JOSEPH BORYNSKI
Special to The Leader
It’s no secret that being in college can be stressful.
The pressure students often face while trying to balance their coursework with the rest of their life responsibilities can feel overwhelming.
Campuses have implemented counseling centers to help students combat their mental health issues, but lack of adequate staffing, and a lack of gender and racial diversity among counseling staff, exacerbate a problem that has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students’ routines.
A 2022 article by Zara Abrams from the American Psychological Association details this worsening situation on many campuses across the United States.
Cited was a study by Sarah Ketchen Lipson, an associate professor in the Department of Health Law Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health.
According to Lipson, “By nearly every metric, student mental health is worsening. During the 2020-2021 school year, more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem.”
The article by Abrams includes data from Penn State University’s Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH). The number of students seeking help at campus counseling centers increased almost 40% between 2009 and 2015 — that’s well before COVID-19.
“That rising demand hasn’t been matched by a corresponding rise in funding, which has led to higher caseloads,” the study’s authors state, according to the article.
I was inspired to write this piece after seeing several comments on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media app, from students in the app’s SUNY Fredonia community complaining about problems that they’ve had with the campus Counseling Center.
I posted on Yik Yak: “What are some problems that you’ve had with the Counseling Center?” and received three separate responses each from different people.
“My counselor wouldn’t show up to our Zoom sessions and canceled on me too many times.”
“My counselor basically body shamed me lol.”
“I was ghosted by two of the counselors during a very low point of my life.”
Psychologist Brett Scofield, executive director of CCMH, suggested certain factors that contribute to situations like those Fredonia students have felt.
“We find that high-caseload centers tend to provide less care to students experiencing a wide range of problems, including those with safety concerns and critical issues — such as suicidality and trauma — that are often prioritized by institutions.”
I believe that this offers an explanation for why some of the counselors from SUNY Fredonia’s Counseling Center may have bailed on some of the students.
Regardless, I know that is not, by any means, an excuse for what occurred.
In an email interview with Jeffrey Janicki, director of the Counseling Center, he said, “We conduct a survey of students every semester to get feedback from them about [their] experience at the Counseling Center. In our last survey in the Spring of 2023, 88.6% of respondents (35) indicated being satisfied or very satisfied. We know, however, only about 10% of students were served by our center last spring and not all have had a positive experience. It would be very difficult for me to comment on any of the specific YikYak posts without further context.”
Janicki continued on, essentially saying that the Counseling Center isn’t always capable of meeting each individual student’s needs and may not always be the best place for a student to receive treatment. The Counseling Center is always looking to make room for improvement, and students who do visit the Counseling Center may change counselors if need be.
In addition, Janicki talked about how sometimes, events in a counselor’s personal life may prevent them from providing the best quality care to their clients.
Compounding this, Janicki mentioned,“Staffing shortages in the field have made it difficult for us to remain fully staffed, despite our campus’ allocation of financial resources to hire/retain qualified staff. We recognize that it is a burden on students when their counselor leaves Fredonia, leaving them feeling abandoned and having to start over again,” Janicki said. “Unfortunately, high staff turnover is not unique to Fredonia or higher education. There is a very competitive market for qualified/licensed counselors.”
I myself have only had one prior experience with the Counseling Center, but it was a very positive one.
During the Spring 2023 semester, I was having trouble focusing on my assignments, and I was worried that I might have ADHD. I ended up getting diagnosed with anxiety and prescribed Escitalopram, which has helped me tremendously.
One possible reason why my experience was positive may also be due to race. According to a March 2023 article in neaToday, “46% of White college students sought mental-health treatment compared to 23% of Asian students, 26% of Black students, and 33% of Latino students.”
The racial background for counselors can also contribute to these numbers. “72% of college counselors are White. Just 11% are Black,” the study’s authors observed.
While diversity among counselors is important, it’s also important to remember that there’s a large amount of diversity among academic programs. Therefore, the mental health needs of each individual student may vary. According to the article from Abrams, “Many schools also support faculty by embedding counselors within academic units, where they are more visible to students and can develop cultural expertise (the needs of students studying engineering may differ somewhat from those in fine arts, for instance).”
Campuses are taking steps to meet the needs of students within different academic programs. These are some more concerns that I have seen echoed by students in the SUNY Fredonia community on Yik Yak.
“Whoever decided music majors should have classes so close together that they don’t get to eat deserves to choke on all their meals.”
“Why is getting a major in theater so hard??? I haven’t slept more than 3 hours at a time in days and I still have so much to do.”
“It’s so sad how much professors exploit them.”
“Just to ‘make it in the biz’ you have to put in 60 hour work weeks for the rest of her [sic] life.”
Some college students’ mental health struggles are so great that they’re considering dropping out of college altogether, reports a March 2023 article from CNN. “More than 40% of students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program had considered dropping out in the past six months, up from 34% in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey found.”
Quoting Marcus Hotaling, a psychologist at Union College and president of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors, “Take a semester. Take a year. Get yourself better — whether it be through therapy or medication — and come back stronger, a better student, more focused and, more importantly, healthier.”
I took that advice myself, and sat out the second semester of my junior year to focus on my physical health. I’m much better for it now.
Abrams’ article also discusses alternative ways for college campuses to provide mental health care to students. Train faculty to recognize when students may be struggling with their mental health. Nine hundred faculty and staff at the University of North Carolina have received training in Mental Health First Aid. This provides basic skills for supporting people with mental health and substance abuse issues.
Other institutions are offering workshops and materials that teach faculty to recognize, respond and refer. They are taught that a sudden change in behavior, such as a drop in attendance, failure to submit assignments or a disheveled appearance could indicate that a student is struggling.
Faculty can also work on ways to discuss difficult world events that are affecting students during class. Changes in course policy can also help, such as allowing students more time to turn in assignments. It would also be helpful if students could walk in for a same-day intake or single counseling session, rather than have to deal with a waiting list.
Group therapy can be implemented to help decrease the stigma around seeking treatment for mental health. Institutions have found that students are more likely to reach out to peers before faculty, staff or administrators. Students should have access to peer counselors who have received training in dealing with mental health issues.
Colleges could also help by implementing “counselor chats.”
Having counselors meet with students in public spaces around campus, outside of the counseling center, can help students who may be less likely to actually go to the counseling center.
The mental health of college students has been gradually declining for years. Counseling centers on college campuses lack adequate staff and funding to combat this issue, including Fredonia. It’s clear that there are many alternative methods to traditional therapy that colleges can implement in order to prevent their declining enrollment.