Part of the series Nanopinions: Bite-sized Hot Takes

Uni has no places to cry or just get away from people. When you need to be alone for a moment there is literally nowhere to go. With all of the stress at Uni, sometimes it gets overwhelming and students need places to decompress and get away from it all.

While some will argue that’s what the Student Services Office (SSO) is for, there are a lot of people who don’t feel comfortable going to the counselors because they don’t necessarily need any help, they just need somewhere to be alone for a moment. There are moments where having to talk makes it worse but that is hard for people to take into account. Although students are able to go outside and get a breather when the weather is nice, sometimes that’s not accessible. There needs to be a place for students to go to just take a moment away from reality and breathe.

Ideally, some of the chairs out in the hallways could be moved into rooms or just not where everyone can see. Moreover, supply closets or unused rooms would be useful to have open to students as they would provide a space for people to get away for a moment. Throughout the day there are a variety of rooms unused that could be open for students and teachers to take a break in. If opening unused rooms is something faculty is not comfortable with, maybe in the SSO there could be a room or area dedicated to students who don’t want the counselors to ask or people to come talk, but just want a moment to take a deep breath and put everything on pause.

This kind of space would be vastly useful for teachers and really anyone in the school. While some may argue that there are spaces already available, bathrooms aren’t always an option, as you constantly have the risk of having someone hear you or ask you what’s wrong, and the SSO is still seen as “scary” to some students, with the daunting possibility of having to talk to the counselors. While having people ask to help may not seem like the worst thing in the world, sometimes you just need to be alone and not have anyone interfere. Especially at a school where students are constantly under stress and have poor mental health, this sort of thing would be incredibly useful to everyone.