UMW seeking to increase mental health support

April 17--Nine years after the tragic shooting deaths of 32 people at Virginia Tech, public colleges still struggle to meet mental health needs on campus.

That's the conclusion of the latest report issued by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State. It says that more students are seeking counseling services, and more of those students are dealing with depression, anxiety and social anxiety.

The report also found that 20 percent of students using counseling centers take up more than half of all appointments. Colleges are struggling to keep up with demand.

The University of Mary Washington is no exception, according to counseling staff.

Tevya Zukor, director of the Talley Center for Counseling Services at UMW, was working in Virginia Tech's counseling center during the April 16, 2007 tragedy.

He said before the Virgina Tech shooting, campus counseling centers assumed things were going well if they didn't hear from students. That's no longer the case.

"We're more aware," he said.

Zukor said college age is when many serious mental health challenges emerge.

"Most who have a psychiatric break will do so between the ages of 18 and 22," he said.

More UMW students are seeking counseling, and Zukor said the rise in appointments is partly attributable to an increase in students coming to school diagnosed with mental illness.

"Improved psychotropic medication allows people who previously wouldn't go to college manage disorders," he said. "Their guidance counselors would have told them college wasn't possible but now they are able to come here and excel academically."

He also said the UMW center sees more crisis appointments now than a few years ago.

Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair oversees student services such as the counseling center and recently gave a presentation to the university's Board of Visitors about threat and violence prevention.

"Students need help with how to overcome obstacles in life," she said. "Parents have best intentions. They want to take care of everything and have their child's only preoccupation be excelling in school, but these students come in without many life skills."

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, the General Assembly passed a 2008 law requiring all public colleges to have two multidisciplinary committees on campus that assess violence prevention and threat assessment.

The UMW violence prevention team is made up of members from various departments. It meets regularly to develop threat management planning.

The threat assessment team also represents various departments, and meets to respond to specific threats and concerns. Under that group is a behavioral intervention team, which works with specific students who may be at risk of harming themselves or others.

During fall 2015, the intervention team had 84 meetings. It addressed eight attempted suicides, 19 suicide threats, five self-harm incidents, 33 cases of depression, 28 anxiety concerns, 19 hospitalizations, six alcohol related meetings, two drug related sessions, one anger issue and two eating concerns.

Counselors see more crises in fall, since many students are experiencing a campus environment for the first time. Landphair said spring semester is also structured better, with spring break offering a reprieve.

UMW has a ratio of one counselor to every 1,125 students. Ideally, there would be one per every 1,000, said Landphair. She said many schools, particularly public institutions, struggle with that benchmark.

She said campuses have been better able to recognize needs since 2009, when UMW's action teams were formed.

"A professor knows class issues, while residential staff know about other concerns and police know about infractions that happen outside of those spaces," she said. "While on their own, these instances might not raise concern, we are better able to trace patterns of behavior and connect the dots."

UMW Student Government Association President Hannah Tibbett said the student senate passed a motion last fall urging the university to have a full-time psychiatrist on campus. Currently, UMW has a psychiatrist on campus one day per week.

She said she has heard from multiple students who haven't been able to get an appointment.

After Landphair gave a presentation on the school's mental-health resources at the UMW Board of Visitors meeting in February, members Edd Houck, a former state senator, and Fred Rankin, the former CEO of Mary Washington Hospital, both said the lack of psychiatrists is an issue for the entire community, not just the university.

"The problem is systemic, going back many years," Houck said. "It's a big need, an unmet need. It's real."

Zukor said students at UMW receive a short-term treatment model. If students need additional help after a semester of counseling on campus, they are referred to therapists in community.

The school also offers group therapy, which he said is popular and helps reach a larger group of students.

While college counselors are more experienced in dealing with crises among this age group than general counselors, Zukor said finding them is difficult because they don't make as much money as general counselors.

"I choose this work because I love this population," he said. "I love helping people at this time."

Lindley Estes: 540.735-1976

lestes@freelancestar.com

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