We at the Daily Eastern News want to encourage students, now more than ever, to be willing to reach out and talk to others about what they’re going through.

Seasonal changes are difficult for many people as daylight hours get shorter.

Later parts of the semester are often more stressful for students as finals get closer and grades feel like they matter more.

On top of these predictable challenges, recent events and conversations on-campus may have a negative effect on peoples’ mental health.

We’re happy that mental health has become less of a taboo subject over time and that people seem to be getting more willing to seek help from therapy, medication and other treatments.

Still, there’s a lot of pressure to be strong or brave whether we’re going through something materially difficult or just having a hard time emotionally.

We want to remind everyone on-campus not just of the resources available to them, but also of the many ways that anyone on or off-campus can reach out for help.

Here at Eastern, Health and Counseling Services’ counseling clinic offers services for both emergency and non-emergency situations. The long wait list for those services is certainly an issue, but employees of that department will do anything they can to help as many people as possible.

LifeLinks is a service based in Mattoon which aims to help people whose mental health has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. LifeLinks is also partnering with the counseling clinic to offer some of these resources right here on campus.

There are also various counseling and therapy services based in Coles County which can likely be made more affordable with health insurance.

If you’re in need of someone to talk to quickly, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255.

If you’re in an emergency situation or don’t know who to contact, call 911.