November 2006 | UC Notes Home

UC Committee Reports on Student Mental Health

Close Up: Campuses Use Internet to Promote Wellness

Soon after they arrive at UC Santa Barbara, new students receive an electronic newsletter that includes not only campus news and information, but also strong encouragement to e-mail back if they're having any problems at all with campus life. And the students do, said Britt Andreatta, UCSB's director of first-year programs and leadership education. The newsletter is her brainchild, and one way her campus has responded to rising concerns about student mental health (see story above).

The students' requests range from the simple — how to find their classes and how to be more involved in campus life — to the serious.

"I know for a fact that we have intervened in at least three potential suicides over the last two years," Andreatta said. In one five-month period, her office received hundreds of e-mails from students, dozens of which turned into appointments to get more help.

Andreatta's experience supports the idea that, compared to previous generations, students today expect a different kind of service and connection to the university.

As campuses stretch resources to meet the increasing need for student mental health services, they are turning to the Internet as a useful tool, especially for first contact. UC Santa Barbara's e-newsletter is a particularly direct way one campus is using the Web; it's one of many services of the campus's Student Mentor Team, Andreatta said — it's supported by staff who respond to the communication the newsletter generates. All campus websites provide help ranging from emergency numbers and information on counseling services to links for screening tools and self-assessments.

Brad Compliment, director of the UC Riverside Counseling Center, said Web-based self-assessment has been successful at his campus. "Many students come into the counseling center and say, ‘I went online and did a self-assessment, and realized I should come in.'"

University of California students are experiencing different and more complex mental health concerns than those faced by previous generations, the UC Student Mental Health Committee reported to the Regents in September. The greater demand for college mental health services reflects national trends, the report noted, adding that UC campuses lack the resources to fully meet that demand.

The committee recommended a three-tiered plan to address the situation, calling for restoring critical services, implementing targeted interventions and taking a comprehensive institutional approach to creating healthier learning environments.

"I think it's great that UC has put the resources and effort into putting a committee together to really look at the issue of student mental health," said Jeffrey P. Prince, director of UC Berkeley's Counseling and Psychological Services. "It's been a concern at the campuses for a number of years and hasn't really received the attention it deserves."

The committee began its work in December 2005 when UC Provost and Executive Vice President Rory Hume charged it with examining trends in student mental health, both nationally and at the University.

It found that the issues familiar to generations of students — homesickness, achievement anxieties and adjustments to new independence — still exist. But added to these are more serious issues that include eating disorders, substance abuse and the risk of suicide.

Nearly half of all college students nationally report feeling so depressed at some point that they have trouble functioning, and visits to campus mental health centers have increased dramatically, including at UC campuses.

Treatment and counseling have made it possible for more young people to go to college now who might not have been able to manage before. But they bring with them a much different set of needs and expectations for services, as well as different risk factors. Roughly one in four students who seek counseling services at UC are taking psychotropic drugs for mental health disorders. Some, in this new environment, decide to stop their medications.

The committee noted that UC campuses have already addressed many problems with a range of responses from crisis management teams to campus-wide collaborations and student wellness campaigns (see sidebar below). But measures to pay for some of these remedies — including user fees, referenda (student self-imposed taxes) and reallocation of money from other student services — are still not enough to meet the increased demand.

Highlights of the mental health committee's three-tiered plan include:

Tier 1: Restore critical health services by increasing the number of psychologists and psychiatrists to the national standard for student/staff ratio of one for every 1,000 to 1,500 students — the ratios at UC campuses vary from one per 1,429 at UC Santa Cruz to one per 2,320 at Irvine. This tier also calls for increasing staff to provide disability services, forming or enhancing campus crisis response teams and raising the salaries of mental health professionals to competitive levels.

Tier 2: Enact a comprehensive prevention program for more vulnerable students, which would include training for those who work closely with students: undergraduate and graduate advisers, student affairs staff, faculty and others. This tier's recommendations include taking advantage of the Internet to develop Web-based mental health services and hotlines.

Tier 3: Adopt a comprehensive approach to creating healthier learning communities on UC campuses. Recommendations suggest prevention programs to raise awareness about early intervention and treatment, reduce stress and teach students how to create and maintain healthy, balanced lifestyles.

See the UC Student Mental Health Committee's complete report in the PDF format.

also in this issue:

UCLA Adopts Holistic Review of Freshman Applications
Course Update Cycle Will Begin in January
Transfer Prep Paths
UC Committee Reports on Student Mental Health
UC Adopts New Policy for Accepting Online Instruction
A Question Of Strategy: The Personal Statement
CASID Statewide Student ID Requested in 2007–08 Application
Counselors Conference Materials Available
Corrections