The recent resignations of Director Lilian Odera and Counselor Sabrina Sahle has left an already flawed Counseling Center in crisis. The International Association of Counseling Services, which is the national accrediting body for university counseling centers, recommends a ratio of one counselor for every 1000 to 1500 students. According to the Counseling Center’s website, there are currently four counselors, including the interim director, Nikki Dyer, who now have the overwhelming task of accommodating a student population of over 8,100 students.    At the same time, students’ need for mental health services is increasing.  The counseling center is left with no recourse but to refer students to outside services.  These local counseling services have a waitlist for new patients of up to a month or more. According to WRDE Coast TV (January 4, 2021) “There are not enough professionals in the area right now to help," said Crystal Lambert, director of the mental health department. "We are getting hundreds of intakes in a month, trying to come in and try to call other services, they’ve tried calling other places, they can’t get it.”  This suggests that not only are the lack of counselors at SU affecting our students, sending them to community mental health resources impacts members of the greater community also in need of these services.  With limited resources on campus and the greater community, many faculty members are filling in the gaps by helping students set up appointments with local mental health providers, checking in on students’ psychological well-being, and providing a shoulder on which to cry. We are hearing from students that their mental health difficulties are interfering with their ability to succeed in their courses and continue their studies at SU. The lack of on-campus counseling services is affecting the wellbeing of students, impacting general campus morale, and placing an undue burden on faculty and informal campus support systems. In addition, this increases the legal risk exposure to the university and may affect student retention.

Over the summer of 2020, the CDC found that young adults are reporting the highest prevalence of mental health problems of any age group across a number of areas. Not surprisingly, Hispanic and black respondents (across ages) were quite elevated on a number of these mental health symptoms as well.  (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm

Highlights of the CDC study include:

·       “Symptoms of anxiety disorder or depressive disorder, COVID-19–related TSRD (trauma- and stressor-related disorder), initiation of or increase in substance use to cope with COVID-19–associated stress, and serious suicidal ideation in the previous 30 days were most commonly reported by persons aged 18–24 years.” 

·        “At least one adverse mental or behavioral health symptom was reported by more than one half of respondents who were aged 18–24 years (74.9%).”

Research with SU students conducted by some faculty suggest that current trends on campus are consistent with this national trend. A recent study found that the well-being of SU students in Spring 21 was significantly lower than that reported by three prior SU student cohorts. The Spring 21 cohort scored significantly worse than earlier cohorts on depressive symptoms and positive mood.  Also, for the Spring 21 cohort, greater COVID stress was associated with greater depressive symptoms and negative mood, less positive mood, and worse diet and sleep quality. In addition, a study measuring SU students’ “life hassles” experienced over the past month found that 11 of 49 items, such as struggling to meet your own academic standards, struggling to meet the academic standards of others, and dissatisfaction with school were significantly higher for students in Fall 2020 than students in Fall 2015.

Although issues such as the Covid-19 Pandemic, racist and political violence, climate change, and other sociopolitical issues have exasperated it, the crisis in the Counseling Center is not new.  On April 24, 2018, the SU Faculty Senate voted to pass the following motion: "We unite to urge the university to increase the number of counselors to 1 counselor per every 1,000-1,500 students as soon as possible, in accordance with the recommendation of the International Association of Counseling Services."  This has not been accomplished, and, indeed, the situation is more dire now than in 2018.

To address these issues, we propose the following steps be taken immediately:

·      We commend Dane Foust’s plans to commission a Counseling Center Task Force. This Task Force needs to include SU faculty from all schools, in addition to members from the Psychology Department and School of Social Work, staff, & student representation, and outside mental health professionals with primary expertise from college counseling centers.

·      Complete a needs assessment and provide recommendations with a timeline consistent with current and evolving best practices of college counseling centers in light of the many contemporary stressors that students face by way of an external assessment by an impartial, non-profit group with no conflict of interest.

·      Improve and formalize the relationship between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to require routine, systematic input from relevant academic faculty, staff, and students, since campus mental health is an academic issue in the same way that COVID mitigation is an academic issue.

·      Immediately begin advertising for a new Director of the Counseling Center and other staff, including on professional listservs dedicated to university counseling center directors and the listservs for American Psychological Association accredited internship training directors.

·      Hire at least three more licensed mental health professionals in order to meet the recommended student to counselor ratio of 1000-1500 to 1.

·      Consideration of restructuring the Counseling Center to become part of, or report to, the Student Health Center rather than reporting to Student Affairs.

·      Provide a specific timeline and plan to begin execution of above recommendations by the start of the fall 2021 semester.

·      Commitment to including ongoing external evaluation of Counseling Center services as standard practice, annually, or as per above recommendations.

·      Maintain accreditation from International Association of Counseling Services.