As I sit at my laptop day after day, my eyes can no longer bear the intense light of my screen. I am exhausted, no longer able to scroll through another website or type another word.

Remote learning, I have come to find, is far from easy. Nothing about the pandemic has been easy. I am not alone with feeling lost and anxious, and now is not the time to overlook mental health.

According to the World Health Organization, close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from abusing alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide.

Mental health is a topic that is often shadowed.

As a senior at Central Connecticut, other students and I are required to complete an interpersonal violence prevention program administered by the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The video-based program provides information about consent, bystander intervention, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, stalking and much more.

This is critical information, but where is the attention on mental health issues?

People have lost jobs and family members to coronavirus; social distancing has kept many loved ones apart and students are wrestling with remote learning. As a consequence, mental health related issues are rising.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics and Census Bureau’s Household Pulse survey, more people are beginning to experience mental health related issues. The survey found that in the third week of July, 30 percent of adults had symptoms of depressive disorder, compared to 6.6 percent last year.

People also had an increase in anxiety: 36 percent had symptoms of an anxiety disorder, compared to 8.2 percent last year. According to the survey, the most commonly affected groups appeared to be women and children, young adults and people who are in sexual and gender minority groups.

Covid-19 has transformed lives across the world, including right here at CCSU. If we all have to complete an interpersonal violence-prevention program, we can complete an online mental health check video too — if it not made to be a requirement, at least have it offered.

During my time at CCSU, I have had to take only one required class that touched upon mental health: College Wellness. This class goes over mental health briefly and my professor urged anyone who was feeling like he or she was struggling to seek a campus counselor.

I took this class two years ago and a lot has changed since then. For one thing, all counseling appointments done through CCSU are virtual according to Jontathan A. Pohl, Central’s Coordinator of Wellness Education.

Although teletherapy may work for others, many people may not seek these services because of privacy concerns, or the feeling that teletherapy may not work properly for them.

I would like Central to either make a required video on questions for students to ask themselves about their mental health or offer such a video so they can watch it and check- in with themselves. This video should also offer phone numbers and websites where students can get help.

These unprecident times call for a little more attention. Mental health should no longer be shadowed.