The ABCs of Going to College

The ABCs of Going to College

By Victoria Freeman (MSW RSW), Kristen Anderson (LCSW), Dr. Gina Dimitropoulos (MSW, PhD)

The transition to college is hard and it can be even harder when you’ve struggled with an eating disorder. It’s easy to make comparisons when watching others take that next step if you aren’t ready; AND waiting until you are ready is the best next stepfor you. Studies show that students with active mental health challenges drop out of school at much higher rates than their peers1 and if you go before you’re ready, you may end up in a revolving door of starting and stopping that derails your college experience.  Working with your supports to think about your best next step is an important part of making a decision about college.

To recover, you built a support system – a scaffold – that allowed you to learn and grow and you no doubt gained a lot of skills along the way! In the transition to college you will face exciting challenges that will require you to use your skills in a new way. The ABCs of going to college are here to help you assess how ready you are for the transition and to help you build a plan for success.

Anticipate

College can be a very exciting and stressful time with many new responsibilities as well as new social, academic, and work experiences. The first step in assessing how ready you are for this next step is reflecting on what challenges may be ahead of you and your loved-ones.

Use the categories below to anticipate challenges you might face in your transition to college:

FinancesDorms
Dating
Making New Friends
RoommatesPapers
Staying Connected with Family
Drugs/Alcohol
Cafeteria FoodRecreational Activities Nights Out
Social Events
SleepExams
Sexuality
Eating Out
Staying Connected with Old Friends

Increased Academic Pressure and Difficulty
Gender
Working while in School

Build a Safety Plan

Now that you have reflected on the new challenges and experiences college will bring, the next step is making sure you are ready to manage your own recovery and what that entails. There are many predictable challenges to college, like the stress of final exams or eating more independently than you have before. However, there may be times when challenges you couldn’t expect complicate things! For example, how would you cope if you got the flu and got behind in your readings. What would you do if a tough social situation caused you extra stress?

Remember, it’s normal to experience slips. Slips can be part of the recovery process and learning how to manage them is an important skill.  Ensuring an awesome college experience means having your plan to get help lined up before you’re in crisis mode.

Use the following check-list with your supports to build your own safety plan.

College Check List

• I can go grocery shopping independently
• I can cook and prepare my own meals
• I can consistently follow an appropriate meal plan for me
• I can eat out with friends without symptoms
• I know I need to prioritize sleep and good self-care to stay healthy and productive
• I have signed up with counselling and/or accessibility services on campus just in case I need them
• I know who will manage my medical care and I am familiar with medical services on campus
• I have researched if there are local supports or groups
• I have thought about how to talk about my eating disorder history (if and when I want to) with new friends, roommates, partners, etc.
• I know who to call if I am struggling, and I know when to call them 
  (ex: if I have symptoms __ times per week)

(ex: if my weight changes by __ amount)
(ex: if I experience: panic attack/insomnia/etc.)

• Other:

Cope Healthfully

Eating disorders have very severe, long-term consequences on health and mental health and no one chooses to have one. Still, it is not uncommon over the course of the illness for eating disorder symptoms to begin serving a functional role in life.  Understanding how symptoms may have helped you in the past, can prevent you from engaging with them in the future.

Check off the items that reflect your experience and
identify alternative coping strategies that will be more supportive of long-term success

Functions of the Eating Disorder	Alternative, Healthy Coping Strategy
□      Helps me deal with strong emotions by distracting me or numbing out	Ex: Build a self-care kit filled with distracting or soothing items like music and coloring
□      Helps me feel like I can fit-in, in a world filled with social pressures about shape and weight	Ex: Look for a group or club on campus that aligns with my interests, and not the interests of the eating disorder
□      Helps me feel safe and that people in my life are going to stay close	Ex: Talk to my loved ones when I’m struggling
□      Helps relieve pressure (ex: “If I’m sick, I can put things on hold – I’m not sure I can cut it here”)	Ex: Get connected with accessibility services and create a step-by-step plan for completing homework on time.
□      Helps me to feel more in control	Ex: Practice grounding strategies like deep breathing to help me feel in control
□      Helps me deal with boredom	Ex: Practice urge surfing: When the urge to have symptoms comes up, try to find another activity for 30-minutes before giving in to the urge (ex: visiting a friend, mindful walk)
□      Other
□      Other

Anticipate, Build a Safety Plan + Cope Healthfully

Hopefully these exercises have helped you tackle the ABCs of assessing
if college is the right step for you, right now.

The last piece of guidance we will leave you with is to approach making these decisions with self-compassion2. It is easy to get caught up in external pressures, beliefs, expectations, or comparison making with our peers – but remember – being a young adult means being in a period of change, discomfort and self-discovery. Research shows that it’s way more normal to feel uncertain about just about everything than it is to have it all figured out3.
So with that in mind…

…We wish you luck in making your decision and we hope you challenge yourself to say NO to comparisons and to say YES