Our Troubled Young

She sat nervously in my office, hiding behind big frame glasses. She was anxiously wringing her hands, and rarely looked up to make eye contact.

She emailed me for an appointment. She wanted to drop out of her classes and was clearly battling her own emotional demons. “Would you like to talk to me about what’s bothering you?”, I asked her patiently, as the Dad in me took over. “I don’t think you’d care, I don’t think anyone does….” was her guarded response, in a soft and nervous tone. She looked
at her fidgety hands the entire time.

My heart went out to this young lady and I was worried about her. I called in a female colleague, to see if that might help. I thought that she might feel more comfortable with a lady Professor in the room. We offered her our help and informed her about the counseling services available at UT. We decide to designate her as a “student of concern”, so we could proactively help her.

It struck me that depression and emotional distress are probably more common in our young people than we would like to believe, or care to understand. Her demons, in her life, are real. Can we help her get rid of them? Or will they prevail? Either way, my sense is that the scars of her troubled journey will remain.