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Time：第101次例會，2010年04月03日（週六）下午14:30~17:30
Place：
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewtopic.php?t=15
Agenda
14:30~15:40 Free Talk Session
15:40~16:10 Speaker Session
16:10~16:15 Change Group + Break
16:15~17:20 Topic Discussion
17:20~17:30 Happy Time
Host: Benjamin Yeh
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Topic Discussion: Counseling on Campus-Colleges respond as more students seek help for problems small or serious
Source: p40~p41, Advanced Studio classroom, March, 2010
Mental health counselors at La Salle University were feeling overwhelmed, their appointment books packed with students in need of help, seemingly more so than ever.
Counseling director Suzanne Boyll recently ran numbers and confirmed her suspicion. They are busier. The number of counseling sessions had spiked 48 percent to 204, up from 137 the same time last year, a jump not solely explained by the school’s record freshman enrollment.
“There are trauma-related problems, death of a family member, bad news about a class, other family stresses, boyfriend/girlfriend issues, conflict with a roommate,” said Boyll.
Counseling centers at many schools in the region and nationally note the same trend: more students seeking help for routine and severe problems.
Shedding the stigma
A report by Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health found that one in four students who showed up at a sampling of college counseling centers last fall had seriously considered suicide. One-third had previously taken psychiatric drugs.
The influx comes as advances in psychiatric drugs allow more students with serious mental problems to attend college.
Students also find less stigma in seeking help; they routinely see commercials for psychiatric drugs on TV and billboards, experts say.
“These kids want to be in therapy today,” said Ian Birky, counseling and psychological director at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “They’re growing up in a little bit of a different culture.”
Add to that the stresses of a bad economy, uncertain environmental conditions, and more “hyper parents” who haven’t allowed their children to develop their own coping skills, counselors say.
“If you have a parent who is so hyper-concerned that they “rescue” them, you don’t allow them the time that they need to sort of struggle,” said La Salle’s Boyll. “They’re really cheating their child out of their ability to learn to manage their own stress.”
Also contributing to the rise in demand is the better job that counseling centers are doing of advertising their services and making students feel welcome, no matter the severity of their problem.
“We say you don’t have to be sick to come,” said William Alexander, counseling and psychological director at the University of Pennsylvania.
Some schools have taken the unusual step of adding specific fees to help cover burgeoning costs. A year ago, Emory University in Atlanta tacked onto bills for all students a $50 fee for mental health and counseling. The reason wasn’t only to bring in more revenue for reduce the stigma, said Mark McLeod, director of student counseling for the 12,000-student school.
“Our board of trustees wanted to say … it’s OK to talk about this,” he said.
Importance of intervention
Some schools are creating committees with liaisons from academics, mental health, campus security and other areas to coordinate help for those with severe problems.
Mark Salzer, an associate professor in psychiatry at Penn, has found that some college counseling centers still don’t know what students with psychiatric disorders need to be successful.
“Pills and therapy are great things, but those aren’t the only … things,” he said. “They need contacts who will help them with academic accommodations, check to see if they’re going to class and doing homework, and encourage them to stay in treatment.”
Students getting involved
Alison Malmon at Penn started a nonprofit, Active Minds, to help reduce the stigma and increase discussion on campuses about students who need mental health help. There are more than 200 chapters at campuses nationwide.
“I looked at the lack of dialogue that was going on my campus,” said Malmon, 28. “Students need to be brought into it more. They are the ones who can make an impact with their friends.”
Questions for Discussion:
1. When you were a student, were you happy? Why?
2. What is the most important goal of education? Do we really make it in Taiwan?
3. Taiwanese kids’ (below 12 years old) science abilities are better than other countries’ kids, but our technology achievements are not as good as other countries. What is the main reason?
4. How can we improve our education? And how can we help it?
5. What educational parts are needed to be changed to fit the world in the future?
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