Student Work

Demand for mental health services outpace University of Missouri’s resources

By |

In the aftermath of the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, which left 33 people dead and 25 others wounded, Missouri’s Department of Homeland Security compiled a list of recommendations for universities to follow in order to decrease the likelihood of a similar attack occurring on a Missouri college campus.

Among the most important recommendations were calls for a higher percentage of counselors per student and for mental health counseling to be provided for students 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Student Work

Gaps persist in campus mental health services

By |

A decade ago, Thomas Murphy was a college dropout who used alcohol and drugs to deal with undiagnosed depression. Now he’s back at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he co-leads a chapter of Active Minds, a national, student-run group promoting open conversations about mental illness. Therapy made the difference for Murphy. But he can’t receive it at school. When he re-enrolled at UW-Madison and went to the counseling center, he walked out with no appointment and a list of referrals.

Student Work

University campus struggles to meet growing demand for mental health services

By |

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is seeing more demand for mental health services but is struggling to meet that demand.

More of the university’s students are on psychiatric medication and more students are diagnosed with severe issues such as depression and anxiety than in years past.

Student Work

Student finds support in campus counseling center

By |

Ball State University senior Krystel Brattain has been dealing with depression and bipolar disorder since she was in sixth grade. Eight years after her initial diagnosis, during her sophomore year of college, Brattain said she noticed her depression worsening. “I felt very tired, very sad,” she said. “I would cry randomly without any real triggers. I felt very alone.”

Those feelings led her to seek help at the Ball State Counseling Center.

Student Work

Lack of mental health care providers, information overshadow growing student need

By |

With mental health needs rising on college campuses across America, some of Indiana’s public universities are struggling to deal with student demands for counseling services, a three-month review of the state’s institutions of higher learning has found.