![]() Following an evaluation, many schools employ a stepped-care model, where the students who are most in need receive the most intensive care. To minimize students slipping through the cracks, schools are dedicating more resources to rapid access and assessment, where students can walk in for a same-day intake or single counseling session, rather than languishing on a waitlist for weeks or months. “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,” said psychologist Brett Scofield, PhD, executive director of CCMH. Nationwide, the average annual caseload for a typical full-time college counselor is about 120 students, with some centers averaging more than 300 students per counselor ( CCMH Annual Report, 2021). That rising demand hasn’t been matched by a corresponding rise in funding, which has led to higher caseloads. ![]() The number of students seeking help at campus counseling centers increased almost 40% between 20 and continued to rise until the pandemic began, according to data from Penn State University’s Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a research-practice network of more than 700 college and university counseling centers ( CCMH Annual Report, 2015). “It really has to be everyone’s responsibility at the university to create a culture of well-being.” “This increase in demand has challenged institutions to think holistically and take a multifaceted approach to supporting students,” said Kevin Shollenberger, the vice provost for student health and well-being at Johns Hopkins University. And many schools are finding ways to incorporate a broader culture of wellness into their policies, systems, and day-to-day campus life. They’re also better equipping faculty and staff to spot-and support-students in distress, and rethinking how to respond when a crisis occurs. Institutions across the country are embracing approaches such as group therapy, peer counseling, and telehealth. Stigma around mental health issues also continues to drop, leading more people to seek help instead of suffering in silence.īut college students today are also juggling a dizzying array of challenges, from coursework, relationships, and adjustment to campus life to economic strain, social injustice, mass violence, and various forms of loss related to Covid-19.Īs a result, school leaders are starting to think outside the box about how to help. Compared with past generations, more students on campus today have accessed mental health treatment before college, suggesting that higher education is now an option for a larger segment of society, said Micky Sharma, PsyD, who directs student life’s counseling and consultation service at The Ohio State University (OSU). Some of the reasons for that increase are positive. “, our counseling staff has almost tripled in size, but even if we continue hiring, I don’t think we could ever staff our way out of this challenge.” “Counseling centers have seen extraordinary increases in demand over the past decade,” said Michael Gerard Mason, PhD, associate dean of African American Affairs at the University of Virginia (UVA) and a longtime college counselor. In another national survey, almost three quarters of students reported moderate or severe psychological distress ( National College Health Assessment, American College Health Association, 2021).Įven before the pandemic, schools were facing a surge in demand for care that far outpaced capacity, and it has become increasingly clear that the traditional counseling center model is ill-equipped to solve the problem. K., et al., Journal of Affective Disorders, Vol. During the 2020–2021 school year, more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem, according to the Healthy Minds Study, which collects data from 373 campuses nationwide ( Lipson, S. ![]() By nearly every metric, student mental health is worsening.
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