“If I killed myself today, would the university mourn my death?” the letter begins. “Would you ask yourselves why this happened, or simply say this couldn’t be helped?”

The letter continued: “Would you ask yourself, if I asked for help? Because the answer is I did. I have a therapist on campus, and he is wonderful and well qualified. But I only see him once a month. Because he has too many clients to see in one week. We are made into a number to be shuffled through the counseling center so that the university can say that they’re helping/ But for those of us that are in desperate need of care, we are lost in the masses of students who struggle.”

Across America, masses of students are struggling on college campuses. A study conducted in 2017 by the American College Health Association (ACHA) found that a third of students reported mental health issues, but that only half of them were seeking health. “If one in three college students were seeking mental health services,” the president of the ACHA told Healthline. “Our counseling centers wouldn’t be able to manage.” A further study in 2016 reported that the number of students considering suicide had increased from six to eight percent to 11%.

In her letter, the student, who described herself as “struggling” and “concerned”, added that the university has the opportunity to make real change after the tragic suicide earlier in December. “Will you allow the tragic event that occurred… to mean something, and be a catalyst for change? Or will it become a part of the unknown statistic, a forgotten event that is simply whispered about for years to come?”

This viral letter is a reminder of how important college mental health services are