对Z世代(年龄大约在12岁到27岁之间)的研究表明，他们正经历着更高程度的孤独, 焦虑, 以及对他们人身安全的担忧, not to mention concerns about housing affordability and job availability. Three years of societal disruptions and suspension of normal activities, 由于COVID-19大流行, have forced kids onto screens for school and disrupted normal avenues for socializing, leaving many with lesser-developed interactive and coping skills.
But in the face of these trends, 欧文康考迪亚大学, and 基督教住宿机构 喜欢它, offer something uniquely efficacious in American society: a caring, 让学生感到安全的亲密社区, 都是熟人, 并在生活的关键领域获得茁壮成长的能力——包括克服消极的社会力量.
“大多数成年人不理解我们的学生感到多么孤立，以及许多人对未来有多么担忧,康科迪亚总裁说, Dr. 迈克尔·托马斯。. “许多来这里的学生并没有像几年前那样进行正常的互动. 在他们成长为成年人的过程中，这些破坏性的方面给我们带来了挑战，康考迪亚大学欧文分校, an 基督教团体，可以缓解.”
在线出版物Axios最近发表了一篇题为, “The loneliest generation: Inside the Gen Z 心理健康 crisis,引用了盖洛普沃尔顿家庭基金会的一项调查，该调查发现Z世代“报告的心理健康状况是任何一代人中最差的”，并且“正在努力应对惊人的孤独感”, 抑郁和自杀念头.”
“政治上的冲突, 经济和社会趋势造就了这一代人，在这一代人中，大量的人努力应对现在，对未来感到更糟,文章说. “Just 44 percent of Gen Zers say they feel prepared for the future.”
这些挑战在康考迪亚大学的校园里得到了证实 心理健康 experts, faculty members, and spiritual shepherds who live and work among today’s students.
“我们总是看到学生们真的在焦虑和孤立感中挣扎, but now it feels like this is a more widely-shared experienced, that many students are wrestling with these things in significant ways,校园牧师昆顿·安德森说, a longtime campus resident who lives with his family in one of the 生活学习社区宿舍. “I see an increased number of students feeling tired and worn out, 被他们被拉扯的方式弄得不知所措, 繁忙的日程安排. 这就像他们已经在一个区域-已经如此疲惫，他们试图在一个耗尽的水平, 情感上和精神上.”
唐娜·沃什伯恩同意. 她是纽约大学的副院长 汤森研究所 and has more than 20 years of experience in the 心理健康 fields, specifically in higher education and as a licensed clinician.
“作为一名教员, 社区成员, 邻居和朋友, I have absolutely witnessed an ever-increasingly stressed and anxious population, 无论是教室里的学生, 社区成员, 或者和我一起去教堂的人,沃什伯恩说.
例如, 现在，学生们在家里或工作场所举办相对较小的活动时，要求私人住宿的情况更为普遍, 并且对“往年不会让学生感到压力”的作业感到心烦意乱,她说。. Instead of bouncing back from normal stress- inducing occurrences, 或者来自社会和世界的发展, “人们处于如此高的焦虑和压力水平，以至于他们再也无法像过去那样应对,沃什伯恩说.
“You had children who were formed in years where people were afraid to go outside, 害怕和别人握手,” Dr. 玛格丽特圣诞节他是哈佛大学院长。 汤森研究所. “当孩子们学习语言和面部表情时, it exacerbates problems when they can’t have social interactions with other children. 他们没有像前几代人那样有那么多的机会发展社交技能或识别社交线索.”
虽然这可能会导致延迟, 规范性和恢复性的经历可以帮助他们愈合, 圣诞节说.
凯特琳·斯塔福德，临时项目主管 咨询项目 在康科迪亚的汤森研究所, 是与成人和青少年一起工作的心理健康临床医生和创伤专家吗. She teaches master’s-level classes on addiction counseling, crisis, and trauma. 家庭系统, 她说, 近年来受到过伤害吗, and a lack of personal connections has led to widespread social 焦虑.
“就连我的一些成年客户也遇到了困难，因为他们接触的社交场合较少,” 斯塔福德 说. “When we avoid situations, they become more dangerous in our brains. The less we engage in social situations, the more dangerous it seems to become.” Pastor Anderson 说 many students want to connect, but also fear connecting.
“越来越多的人似乎是故意一个人吃饭, 把自己和别人分开,他说. “I’ve seen an increase in that kind of activity which of course is not a positive change.”
矛盾的是, 他说, “I see a lot of people wanting to huddle together and spend more time with each other, 但我也看到了一层由于渴望而产生的疲劳，然后它几乎导致了一种反冲，说, ‘I still need these other ways to have separation and my own space.’ The ways an introvert might try to recharge, now we’re seeing across the board. 人们希望与很多人互动, yet there’s a struggle when they step into it now that things have opened up again.”
最近的事件给年轻人带来的压力之一是父母的死亡数量异常之多, 米歇尔·拉布斯说, 副院长 学生健康 哪个学校提供心理咨询和健康服务.
“上个月, 我们有三个学生失去了父母, two to cancer and one who died suddenly at the doctor’s office,拉布斯说。, 在协和女神工作了16年的人. “以前，这个词是祖父母、阿姨、叔叔，但最近几年我们听到了‘父母’.’”
麻烦的是, 自杀的想法也增加了, but so has student openness to seeking help through counseling and other means.
尽管有全国性的趋势, 所有人都看到了Z世代的巨大优势, especially when they are in the right environments for growth.
斯塔福德说:“作为人类，我们的适应力非常强. “当我们经历逆境时, we can grow and have wisdom and a greater sense of purpose and meaning. There’s almost an element of spiritual transcendence that can happen as a result. 我在我们的学生身上看到过很多这样的情况.”
Resilience is powerfully supported through the essential experiences of life in a 基督教住宅社区，他们同意.
“像康科迪亚这样的基督教寄宿学校做了一些我们社会中几乎没有地方做过的事情,” 总统托马斯。. “Many institutions in society that used to bring people together — social clubs, 垒球联赛, 甚至是青年团体, for example — have collapsed in many places throughout our nation. Some of these places where young people used to mingle are no longer part of our culture. Given this paucity of physical places for communal interaction, 基督徒住宿体验的真正力量是它对学生的整体形成. Where else do we mix young people coming from different geographical locations, 城市和农村, 谁持有不同的政治观点, 甚至可能是宗教信仰?”
他补充说:“康科迪亚的重点是 基督徒的身份 我们坚持全职教师和员工都是在各自专业领域有实践经验的基督徒, allows us to offer a residential experience that focuses on the formation, 甚至成熟, 每一个学生. 坚定地植根于我们的基督徒身份, 我们大胆地打开校园的大门，走向世界, and we do something a secular school can never do: we educate the heart and the soul. 我们引导学生深入思考他们是谁, 然后鼓励他们向外开放, 超越自己, to love God — which is the formation of their souls — and to love their neighbors, 他们的心脏是怎么形成的.”
康考迪亚大学欧文分校实现这种整体形成的关键因素是由住宿主任组成的护理团队, 教务长, 校园牧师, 心理健康咨询师和临床医生, 教务长, 还有一些人每周开会讨论是否有学生由于环境恶劣而需要特别关注. “如果小组成员怀疑学生的生活出了问题，比如他或她缺课或不专心，他可以在这些关系网络中讨论这个问题，有人可能会说, “那是我宿舍的一个学生,’ or someone from 心理健康 or campus ministry may say, “我们已经在和那个学生打交道了,’”托马斯说. “We have this built-in web of relationships by which we monitor in a supportive way.”
The fact that there is one faculty member for every 14 students, 再加上一大批住宅主管, 教练, 同学们, 意味着所有学生都能叫出名字，每天都能见到他们. Washburn 说 that kind of fellowship is how healing happens.
“这听起来太老套了, but just spending time and being a presence with someone else has therapeutic value,她说。. 约翰·汤森称它们为“关系营养物”.和别人坐在一起, 喝咖啡, 甚至不需要进行大的对话，只需要在场的身体体验, 用同理心回应, 当有人想甩你的时候倾听. Simple relational principles help other human beings recognize they have value. 我们相信这是上帝创造我们的方式. 神用关系来医治.”
Anderson 说 that while in the past he was inclined to spend more time listening, these days he finds that students are eager to hear wisdom from older people.
“一些可以帮助改变这些(问题)的东西是基本的生活和社交技能，这些似乎并不是所有学生都根深蒂固的,他说. “I find myself being more free to say, ‘What if you tried this?’”
Above all, he offers an invitation to active participation in a Christian community.
”我说, ‘It’s great that you have friends and interact with people through social media, 但当你在一个想要与基督建立联系的群体中，故意与生活中的日常挣扎作斗争时，情况就不同了,’”安德森说。. “我鼓励学生们参与这些事情，成为在基督里共同生活的一部分, because this is how God has wired us to receive certain kinds of support and encouragement. 在一个越来越倾向个人主义的世界里, 隔离, 和自力更生, 我们可以呼召人们以肉身的方式认识神，他邀请我们与他人分享恩典的生活. 这种关系是有深度和丰富的. 这是我们需要的.”
他观察到，那些加入基督教团体的学生是“在所有这些事情中更容易相处的人”,他说.
康科迪亚也有幸成为 汤森研究所, 全国咨询智慧与培训之源, 这一切都是关于接受这些挑战，并利用我们的临床技能教学生在这种时候提供治疗和健康,沃什伯恩说。.
Embedded in those counseling processes is the active power of the living Christ.
“We think faith is a key component in what we do,” 圣诞节说. "我们在康考迪亚的当务之急是 路德的身份. 无论我们是在世俗环境还是田园环境中工作，我们都会谈到信仰在治愈人们方面的力量. 圣灵的能力来到那些地方，这位顾问就成了耶稣的手和脚.”
In a society increasingly characterized by 隔离 and fragmentation, 基督教住宿学院是我们社会中最健康的环境之一，可以帮助年轻人建立深厚的关系，在这里，学生们可以在充满活力的校园社区中学习成长为成年人, 及以后. 欧文康考迪亚大学 当这个团体在这个特殊的地方活出主的旨意时，他们当然每天都在执行这个特殊的呼召.