University support services are vital in providing a healthy environment for university students. From student-based peer mentoring to professionally-led counselling, there are a range of services on offer for those looking for them within the college community. Suicide, however, remains the leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 18-24 and the demand for mental health services increasing year-to-year. Even physcologists from prescriptionpsychiatrists.com have seen a sharp increase in demand for mental health services. Two recent reports from Trinity’s Student Counselling Service have revealed that the service is oversubscribed and underfunded, with a 2015 external view stating: “it is unclear how, in the absence of increased resourcing and with cuts proposed to existing provision, the SCS can continue to sustain the current levels of service.” The question is, then: are we doing enough to offer or consider a free mental health consultation for those who need it?
The adequate provision of these services is a concern across the Atlantic, too. Ben Locke is the Clinical Director for Penn State’s Counselling Centre and is also the Executive Director of the Centre of Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a research institution based on the Penn State campus. The university’s counselling centre caters for over 46,000 students. They provide services ranging from individual and group counselling sessions to online workshops and group-specific clinics, such as sexual assault victims or veterans. Many people may already see a Lansing MI therapist, but some cannot access this service so having another option is very important. Locke, through the CCMH, has also been involved in one of the most extensive reports on student mental health ever undertaken. This year’s report looks at five year trends of over half a million students who used mental health services across universities in the US. The report shows a surge in the number of people seeking to use the services which are currently available. Mirroring the increased demand for the services in Ireland, the figures reveal an undoubtedly a worrying trend. Private clinics like https://joellerabowmaletis.com/ are of course an option, however, not all students can afford their services. And whilst community outreach programmes do provide valuable assistance to an over-burdened system, we are now at a critical juncture where the demand is far greater than the supply and it is having mortal consequences.
“One of the things that really stood out is that the demand for mental health services is growing at something like five to seven times the rate of institutional enrolment,” explains Locke, speaking to The University Times. “In other words, the average level of institutional enrolment is growing at about five and a half per cent. The average rate of growth and demand for mental health services has grown at 30-40 per cent. Nationally within the US, counselling centres are coping with this very large and rapid growth and demand which is having an impact on what kind of services are able to be provided.”
The demand for mental health services is growing at something like five to seven times the rate of institutional enrolment
In Penn State, the majority of the funding for mental health services comes from the university, yet Locke says that this isn’t the only way of securing funding. “There are different models of funding across the US,” he explains. “Some models are funded directly through tuition dollars. Some services are funded through a dedicated fee like a mental health fee that students pay as part of the university and some service bases, so you would actually pay for or use insurance for the services you receive. It’s quite varied from one institution to another.”
According to Locke, governmental involvement in this sector has been strong in some areas but lacking in others. Over the past ten years it has been the policy of the federal government to pump money into prevention. This involves identifying students who are at risk and then referring them on for treatment. Locke agrees that this has been incredibly effective but “has produced a problem”. Despite this money going toward helping students, there has been a failure to continue to increase the availability of services to cope with the demand. Locke believes that “we need to increase the availability of services if the universities say that this is a priority. The next thing that is really starting to happen in the US is that institutions of higher education are re-evaluating their approach to mental health services and in some ways their definition of what services they’re providing”.
The work being done by Locke and the CCMH is currently unparalleled. The extent of their research and the type of services they are able to offer largely reflect the range of students they are catering for. In Ireland and the UK, due to the scale of students being served, the support set-up is very different.
Student Minds is the leading UK mental health charity for students. Speaking to The University Times Anoushka Bronwick, the charity’s Projects and Relationships Officer, explains that their aim is “to give students the knowledge and confidence to look after their own mental health and to support others with their mental health as well”. Looking at universities in the UK, Bronwick admits that “there’s always been challenges with universities being able to offer some sort of 24- hour support, mainly because it has usually been the role of the NHS and there just isn’t the funding there for universities to be able to offer 24-hour support”. Despite this, she believes that the organisations which have sprung up to fill these gaps, such as Niteline (a phone service which offers students someone to talk to between 9pm and 2:30 am), are very important. Bronwick believes it is preferable to have “a range of these services rather than a service that does everything”.
Since the charity was set up in 2009, they have seen an increase at both governmental level and university level in the interest to improve the services accessible to students. While the Irish government are adding further cuts to an already diminished budget for mental health, the UK have taken some positive steps by introducing the first ever MP for Mental Health. This is a move which is broadly welcomed by Student Minds and other institutions within in the UK.
“Obviously there are cuts that are being made within the universities and there are cuts that are being made in the NHS which are tricky and inevitably have an impact,” Bronwick says. “At the same time, there’s also for the first time an MP who is dedicated solely to mental health. There’s definitely ways that the government are tackling mental health but there’s definitely ways that it is presenting challenges.”
There’s also for the first time an MP who is dedicated solely to mental health. There’s definitely ways that the government are tackling mental health but there’s definitely ways that it is presenting challenges
Student Minds focuses on providing peer support systems to universities. “We’re approached by universities,” explains Bronwick. “The reason for that is that it’s really important that groups are set up to compliment the services that are already running on campuses rather than us assuming that peer support is everything that a university needs because that is not always the case.”
After being approached by universities, Student Minds guides students on how to lead their own peer mentoring groups. The charity provides training around issues such as the student mental health landscape, the role of a facilitator, making a safe space for students to talk, confidentiality policies and how to work to maintain boundaries.
“I think the universities are starting to recognise the value of peer support and these sorts of intervention,’ Bronwick says, “and I think in the face of facing lots of cuts they’re finding that peer support can be a valuable addition, not in place of, but a valuable to addition to students who are on waiting lists.”
This is in stark contrast to the system currently being run in the US. While Locke admits that student-led peer mentoring does exist, many of the colleges are now focusing on the professional side of counselling. “That was more typical of services in the maybe 70s through to the early 90s where student groups would provide these kinds of services,” says Locke. “It is a good learning experience for students who want to play that role, but when you don’t have training in mental health you can actually get into hot water pretty quickly.”
Bronwick, on the other hand, sees peer mentoring as an important addition to the support services already provided by colleges saying she believes that “universities are taking peer support and understanding it as a preventative measure to run alongside with their other services which is good”.
One service in the US who is providing a peer mentoring style facility is the Jordan Porco Foundation. This foundation was set up by the parents of Jordan Porco who, while a freshman in college, died by suicide. Their aim is to challenge the stigma around mental health and to start a conversation about mental health issues affecting students. Speaking to The University Times Rachel Papke, Communications Coordinator for the foundation, says that they hope to “change how we advertise these services so students know how to reach out to them”.
To do this they run events such as Fresh Check Day and Nine Out of Ten. Fresh Check Day involves the foundation setting up on campus grounds providing stalls with information about mental health but also more light-hearted things like food and prizes. Papke says the reasoning behind Fresh Check Day is that “as a student, you’re more likely to go to a fun event with free food to learn about your mental health and connect you to those resources on your campus than just walking into a counselling centre”.
It is a good learning experience for students who want to play that role, but when you don’t have training in mental health you can actually get into hot water pretty quickly
Nine Out of Ten is a website and program which aims to educate students on how to recognise signs of depression in peers and how to help that person access treatment. The name Nine Out of Ten comes from the statistic that one in every ten college students contemplates attemptinging suicide during their time in higher education. The program aims to encourage students to be one of the other nine and help their peers who are struggling. Students are encouraged to learn the facts and then sign a pledge to help those in need.
While appreciative of the work being done, Papke believes “there could be a much louder voice” for students out there. She’s also quick to point out the role that social media plays in exacerbating the problems experienced by many young people: “Social media is a problem we don’t appreciate enough I think. There is a lot of room for irresponsibility.”
Social media was also identified by Locke as being a strong factor in contributing towards the pressure felt by students. “You’ve probably heard lots of stories of people in the world who have almost nothing and are almost as happy,’ Locke explains, “and part of the reason they’re happy is that they’re not constantly being exposed to what everyone else has and what everyone else wants to think that they have.” He believes the dynamic created by this constant exposure to other people’s best sides has resulted in an unhealthy obsession with comparing oneself to others.
It seems that the effort to normalise mental health and address it in students is gathering force in both the US and the UK, but what about support services within Ireland? According to the National strategy for action on suicide prevention 2005–2014 conducted by the Health Service Executive, as a country, we have the fourth highest suicide rate in the European Union. It’s estimated that at least one in every five students will experience some sort of mental health difficulty throughout their time in college.
Last month, it was announced by the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, that €12 million was to be re-allocated from the mental health budget to other areas of the HSE, a move met with anger from students and activists. This money would have been used to introduce over 1,500 new professionals into the sector to help deal with the overwhelming amount of people looking to use these services. This announcement means that university support services are going to become increasingly important to students.
One such service is Niteline. It is a student-run welfare service which operates between 9pm and 2:30am every day of term. The aim of Niteline is to provide support to students at times when they might feel particularly vulnerable yet don’t have access to traditional support services. As an organisation, Niteline operates under a strict policy of complete anonymity. Callers are encouraged not to reveal any identifying factors about themselves while the person answering the phone doesn’t reveal their identity either.
Speaking to The University Times, the Niteline Publicity Officer, whose identity remained concealed due to the organisation’s strict anonymity policy, explained that the point of the service is to give students the opportunity to talk to someone without feeling like they’re going to be told what to do: “We don’t want to tell callers what to do. We feel it’s wrong on our part to tell them what to do because we only get a snapshot of their life at that point. So we’re there just to listen.”
The service currently operates in five universities in Ireland, including Trinity, and is also present in several UK universities. The phones are manned by student volunteers from each university while funding from the service is allocated by the respective students’ unions. Volunteers are given 30 hours of active listening training which focuses on the four main pillars of service. “Niteline has really strong pillars on anonymity, confidentiality, non-judgmental and non-directive,” explains the Publicity Officer. “So our training basically goes through focusing on those four pillars to start with because it can be quite striking to tell someone that you can’t tell them what to do.”
We feel it’s wrong on our part to tell them what to do because we only get a snapshot of their life at that point. So we’re there just to listen
Once you call the service and hear the words “Hello, Niteline” the call is completely in the control of the student. Due to their anonymity policy, Niteline doesn’t release call statistics, yet their Publicity Officer insists that the volume of calls is steady throughout the year and doesn’t tend to increase at times of stress such as exams, saying that it’s “really varied”. Niteline’s unique selling point is the complete anonymity that is retained at all times. They refuse to release even a location they work out of or the amount of students who volunteer with their service. Explaining the reasoning behind this, the Publicity Officer took it from a very personal standpoint.
“I’d say, from my own experience in college, there have been times when I wouldn’t want to talk to my friends because there’s the whole factor of being judged or even not that sometimes you just don’t want others to know.” They commend anyone who reaches out for help, saying it is “the toughest thing to do”.
The availability of organisations like this ensures that students do have options within the stressful environment of university. It’s clear from looking at the models in the UK and US, however, that there is a long way to go and a lot of work still to be achieved. Each organisation remains optimistic though. “You know, things don’t change overnight,” says Papke, “so we just have to keep going and keep charging forward and finding other people who share in our view and keep the momentum going strong.”
