As students’ mental health has become a critical discussion topic at colleges and universities nationwide, UConn is reviewing and enhancing services across its campuses to best meet the needs of its diverse student body.
Earlier this month, UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas launched a Task Force on Mental Health and Wellness to collect information and present recommendations to him this fall.
In partnership with Undergraduate Student Government, the University this month also began an in-depth assessment of students’ attitudes, behaviors and awareness of mental health issues known as the Healthy Minds Study, which will be administered to a random sample of 12,000 students.
The Healthy Minds Study is part of a partnership with the JED Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes mental health, emotional health and suicide prevention programs among teens and young adults.
By becoming a “JED Campus,” UConn will use the Healthy Minds Study results to create a strategic plan to be implemented over the next three years. UConn is also adopting a public health approach to promoting emotional well-being, preventing suicide and understanding the impact of substance abuse, Katsouleas said in a message earlier this month to the UConn community.
The University also will host the well-regarded firm Keeling & Associates this spring to conduct an independent review of UConn’s mental health services and meet with students and other campus constituents.
“UConn recognizes that many of our students face significant mental health and wellness challenges. We are committed to doing all we can to support you,” Katsouleas said in his message.
To assist the Board of Trustees, Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Eleanor JB Daugherty has provided them with details outlining UConn’s programs and vision for mental health care. Trustees also expressed gratitude and admiration for students who had come to the board’s meeting Wednesday to share their experiences and the importance of the issue in their lives, too.
“It is worth noting that while UConn has increased resources annually towards mental health, the pain they express is sincere and specific to the challenges they face. We hear that pain and will always seek to reasonably meet and provide for those needs,” said Daugherty, who is co-chairing the Mental Health Task Force with Nina Heller, dean of the UConn School of Social Work.
Student Health and Wellness (SHaW) Mental Health has added six providers in recent years at UConn Storrs along with case managers at every regional campus, taking care to ensure the providers reflect UConn’s diversity and can offer help in Spanish and Mandarin in addition to English.
SHaW has also increased individual therapy appointments and created a care model to respond to students’ varying needs through services such as daily drop-in consultations, rapid access in crises, 24-hour on-call assistance, mindfulness workshops, group therapy and a range of other programs and services.
UConn’s commitment to students’ mental health has been a priority of Katsouleas, his predecessor Susan Herbst, the UConn Division of Student Affairs, and a range of other offices and departments throughout the University. More than $4 million in additional funding has been added to bolster its services in recent years.
UConn is also launching pilot expansion programs this spring and into the fall semester to extend the hours and ease of access to SHaW Mental Health services; increase access to 24/7 mental health interventions; and offer online appointment scheduling.
Nationwide, the demand for mental health services has risen dramatically among the college-aged population in recent years, with students’ overall use of those services increasing from 19 percent in 2007 to 34 percent in 2017, a recent study showed.
Students are also increasingly enrolling in college with pre-existing mental health conditions, while others may need help handling stress, anxiety and depression specifically tied to difficulties they are experiencing being away from home and under academic and other pressures.
Like other institutions, UConn has seen significant growth in recent years in the use of its mental health services. In the academic year 2018-19, SHaW Mental Health had more than 21,000 encounters with students, up from almost 16,500 in 2014-15.
For students of critical concern, UConn recently created an Office of Student Care and Concern to house the pre-existing Student Care team, which assesses students who might pose a risk to themselves or others. Like the overall demand for counseling, the work of that team has also grown.
UConn is also taking steps to ensure that student wellness is supported throughout the university, rather than being the sole domain of SHaW Mental Health.
For instance, it launched the Wellness Coalition with participation from more than 70 faculty, staff and students, Daugherty said. It also used outreach efforts to train more than 1,000 participants so far in suicide prevention, and at least 10,000 students have participated in outreach programs, including hosting the most highly attended Fresh Check Day of any college or university nationwide.
