NC State students, mental health professionals mourn eighth student death since start of 2022-23 school year

University police said authorities found a female engineering student dead of an apparent suicide on Saturday inside Sullivan Hall.

On Monday, WRAL News spoke with students and mental health professionals about how eliminating the stigma around seeking help is key to encouraging more people to get help.

“This semester is a hard one, in particular, with all the math going on,” said freshman engineering student Bryson Faulkner.

Fellow freshman Anna Somerindyke said she feels the pressure to succeed and said she spends a lot of her time studying.

“At first, when things first started happening, it really hit hard, but as bad as it sounds, now, I am just like, ‘Dang, there’s another one,’” Somerindyke said.

The university is planning an additional health wellness day on Thursday, which means classes are canceled.

“Finding time for yourself is a struggle because we have a lot of work to do,” said freshman engineering student Gavin Cauley.

Cauley felt remorse for the student who died Saturday.

“It’s sad to see somebody that is our age, doing the same thing we are, just not be able to handle it,” Cauley said.

In recent months, NC State has increased the number of counselors on-campus and has contracted with a company to provide telehealth services. The university said students can reach a counselor immediately – there is no wait list for mental health appointments.

Last semester, students scheduled 21,074 appointments. So far this semester, there have been 6,428 appointments.

Appointments are typically available within 24-48 hours.

“We are social creatures, so we have to talk to each other,” Faulkner said.

The students WRAL News spoke with stressed the importance of providing classmates support and frequently checking on them.

Get Help: County-by-county guide to mental health and crisis resources in NC

Triangle Wellness and Recovery CEO Sara Koenig said the COVID-19 pandemic created a “lost generation.”

“I think we have a constellation of factors — COVID being the most obvious one — that has created a true crisis,” Koenig said of mental health problems.

Koenig seeks to end the stigma about the importance of seeking help if someone needs it.

“There’s such a pervasive stigma against seeking help that even when help resources are available, they are not necessarily really accessible,” Koenig said.

Triangle Wellness and Recovery clinical director Ian Collins said it’s important to normalize mental health struggles. He said mental health is just as important as physical health.

“We are kind of like soda bottles,” Collins said. “So, if you take a soda bottle and you shake it up, shake it up, eventually, it’s going to explode.

“And the only way we can deal with that is by letting a little pressure out at once.”

Collins said bottling up the pressure can lead to depression, anxiety and mental health disorders. She said friends, therapists and social support allow someone to know they are not alone.

Saturday’s apparent suicide marks the fifth suicide on the North Carolina State University campus since the start of the 2022-23 school year. Three of the university's five suicides came from students enrolled in the College of Engineering.

“I think NC State sticks out partially for the School of Engineering since there has been a disproportionate number of suicides," Koenig said.

During the 2021-22 school year, North Carolina State University had one confirmed suicide.

“People who ultimately commit suicide, it’s not so much that they want to die, but they have some insurmountable problem, something they cannot see their way through,” Koenig said. “They can’t see themself surviving and there are almost always ways they can be helped.”