I’ve been posting for a while (6-7 years, maybe?) and I’ve seen a lot of posts about college students and MI and services for mental health provided from campus health services. I get it, young adulthood is the time when MIs manifest. One of my own has an MI which manifested in college, and not the the typical depression/anxiety that is so often the case. I am not unsympathetic, and yet, I can’t help but think, as I read posts here, that we are expecting an awful lot from an institution that is not primarily a health care provider.
One kid has asthma. No way would I send her off to school and expect campus health to be able to handle all her needs. The other, whose ever-evolving diagnosis is now leaning heavily towards Crohn’s, same story. Like the MI, these conditions can flare up. They’re fine until all of a sudden they’re not. Didn’t expect an allergist or a GI on staff or even with regular contracted days at the health center who would order tests, adjust meds, etc. And I’d argue that at least the asthma is as common as MIs. I don’t think most people would expect these specialists on campus. And yet we seem to have different expectations for psychiatric care–psychiatrists available and therapists to provide ongoing treatment.
I am curious about 2 things. 1. Is my perception wrong? and 2. If it isn’t, why do we think an educational institution should be providing this particular medical specialty and not others?
If your child has asthma or diabetes or anxiety, they are presumably under a doctors care. During college they should continue see a doctor. Would not expect health services or Counseling center to take care of them.
But if all of a sudden your child had abdominal pain or feels like nothing matters, on campus health/mental health center is a place to start. If they can help, they will. If not, they will refer the student to community health situations.
When I was in college, the campus health service had everything from mental health services to Xrays to minor surgical procedures; even an infirmary for overnight stays. If I needed a prescription, I had it in my hand when I left.
I didn’t realize how unusual that was until my own kid started thinking about college.
College counseling centers for the most part are not equipped to treat major mental illnesses, but they should be able to screen for them if a student gets sick while at college and refer them to appropriate community services if available. If you are sending your student to college with an already diagnosed medical condition, mental or physical, then any ongoing treatment needs and availability should be part of the college selection equation. Depending on a student’s needs and how well their condition is managed, some probably shouldn’t venture too far from home. That plane ride between home and school doesn’t make the condition that isn’t managed well go away, and the conditions of college life (stress, sleep deprivation, poor diet, partying) often cause conditions of all types to flare. College health services are designed to treat typical run of the mill young adult issues and handle emergencies through triage and referral. If you expect more as a parent or student you will be frustrated.
My kid’s colleges offered some mental health services and screening for serious problems. But they limited the number of visits, and understandablely so. They offered referrals to local providers not directly affiliated with the college for students who needed more services than they provided. It seemed reasonable to me.
Many—but not all—schools limit the number of mental health visits per semester. Often they don’t guarantee that you can even see the same therapist each visit. This is definitely a question that needs to be asked if you think it’s relevant. My D started at one school very close to her psychiatrist but she needed a new therapist. The school referred her to someone local. She has transferred to a new school closer to home, and again she is seeing a private therapist. I agree that mental health services can handle acute care, but for long term therapy you usually need to find someone private. Also keep in mind that your student is an adult and the health clinic will not disclose any information to you unless your child signs a waiver. You may never know there’s a problem.
Ya, it seems more common these days to limit therapy sessions. But I know colleges who have a referral list of nearby therapists that accept the college’s insurance plan. They screen well.
It’s probably to the college’s benefit to have a robust offering of student health services, as far as retaining students from year to year (and it’s to society’s benefit that we get these kids with chronic health conditions educated so that they can be self-supporting.) But you are correct, they are educational institutions, not health care providers.
It really does stink though when a new chronic health condition pops up in a student already settled at college. We’ve done the scramble of looking for providers in a far away city.
In my personal view, a student with medical or psychiatric conditions should not have to limit or base college choices on health considerations, if the condition is well-established and under treatment and the kid is compliant.
Some colleges and universities have extensive health resources and some, especially smaller ones, don’t. In the latter case, medical or psychiatric help can be located in a city or town nearby. As others have said, the larger schools with excellent resources do often put a limit on in-house therapy sessions, triage, and refer out, which is not a problem.
If a kid chooses to stay near home, or near a favored doctor, that is one thing. Often there are enough breaks in a school year to keep up with a medical specialist, and some therapists and psychiatrists will check in online or by phone.
The whole point of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to level the playing field and I think that includes free choice as to where to go to school, as long as it is affordable.
Most schools nowadays offer limited MH support , similar to what
Might be like an EAP in the working world. They provide limited services and then refer out.
No absolutely not. I am saying that families can locate services regardless of what a school offers.
On a thread like this someone always suggests that a child stay near home or limit choices to schools with resources for the condition.
I assumed schools would not have the resources for chronic medical or psych. conditions. I wanted my kids to choose schools based on the criteria that students without conditions use to choose, such as size, location, academics, and “vibe” because I felt inserting their “conditions” into this application process would be, in a sense, discriminatory (on my part).
Colleges ARE obligated to provide accommodations and services required by the ADA and if they are not doing that properly, I would still send my kid there and get them to change In fact, that is what we did.
The ADA only requires schools to provide accommodations so as to provide equal access to education. It does not require schools to provide ongoing medical or medical treatment.
Also if we are referring students to counseling center, it is because it has a low barrier of entry. They can literally walk over and get an appointment. There is someone that would be assigned to them. They don’t have to get a car, or pick out a psychiatrist. It is better that they start the process of getting help asap.
If a college regularly had more than a handful of kids getting stomach viruses, or food poisoning, you could bet they’d address it, or nobody would apply. If there were lots of kids coming in and getting diagnosed with AIDS, the school would do something in a hurry (like make condoms freely available). A LOT of schools student medical centers now have a “no questions asked” policy for kids presenting symptoms of alcohol poisoning.
Colleges are more aware of the kind of mental health issues that could affect their students than they were a couple generations ago, and they have made steps to accommodate them.
Student safety matters. I don’t think anyone is suggesting it shouldn’t.
I think a big part of it is that mental health services seems to be more noticeable nowadays to us as parents. This is because colleges usually make such a big deal about it on tours, and it wasn’t as ubiquitous when our generation went to college.
Unfortunately, many parts of the United States have woefully inadequate mental health services. My ex-husband lives in a city with a population of 40,000 and many health care providers, but his health care company, one of the main ones in the community, has no psychiatrists on staff. The number of psychiatrists per person in rural areas is very low throughout much of the U.S.
Colleges routinely have students with many needs which they are not responsible for addressing. A majority of students probably need either vision or dental care, but colleges don’t provide that. Colleges provide health care as a convenience to their largely adult students on a short term and noncritical basis; they are not prepared for or resourced sufficiently to address all health care needs. That’s why we have private physicians and insurance.
In fact, that is what we did.