Connecting Students to Mental Health Resources Juliana Cook Adrienne Ivey Meredith Marks Nhien Tran 1 min intro

Interview Participants Dr. Alejandro Martinez Senior Associate Director for Consultation and Liaison at CAPS Stanford Student Student who has utilized CAPS counseling for her depression Daniel Jackoway Live-in counselor at The Bridge Peer Counseling Center William & Mary Student Student who has used on campus mental health resources Dr. Alejandro Martinez - Senior Associate Director for Consultation and Liaison at CAPS - interviewed in his office on second floor of Vaden Anonymous Stanford Student - Stanford student who was with CAPS for 9 months before switching to an external therapist

Students using Mental Health Resources William & Mary student student who reached out to school’s counseling center at the recommendation of a friend when she was having breakdowns Stanford student Interviewed a Stanford student who suffers from depression and used CAPS over 3 quarters.

Students using Mental Health Resources Problems not “important enough” for therapy Felt guilty for “taking resources” Long (3+ week) wait time to schedule appointment Tedious process to set up appointment Poorly matched with therapist Students of minority backgrounds not supported well “Eventually you have to not be at Vaden anymore” not urgent/important enough doesn’t feel like she had a problem, felt like she could handle it waiting to talk to someone until feel “urgent”, don’t want to take resources away from other students or seem like a burden, don’t think that problem is important enough for therapy felt guilty, maybe other people need it more, maybe I don’t need it badly long wait time Stanford: 3+ weeks wait time to get appointment after initial phone screening W&M: process was slow, took quite a while (minimum 2-3 week wait for appointment) scheduled initial appointment, but counseling center was overwhelmed and didn’t call her back; when finally reached out last week of school, she decided to just not go; didn’t actually have an appointment until the next year inconvenient lot of dissatisfaction with appointment signup process not convenient to set up; must have phone call before scheduling appointment tons of steps to get an appointment; hard to find, navigation unclear, wait time between phone screen and actual appointment appointments at inconvenient times, during class not convenient location in relation to class work match with counselor needs more diversity (race, gender, background) Stanford: asked about preferences; asked for female psychologist and got male psychologist. asked to switch a few sessions later and was switched want counselor experienced with issue dealing with (ex. sexual assault) feel out of place when not able to connect to similar experiences minority background specific issues regarding student’s background ` experience talking over the phone is awkward :( referrals/other resources not long term resources intended for continuous therapy see therapist for a bit, then referred to other resources (meditation class) demographics of mental health some people exhibit behaviors with mental illness, but because they don’t fit a certain mold, or do, they don’t get diagnosed if you asian, likely to be diagnosed as family issues and not depression needs easier, more convenient way to schedule appointments to more quickly and frequently meet with a counselor more diverse services for more awareness on campus and to remove the stigma of mental health insights different types of people can have different mental health challenges due to the different types of trauma that people face (ie male vs female, black vs. hispanic, etc.) sometimes you just need to talk to someone and you don’t care how depending on the environment you’re from, you may or may not recognize mental illness. Those spaces/demographics need people to spread the word about mental illness so it becomes legitimized for people dealing with the issue.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) CAPS is the Counseling and Psychological Services portion of the Vaden Health Center; standard image of therapy provider, clinical setting with appointments scheduled in advance. spoke with CAPS member Alejandro Martinez:

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Lack of resources to meet demand “Significant increase in willingness to reach out” “When you need to be seen is when you need to be seen” Current system structured towards mental illness and crisis Catch-22 with helping students before issue is urgent CAPS noted that one of the main challenges facing CAPS was lack of resources to meet demand interestingly, it wasn’t that they needed to increase awareness of resources on campus - many people are already willing to reach out for help recognized that students are not okay with the current process (may have to wait weeks), in a fast-paced 10 week quarter, “when you need to be seen is when you need to be seen” - they are not necessarily always providing that current system structured for mental illness and crisis saving appointments for urgent mental health needs not well suited for students with “life problems”, stress, anxiety, relationship problems. system of phone screen and initial screening appointment is overkill for these students Interesting catch-22 CAPS faces - so much demand clinically, hard to get out into the campus community because it takes time away from appointments, but if you don’t get out into the community, more people will be coming to CAPS increasing the demand! brainstormed some solutions improve efficiency of CAPS internally (not everyone needs 1-3 sessions of evaluation) StressLess @ Stanford - informal, 20 minute meetings about stress (#1 impact), provide resources Counselor in Residence - meet students where they are at, in dorms, able to refer to proper resource noted catch-22: high demand for appts limits availability to reach out into the campus community, but without reaching out, more students will make appts

The Bridge The Bridge is a 24/7 peer counseling center walk in or call at anytime and speak to someone immediately. located in Rogers House, a homey building close to the center of campus. counselors waiting for you in cozy waiting room, very colorful and bright

The Bridge Peer Counseling Students serving students Enthusiasm for helping people Positive student perceptions Administration often forgets about The Bridge CAPS doesn’t refer people to The Bridge Disorganized system for resource referral students serving students talking with a peer about issues that you might both face enthusiasm real passion for helping students positive student perceptions trustworthy place; friends bringing their friends in need, even walking them over Stanford students <3 The Bridge! student staffers wearing t-shirts, stickers, RAs putting up signs on doors hold a Wellness Week in the community, and visits to freshman dorms to hold workshops The Bridge in emails containing campus resources send out after tragedy, “half the time The Bridge is left off” no strong connection between CAPS and The Bridge; hadn’t heard of people being recommended to come to The Bridge from CAPS Resources The Bridge is meant as one-time visits; often students would be well served by another on campus resource don’t know them all off the top of their heads have a spreadsheet containing ALL THE INFORMATION awkward to pull out laptop at the end of a session

Summary/Insights Easier way to set up appointments Decrease time between asking for and getting help Better connections to more diverse staff members Help students find the right resource for them we discovered many Students need easier, more convenient way to set up appointments simplify the process both online and over the phone to get students helped more quickly, in a way that fits their busy student schedules Decrease time between asking for and getting help wait time of three weeks is unacceptable to students, who often are reaching out only at the point when they really need help quickly Better connections to more diverse staff members working with a counselor who you feel comfortable with is incredibly important, and students need to have a diverse group of people and be able to choose to work with someone who meets their needs Help students find the right resource for them many many different resources on campus CAPS model doesn’t fit every problem develop new resources for different kinds of students, and make sure that students have information about them!