On Sale: Mar 23, 2027
Page Count: 304 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN-13: 9781541604445

$30.00

$40.00 CAD

Format

Format:

Preorder from Retailers:

The essential guide for students and parents navigating the college mental health crisis.

There is a mental health crisis on American campuses. In the last several years, depression and anxiety have risen dramatically among our nation’s youth. Wooed by college marketing departments that promise them “the best years of their lives,” students enter higher education unprepared for the many challenges of campus life and often find themselves lonely, anxious, and depressed.

In The Kids Aren’t Alright, public health expert Michelle Bowdler offers a practical blueprint for navigating the emotional landscape of higher education. As Bowdler reveals, the crisis begins long before move-in day, as the intense pressures of the application process leave students feeling anxious and burned out before they matriculate. Once students arrive on campus, these issues can be compounded by drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault, lack of institutional resources, and more.

With compassion and clarity, Bowdler equips students and their families with tools to navigate everything from the process of choosing a college to handling stressors once undergraduates arrive on campus. She provides concrete advice on questions including:

How do you separate hype from reality during the college tour process?
What questions should you ask before you or your child chooses a college?
What should parents and students expect during first term?
What can parents and students do to get the right help when they need it?

This is the essential book for parents and students as they embark on their college journey.

Genre:

Michelle Bowdler has spent her professional career in higher education, serving as executive director of health and wellness at Tufts University and associate dean of student affairs at Bentley University. She holds a BA from Brandeis and an MS in health policy and management from Harvard University. The author of Is Rape a Crime?, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, she is also a recipient of a Barbara Deming Memorial Award for nonfiction and has been a fellow at MacDowell and Ragdale. She lives in Massachusetts.