<p>I notice an overwhelming number of students here at CC are trying to decide which college to choose and they're considering a combination of financial and academics / prestige. Here's another consideration: the services the college provides. Not religious services, but psychological services.</p>
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While it is true there are more college students in need of counseling services, Koplewicz says it's because more students with diagnosed psychiatric disorders are going to college. In the past, those students either wouldn't have gone to college or would have left shortly after they arrived. Now, with treatment and medication, those students see college as an entitlement. They head off to college, diagnosis and prescription bottles in hand.</p>
<p>As such, Koplewicz said students making college choices this month should factor in the quality of the mental health services at the schools they are considering.
<p>I say this as someone who went off to college with a diagnosed mental illness, medication in hand, and who is an activist for the destigmatization of mental illness: Students and their families need to be responsible for looking after their own health. Residential colleges should have services in place to support students who seek help or who develop problems while at school. But the school’s responsibility to provide psychiatric care for students with serious mental illness is no greater than its responsibility to provide oncology care for students with cancer. (Where is the “Get Your Suspicious Moles Checked Out” booth next to the mental illness screening booth?)</p>
<p>If I had cancer and decided to go away to college in the middle of treatment, I’d be researching local providers, building a treatment plan with my hometown and college-town doctors, etc. I would expect the school to accommodate my treatment (and for the school’s health insurance to cover it), but I would not expect them to be responsible for it. This is exactly how I handled my psychiatric treatment.</p>
<p>Going away to a residential college when you are not ready to be a functioning member of the community for any reason is a disservice to everyone involved, especially your dorm-mates. Get the problem under control at home. If that means delaying college for a few years, or taking a long break in the middle, that’s OK. It didn’t hold me back in the long run.</p>
<p>You will get no argument from me about destigmatizing (is this a word or can I just not spell it?) mental illness, but I don’t know what you mean about the school accommodating your treatment, let alone paying for it (although I don’t think most school’s insurance is so comprehensive, especially when it comes to outside providers. You’d probably be better off to stick with your parent’s insurance if they’ve got it. But that’s a whole 'nother can of worms.)</p>
<p>My question is only concerning a student’s capabilities of doing the work amid “treatment.” I just dont know what kind of accommodations are called for if the student is in a state that leaves him unable to do the work at the level required. Insight here? It just seems to me that meeting with a therapist, maybe a psychopharmacologist etc that falls outside of a specific learning disability shouldn’t require additional accommodations. Perhaps I am missing something, but I don’t know of too many jobs that wouldn’t require you take a medical leave of absence.</p>
<p>However, if a student were enrolling in school with the knowledge they needed certain services, I too would be looking at the school’s resources, as well as those within the community. When we looked at school’s for son, I have to admit that even though it is “deemed” in the middle of nowhere, it did give me a certain peace of mind to know there was a regional hospital a stone’s throw away in case he was either really sick or injured in some way. But truth be told, I know absolutely nothing about their mental health options beyond there is something for sue. Again, however, had it been any kind of concern, it would have just been due diligence to look into it. </p>
<p>Whether or not you think it’s wrong or fair, a kid has four years (in theory) to complete a degree. I don’t think knowingly putting a kid into a situation where he is constantly fighting the system in place etc would be the healthiest option.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what you mean about the school accommodating your treatment”</p>
<p>For example, allowing the student to reschedule tests if necessary to fit in travel to her doctor for therapy sessions, or perhaps allowing a single room or other private space if she frequently needed to have confidential telephone conversations with her home-town care provider. If a student had a history of suicidality, perhaps a ground-floor room. The accommodations should parallel those that would be provided to a student with a physical disability, like a wheelchair-accessible dorm room, or an excuse from Friday classes because that’s when the chemo sessions are.</p>
<p>If the student is actually unable to do the work, then there’s no way to “accommodate” them, and they need to take time off.</p>
<p>Hanna -
It’s not a parallel situation. The accommodations you mention are a lot easier to recognize and/or quantify for a person with a physical illness. Mental illness accommodations are going to be a more slippery - a ground floor room won’t prevent a suicide from the rooftop, for example. And a single room, while desirable for many reasons, takes away a pair of eyes and ears that may help in monitoring/reporting a student in a downward mental spiral. Another problem is the late onset of mental difficulties - some typically manifest themselves in the college years, not before; others could be exacerbated by stress or living away from home. Now you are talking about crisis-based accommodations, and that is going to depend on many unpredictable factors.</p>
<p>I think accommodations have to be done on a case-by-case basis, and that takes commitment from the college regarding staff time, money and space. Measuring that before registering at a school is a challenging task, and could be impossible given the limitations on staff about discussing individual cases.</p>
<p>These are just examples of what the accommodations might be. We’re talking about the sub-group of students who arrive at school already having been diagnosed. Schools should be flexible when deciding what is a reasonable accommodation for this group. The right accommodation is not always so obvious with physical ailments, either…if the student has asthma, do they need a dorm with an elevator, or is a second-floor walk-up ok?</p>
<p>Of course there are lots of risks for suicide, but I would never suggest an 18th-floor room with a balcony for someone currently in treatment for a mood disorder. Accommodations are there to make the student’s life a little easier, not to eliminate all risk.</p>