-Our goal is to change people’s attitudes towards anxiety, therefore encouraging

positive steps towards healing.

1. Environmental: norms/expectations, access to resources

2. Cognitive: beliefs and knowledge
3. Behavioral: self-efficacy, taking action
Target Behaviors and Quality of Life
Recognize and Reach Out will tackle all 3 aspects of the SCT:

1. Environmental: clarify USC’s available resources and examine stigmas/norms

as barriers
2. Cognitive: provide stats and facts, define signs and symptoms of anxiety
3. Behavioral: promote self-care and motivation to encourage others to seek
needed help

QOL Indicators:

1. Emotional/mental health
2. Physical health
3. Social well-being
Implementation and Marketing
Phases of Marketing:

1. Tabling: hand out Anxiety at USC fact sheet, allow students to sign-up for
workshops and for informational emails, have promotional flyers attached to
snacks and for people to share with friends
2. Campus partners: USC Counseling/Psychiatry/SAVIP/U101 student referrals
3. Student organizations: CCPL representatives speak to Student Gov, Greek
life, business organizations, ROTC, etc.
4. Social media/promotional flyers
Considerations of Implementation
● Marketing
○ Fact sheet and promotional flyers (attaching promo flyer to snacks)
○ Promotional Flyers in various locations on campus
○ Two speakers for student organizations per presentation
○ Three students for tabling event
○ Beginning to advertise in adequate amount of time
○ Adequate social media use
● Implementation
○ Three volunteers for tabling for 2 hours
○ One hour briefing for workshop
○ Three peers per workshop- having peers willing to share at workshop
○ Reserve necessary locations
○ Attendance and stigma
Workshop Phase 1: Recognize
-Introductions, build comfort level and establish safe space, icebreaker

-What led you to be here? What do you hope to gain?

-Discuss “Anxiety at USC” fact sheet

-What do you find most shocking?

-Practice identifying anxiety symptoms

-Anxiety facts crashcourse, responses to scenarios

-How can anxiety disguise itself in our everyday lives?

Peer Speaker
● Students will be more willing to share when they see that the peers have had
similar experience
● Establish comfort and relatability

I have struggled with anxiety since I was in high school, but coming to
college really brought out how much it was affecting me. Sometimes I will wake up
in the morning already having the weight of worry on my chest, but now knowing
why I’m worried, or even have gone through the day to accumulate things to worry
about. When I wake up feeling really worried like that, I have a lot of trouble
focusing in class and on my assignments. I find that I am a lot less anxious when I
exercise regularly or spend a lot of time outside! Also, I’ve seen a counselor to help
talk through the anxiety, and he gave me a lot of helpful tips on how to cope with it!
You are not alone!
Workshop Phase 2: Reach Out
-Discussion of perceived barriers that impede anxiety improvement

-Why do people with clear symptoms continue to avoid seeking

treatment?

-Impacts of remaining silent

-What are some individual and campus-wide consequences?

-Resources/self-care techniques

-What sources of help are available at USC? How can you practice self-
care?
Budget
-All printing will be free

-Tabling snacks: fruit leather (50), peanut butter crackers (40), variety pack of chips
(20) amounts to $44.48

-Goodie bags: Gum (40), fruit leather (23), motivational stickers (23) amounts to
$39.76, stress bendie from student health center, fact sheet

-Food at workshop: Chick-fil-a cookie tray (24 cookies) for $28.50 and hot
chocolate packets (40) at $14.00 with free water container and cups

Total budget = $138.24

Wellness Dimensions
● Anxiety affects emotional and physical states.
○ Excessive worry can become intrusive in one’s thoughts and can manifest itself through
nausea, fatigue, restlessness, and can reduce the effectiveness of the immune system.

● Anxiety can cause one to isolate themselves and detach from the community.
○ People begin avoiding social situations because they can be worried of other’s perception of
them.

○ Stigma surrounds anxiety and mental illness. This workshop can help break down stigma at
USC and spark more people to seek help.

● Academics are greatly affected by anxiety.

○ Students are not performing to their full capacity and having excessive stress with assignments.
Evaluation
● Process evaluation
○ Counting the number of people who visit the table
○ Observe the people attending the table to be able to derive which groups of students we need
to target
○ Observe effectiveness of marketing and advertising
● Impact evaluation
○ Handing out a short survey at the end of the workshop that asks questions about the
immediate effect
○ “Did you find this information useful?”, “Did you feel comfortable sharing your experiences with
anxiety?”
● Outcome evaluation
○ Determine whether changes in people occurred due to participation in the program
○ Take a survey before the workshop begins and a modified one through email.
○ “Are you more likely to openly discuss anxiety?”
Conclusion
● According to NCHA, anxiety is the leading mental health condition that affects
USC students.
● We need to speak up and support!
● Remember...

“As Gamecocks, our impact has No Limits.”

 Sources
http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/5913-students-with-symptoms-of-mental-illness-
often-don-t-seek-help

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/home/ovc-20168121

https://uofscsastayinformed.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/become-a-changing-
carolina-peer-leader/

https://www.sa.sc.edu/shs/cp/mentalhealth/stress-anxiety/

https://www.sa.sc.edu/shs/files/2010/10/Gamecock-Health-Fall-Winter-2011.pdf

http://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/assets/basc-
3/basc3resources/DSM5_DiagnosticCriteria_GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder.pdf

https://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety