IMSupport: Guiding Stressed Students and Reducing the Mental Health Stigma

In the current world, students are constantly affected by stressors, such as academics and social pressures in their lives, that may lead to many serious mental health issues. Many students are uncomfortable with reaching out for mental health support because of the judgment they may receive. Additionally, high-achieving students specifically are not able to overcome the stigma surrounding mental health, and thus are not reaching out for help. Since many students already have access to technology, we believe that an application that helps students reach out anonymously to other students will benefit their emotional well-being by serving as a way to communicate their feelings. There have been numerous cases where those who struggle at a young age with mental health and do not acquire help, continue to be affected in the later parts of their lives. For these students, many of their stressors are derived from school work and academic pressure. Therefore, our app, IMSupport would be designed to address both aspects of stress relevant to high-achieving students: academic and mental health support. The app would be able to provide a personal and anonymous platform that would allow students to contact their peers for the help they need. This would help our constituents because our provides a way to communicate their emotions