MSU expands student counseling to prevent suicide

This is a stressful time of year for most Montana State University students, facing finals and holiday trips home.

To help a growing number of students who are really struggling emotionally or mentally, MSU has been expanding services at its student counseling center.

“We’ve set a record every year,” said Betsy Asserson, a licensed psychologist and interim director of MSU’s Counseling and Psychological Services.

The center served 1,300 students last year. This fall, the number of student clients as of October had grown by 18 percent, Asserson said.

And the number of students in crisis – at risk of hurting themselves or others or needing to see a counselor that same day – was up 22 percent. The demand for services is growing faster than the university’s overall student population, and that’s in line with national trends, Asserson said.

MSU counselors are seeing an increase in students with suicidal thinking and non-suicidal self-injury.

Faced with last year’s unprecedented demand, university leaders agreed to invest $400,000 to create the equivalent of five new full-time counseling positions, said MSU spokesman Tracy Ellig.

This fall, the center was able to increase its staff of nine counselors by hiring five to seven more counselors on a temporary basis. Next year the center should have 15 permanent senior counseling staff members.

“The university really made it a priority to support mental health,” Asserson said.

As a result, the waiting list to see a counselor has been cut from 12 days last year to five days.

“We feel we’re really busy,” Asserson said. “The additional staff has helped tremendously.… We feel relieved we’re able to handle these needs in a more timely way.”

There are lots of theories why more students are turning to counselors, she said. One possibility talked about nationally is that today’s students may be less resilient and prepared to cope with setbacks.

MSU’s counseling center is also doing more to find troubled students. It has opened two satellite offices in the South Hedges dorm, to be where students are.

The new offices also help ease crowding in the main counseling center. Located on the east side of the Strand Union Building, next to the Student Health Center on the second floor, the counseling center has just 14 offices for a staff of 27.

The center is now open three evenings a week (Tuesday through Thursday), rather than just two, especially for students who are working and raising families while attending classes.

Asserson said she has been surprised by the high number of students thinking about suicide. On one random Tuesday in October, 72 students made appointments and of those, 10 required suicide intervention.

The most common problems student clients are dealing with are depression, anxiety, drug or alcohol use, trauma and adjustment issues.

The good news, she said, is that in questionnaires student clients report that after sessions with counselors, “they’re getting better.”

Counseling helps students stay in college. At MSU, 97 percent of counseling center clients finished the school year. Asserson said the National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 64 percent of students who drop out of college do so because of mental illness.

Counseling is free for any MSU student taking at least six credits. The average number of visits with a counselor is five.

The state of Montana has one of the nation’s highest suicide rates and lowest mental health treatment rates. For many students, college is their first chance to seek therapy confidentially, without any stigma and without their parents knowing about it.

The counseling center has been promoting the Kognito online training system this year to educate faculty and staff members on how to recognize students who are struggling and may be suicidal. It offers ideas about how to approach a student whose writing may be disturbing or who has stopped coming to class.

“Faculty and staff really want the tools,” Asserson said. “They really care about their students.”

The Montana Board of Regents in 2015 created a statewide Suicide Prevention and Student Mental Health Task Force to recommend improvements, and Asserson was one of the task force chairs.

The task force looked into early intervention and screening, training faculty and other “gatekeepers,” and reducing access to lethal means, such as by safe storage of firearms. The task force organized the University System’s first Suicide Prevention Summit last February, attended by 300 people.

Statewide campuses have seen a 16 percent increase in students using mental health services in the last five years, according to the task force report. Montana campuses have one counselor for every 1,800 students, which is below the national standard of one per 1,000 to 1,500 students. The task force recommended better staffing and widespread training to prevent suicide.

MSU President Waded Cruzado, at last month’s University Council meeting, thanked the counseling center staff for doing “an incredible job.” Their work, she said, “makes a difference” in students’ lives.

Students can call the counseling center at 994-4531. Anyone can call the Bozeman Helpline, 586-3333, or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255.

Dr. Betsy Asserson, Interim Director of MSU Counseling and Psychological Services, says there was an 18 percent increase in the number of clients who visited their offices in October compared to the same period last year.

Rachel Leathe/Chronicle

Dr. Betsy Asserson, Interim Director of MSU Counseling and Psychological Services, says there was an 18 percent increase in the number of clients who visited their offices in October compared to the same period last year.

Rachel Leathe/Chronicle