There is a significant increase in openness about mental health and awareness of mental health services on campuses. As a result, students are adjusting their models for mental health services.
At Boynton Health, mental health visits were up by 18 percent this semester compared to fall. To meet the higher demand for services, the campus hired 12 mental health employees and expanded the clinic in 2017, Gary Christenson, the chief medical officer of Boynton, said, Minnesota Daily reported.
Similar situation at Princeton
A student at Princeton who has mental health problems observed similar problems at the prestigious university. The student cited overbooking and understaffing at the Counseling and Psychological Services that from his perspective, it is entirely not capable of providing treatment of mental disorders. The student noted that the lack of psychiatrists is forcing students with mental health issues to seek off-campus resources to get treatment, the Daily Princetonian reported.
In December, the student was admitted to the University Health Center and stayed there for one week. During his confinement at McCosh, he claimed he was not provided medication and had cursory meetings with therapists instead of a psychiatrist who could have provided diagnosis and prescribed medication.
The student had a meeting with the dean of undergraduate studies to discuss his schizoaffective disorder. He told her about his mental health history, diagnosis, previous inpatient stays, medication needs, and not knowing who to contact to report and seek help for the disability.
But the dean instead told him that his having a disability prevents him from being a normal student, hinting he should not be in Princeton at all.
Student expectations
The surge in demand for services in Boynton is partly because of the students coming in with an expectation that part of their educational experience should involve some variety of counseling or therapy, Christenson said. He said a lot of those who seek care are based on the recommendation of their friends.
At Ohio State University, the surge in mental health visits was up by 26 percent between the 2015 and 2016 academic years. The mental health clinic of the university handled 36,115 visits in 2017, while at the University of Minnesota, the visits reached 19,286 during the fiscal year 2016.
Last semester, the increase at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was more modest at 8 percent compared to the previous year, Andrea Lawson, the co-director of UW-Madison's Mental Health Services, said. She explained that the increase was because of changes in the mental health system of the school which permits initial consultations over the phone and online schedule of appointments.
The consultations are not held only in clinics but also in spaces that students frequently visit such as the library, the student union building, and different educational buildings around the campus.
Lawson said the changes call for more services in the campus, which is why the University is hiring more therapists and counselors who would attend to certain ethnic and religious groups of students.
Shannon Mulvihill, the executive director of Mental Health Minnesota, said that because the students received counseling during their years in primary and secondary schools, many colleges had to adapt their mental health models. She explained it to college students today who look at mental health differently compared to a generation ago. Mulvihill foresees the trend continuing to increase which, in turn, will place additional pressure on higher education to meet the mental health needs of its students.
First aid training
Columbia Missourian reported a Youth Mental Health First Aid training that focused on ways to help students who are experiencing a mental health crisis. On Saturday, 25 people gathered on Saturday at the Missouri University Extension in Boone County to demystify mental health stigmas and teach people how to provide immediate help in a mental health emergency.
But they did not train on methods such as the CPR or the Heimlich maneuver but followed a curriculum established by Mental Health First Aid, an international nonprofit which trains people to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The group also trains people to provide emotional support to people with a mental health or substance abuse problem.
The training is not to diagnose mental illnesses. Instead, they train people how to care for people and help connect them with resources. The participants were taught about the importance of viewing mental illness the same way as physical illness.
It also covered the prevalence of mental health issues among children on a national level. Data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness showed that 21 percent of 13- to 18-year-olds experienced a severe mental disorder at some point. Among 8- to 15-year-olds, it is 13 percent.
But the report can misrepresent certain age groups, genders, and ethnicities because some of the groups may be less likely to report mental illness for a variety of reasons.
[researchpaper 리서치페이퍼=Vittorio Hernandez 기자]