Record numbers of college students are seeking help for such mental health conditions as anxiety and depression and schools are struggling to offer adequate help, according to a recent article on Time.com.
In fact, an American College Health Association (ACHA) survey of 63,0000 students at 92 schools found that 40 percent of students felt so depressed the prior year that it was “difficult for them to function” and 61 percent said they felt “overwhelming anxiety.”
What’s more, visits to on-campus counseling centers have increased by roughly 30 percent, between 2009 and 2015, according to a report by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH).
The average university has one professional counselor for every 1,737 students — that’s less than one therapist for every 1,000 to 1,500 students, according to Time.com. And while colleges across the country are stepping up to meet these growing demands, many college counselors remain overwhelmed and students continue to endure long waits for mental health treatment, notes Time.com.
So what’s the solution? Here’s a look at what a few universities are doing:
- UCLA began offering free mental health screenings to all incoming freshman.
- Virginia Tech University opened several satellite counseling clinics.
- Ohio State University launched a counseling mobile app, which allows students to make an appointment, access breathing exercises and contact the clinic in case of an emergency.
- Pennsylvania State University allocated roughly $700,000 in additional funding for counseling and psychological services in 2017.
Still, on average, universities haven’t been able to provide long-term treatment services like recurring appointments and specialized counseling, noted the ACHA survey. “That means that students will be able to get that first appointment when they’re in high distress, but they may not be able to get ongoing treatment after the fact,” Ben Locke, Penn State’s counseling director and head of the CCMH, told Time.com. “And that is a problem.”
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