With the depressing number of tragedies the University has experienced in the last year, mental health awareness has become a leading issue for the administration. Every email and address University President Teresa Sullivan sent out about recent suicides has included information for how to use the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). There were free mental health screenings earlier in the semester and a mental health awareness week. The message from the administration has been clear: we want you to get help if you need it.
Yet, the way the current mental health system is set up discourages many people from seeking help. The previous managing board wrote a great article about why forcing medical leave, due to problems like depression, causes undue burdens on students. CAPS has the problem of confidentiality. Many people go to talk to mental health professionals because they don’t want their friends to know about their problems. This is something psychologists understand and, as a result, they try to keep their conversations as private as possible. However, as health professionals they have unavoidable legal obligations. On its website, CAPS states that there is a substantial list of problems it is obligated to share with relevant people: if a student is acutely suicidal, suspected of child abuse or neglect or unable to take care of him- or herself. This means that these issues get put onto a person’s medical record, which can be looked at when getting a government job. Whether these are issues that need to be made public is a moot point. Students need a place they are comfortable going for mental health advice, even if the people students go to do not have the authority to hospitalize them. Having someone for these students to talk to is better than them talking to no one at all.
There is an alternative to CAPS: Peer Health Educators (PHEs). These are students who apply and train to advise other students on health topics that affect people in college. PHEs are a great resource when it comes to general mental health questions. In addition, many people feel much more comfortable talking to a fellow student rather than a professional psychologist. However, they are not trained to handle more complex and dangerous problems like the psychologists at CAPS. PHEs are also instructed to provide confidential education sessions, though the extent of the confidentiality is unclear.
The solution to the lack of training of the PHEs and the lack of confidentiality of CAPS is simple: anonymous mental health advising. These meetings could be on a one-time basis to let students talk through their problems and figure out possible solutions before approaching CAPS. Health professionals could hear students’ problems with no way to report who they were to any sort of medical record. Confidentiality and qualifications would no longer be an issue. The main problem for this sort of program would be liability. I believe that making it clear that the program is not a replacement for a meeting with CAPS and is only there to provide an outlet for those people who really need it should be enough. It’s impossible to wholly ensure no liability problems for any program involving mental health. However, I believe that presented in the right way anonymous mental health advising could be an overall positive program for the University.
Anonymous mental health advisors could provide people exactly what students need. Students who want someone to talk to don’t have to fear possibly getting hospitalized. Importantly, having this option does not invalidate using other mental health services. PHEs and CAPS are still available for anyone to use, and an anonymous health advisor can suggest for a person to talk to one of those organizations. This program would reach people who fall between the cracks of the University’s mental health system.
There are many obstacles people with mental health problems face. Recognizing you have some sort of problem is just the first step in what could be a long process. Many feel they lack control over what is happening to them. Given how CAPS operates, they have even less control if they decide to be treated. Asking people to freely give themselves up to another person’s opinion is too much to expect of most people. Anonymous mental health advisors would ease that process; students would not have to blindly relinquish their control. The University needs change in how mental health is addressed and I believe this would be a solid first step.
Bobby Doyle is a Viewpoint writer.
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