By: Taylor Kissinger

 

Kendra Siebert jolts awake. Her hand automatically shoots out and grasps the incessantly ringing flip phone next to her pillow. She frantically glances at her alarm clock which reads 2 a.m. Nothing good ever happens at 2 a.m. Her pulse quickens as she stares down at the screen. An unfamiliar number shines back at her in the darkness. Siebert takes in a deliberate, deep breath as she flips open the phone. “RA on call- This is Kendra.” As she listens to the panicked resident on the other end of the line, her eyes drift over to the bottle of small, white pills on her dresser.

 

Siebert was unaware that she had anxiety until her senior year of high school. “It simply wasn’t something that was ever discussed,” Siebert shared. That all changed one day at an appointment with her pediatrician. “I remember sitting in a cold, sterile doctor’s office. I started to tell my doctor about the mood swings, panic attacks, and other symptoms that I had been experiencing. But then I just started crying right there in her office because before that moment, I had never said that I had anxiety out loud,” Siebert reflects. “Admitting that you need help is the hardest and most powerful step for anyone that suffers with mental health issues.”

 

Anxiety made her transition to college incredibly difficult. However, she began to meet peers who shared the same challenge. “We joke about being on the same medication,” Siebert laughed. Siebert’s own Resident Assistant was instrumental to her success at the University of Oregon. She was one of Siebert’s only friends and confidants during her first few months in Eugene. Their relationship inspired Siebert to proudly take on the RA badge. “What I do really matters. There are people who argue that it doesn’t. But If you can play that role of friend and mentor for only a couple of residents it still matters,” Siebert attests.

 

Siebert hopes that discussions around anxiety and other mental health disorders become less taboo. She firmly believes that she would have received the medical care that she needed sooner if anxiety was not as stigmatized. For now, she is elated with how her role as an RA has enabled her to help others in mental crisis. Her personal struggle helps Siebert to better empathize with her residents and address their needs. Her job has also immensely transformed the way that she handles her own anxiety. Siebert relies on the support system of RAs as well as her newly found self-confidence to continue thriving at the university. “When I feel anxiety creep up in the future, I can smile to myself and say ‘I’m an RA. I can handle this.’”