Illuminating Mental Health on Campus
A conversation with counselors and a university leader
A recent headline — With Demand for Mental-Health Care Soaring on Campus, Faculty and Students Are Stepping Up to Help — broached an evergreen topic — that of the importance of sufficient quality and quantity of mental health for students.
Communication Intelligence, the Newsletter, examines the issue with two sources.
“What I have found is students feel there is no communication surrounding mental health and I would hazard campus staff do not take the time to communicate in a way the students understand,” says Whitney Coleman, licensed clinical social worker and therapist and the founder and owner at Jade Clinical Services.
She specializes in working with women of color who experience life transitions, anxiety and trauma. Part of her clientele are female college students who seek out Coleman for help with their struggles with extensive anxiety and difficulty getting services through their schools.
“The little conversation there is feels punitive — and due to professors having heavy workloads — the students feel pushed to the side and ignored rather than given understanding, support and guidance,” she says.
Renée Pitre, Ph.D. is a licensed professional counselor and the director for the Counseling Center at Post University and she adds to the conversation by detailing her work and experiences.
“The gap that college campuses often experience concerning communication usually surrounds the stigma and lack of awareness about mental health issues and available resources,” she says, adding that, “This gap can result in students and faculty not fully understanding the importance of mental health or the support services available to them, which can lead to a reluctance to openly discuss mental health concerns.
“To bridge this gap, campuses need to prioritize de-stigmatization efforts, raise awareness about mental health resources and foster a culture of open and supportive communication.”
An additional challenge she has discovered is “when those providing mental health services are not embedded in the college campuses activities and community, it can perpetuate the stigma that only 'experts' can offer care,” Pitre says.
“In fact, we notice at Post University that the more we can embolden the altruistic nature of our community, the more care that can be generated and supported by those in the mental health service roles. It does, indeed, take a full community to develop a healthy campus,” she says.
The university is committed to seeing more — and seeing it early on with students.
“We are dedicated to training faculty to identify warning signs of distress through mental health assessments for both on-campus and online students,” Pitre says. “We have also established the university's Mental Health Task Force, which has developed a custom ‘online early alert’ platform equipped with cutting-edge assessment software. This platform incorporates escalation protocols that involve law enforcement when necessary.”
Even when studies illuminate the mental health pain being suffered and untreated, that narrative “will not lead to more engagement in care and healthier campuses,” Coleman says, “because the narrative is about the research but not about the students.”
She elaborates on that bold, pointed statement.
“One thing students do not want is other students in their business, meaning seeing them at their therapist — and they do not want to share their therapist, if they have a good rapport,” Coleman says. “So having all the students on campus going to the same place to receive services reduces the chance of students going to receive services.”
She doesn’t just lament the problem. She suggests a solution.
“A better option might be contracting with providers and providing a suite of rooms for students to sit in and have privacy during their sessions, because students often do not care if others know they are in therapy, they just do not want to share their therapist,” Coleman says.
“So, give them a place where they can meet with their therapist in private and do virtual sessions. Also, institute a mental health policy where if a student can verify they are having a mental health struggle they can skip one class per semester and make up the missed work, the same as they could if they were sick,” she recommends.
A weak spot in on campuses, Pitre says, is funding.
“Many institutions struggle to allocate enough resources,” she says, quickly adding, “At Post University, we prioritize access to care for all our students, associates and staff. Specifically, we have begun offering educational resources related to Social Emotional Learning, empowering individuals to recognize when to seek help and for what purposes.”
It’s important to ask the hard, direct question about what Coleman and Pitre see as the biggest impediment to a healthier college student populous.
“Accessibility,” Coleman says point blank.
“Accessibility does not just mean being able to physically see a provider. But also having the time to do so,” she says. “The reality is, if you see a provider face-to-face you have to account for appointment time, wait time, transportation time and parking, plus associated fees. If we do not have that much time available or money is tight, we don’t schedule appointments.”
“Giving people the time to make their appointments and the ability to move things around so they can schedule physical or mental health appointments and ensuring the cost is manageable, are all ways to remove impediments to healthier college communities,” Coleman opines.
The primary obstacle to cultivating a healthier campus environment lies in the need to redefine how we approach mental health services,” Pitre says. “We can no longer treat mental health as a distinct entity separate from the overall well-being of our campus community, as it affects all of us. Its enhancement demands collective engagement from us all.”
Could certain conversations help move society towards solving the present and future problems? Certainly.
“Addressing the way the insurance industry profits off services provided in the physical and mental healthcare industries, which trickles down to causing issues for people such as college students and professors receiving services and providers deciding not to work with insurance companies,” Coleman says.
The future is here as far as technology, Pitre says and providers have to meet the public’s expectations with it in caregiving.
“In today's digital age, an increasing number of individuals rely on online platforms for their education, work and social interactions. This highlights the importance of ensuring that mental health services are equally accessible in this evolving landscape,” she says. “Engaging in discussions that enhance and align with mental health services and the demands of this digital age can play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges that our students face.”
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