Mental health valued, taken seriously on UND campus

Grand Forks Herald (ND) - 12/25/2014

Dec. 25--Michelle Eslinger-Schneider, UND's Director of Student Health, said the mental health services offered at college campuses have changed a lot in recent years.

"Twenty years ago when we were in undergrad you would have never made it through because a support system wasn't built in," she said.

Eslinger-Schneider, who has served as director since 2008, said mental health services have become a safety net for students that interlock with other student services on campus.

"The country is going this way because it's more comprehensive care," she said.

According to the 2012 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment, students reported that in the year prior to being surveyed, 12.4 percent of student respondents at UND were diagnosed with anxiety and 11.2 percent were diagnosed with depression. Another 7.6 percent were diagnosed with a combination of both, while 4.5 percent were diagnosed with insomnia and 4.2 percent with panic attacks. All of the diagnoses were increases from the last time the survey was taken in 2010.

This echoes national trends as reported by the 2011 National Alliance on Mental Illness survey of college students and the 2013 Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors survey, which gathers data from counseling center directors rather than students. Both reported depression and anxiety as some of the most commonly dealt with mental health issues for students.

Kenneth Carlson, the director of the University Counseling Center, said college can be incredibly difficult for those with mental illnesses.

"It's highly variable," he said in early December. "But, needless to say, there's an element of built in pressure cooker times and, well, we're in it right now. Finals are coming up and people are trying to get plans for travel so there's a considerable degree of stress."

Meeting a need

UND offers mental health help through several entities on campus, including the Counseling Center, Student Health Services and the Northern Lights counseling center.

Erin Martin, a predoctoral intern with the UCC, works with students to help them cope with mental health problems. She said most students don't realize their physical and mental health go hand in hand.

"It's just sort of assumed that that's part of the deal and that stress goes along with it," she said. "We need to consider location ... a lot of the culture up here is being stoic and not reaching out for things."

But Eslinger-Schneider and Nursing Supervisor Rosy Dub both said in their experience at student health, more and more students are willing to come forward and ask for help because some of the stigma has gone away in recent years.

The clinic saw 254 visitors for mental health issues from July to November and about 20 percent of those patients were newly diagnosed.

"In the last few years, progress has been made to respect mental health and people are probably a little bit more open to acknowledging they may have mental health issues and seeking help for them," Dub said.

Last year alone, the center received 351 phone calls regarding mental health issues, Eslinger-Schneider said.

Thinking ahead

Of those who visited for mental health reasons, 35 percent used the center's telemental health service, which allows students to video chat online with a psychiatrist the school has a contract with through Altru Health Systems.

The telemedicine service, where students come to the clinic and use secure computers to receive treatment, is the only one offered in the state.

UND also offers students the option of signing up to live on a floor where all occupants commit to living active healthy lifestyles, which Eslinger-Schneider said is often a great way to find support as a student with mental health needs.

Eslinger-Schneider and Dub both said the university has made more of an effort in recent years to assist those with mental health issues, which is also in line with national trends.

Moving forward, officials will start collecting GPA data from students who use their services so they can better assess their success.

"We're here to help them be successful personally and academically," Dub said. "Our goal is to get them the tools they need or whatever to make them successful students and successful in life."

Series on mental health issues:

-- More people with mental illnesses are seeking treatment, speaking out

-- Mental health advocates say Minnesota is moving in the right direction

-- Lawmakers eye additional funding for behavioral health in North Dakota

-- Stigma around mental illness has shifted, but still exists

-- Access to treatment major challenge to meeting rural mental health needs

-- For students with mental health issues, schools offer some services, referrals to other organizations

-- Mental health valued on UND campus

-- Officials seek solutions to 'revolving door' for mentally ill defendants

-- VA officials fight mental health epidemic among veterans

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