It’s no secret that university students face periods of extreme stress and are more susceptible to symptoms of mental illness. In fact, one in ten students have seriously contemplated suicide, according to CTV News.
Despite the prevalence of mental health issues, Carleton University’s health and counselling services lack long-term mental health support. Students facing mental health issues should have the opportunity to build a relationship with one counsellor and receive long-term care on campus.
When I tried to access mental health services on campus before classes began at the Carleton Technology and Training Centre (CTTC) this year, I was redirected to Residence Counselling, and told I may not be able to book more than eight appointments.
While residence counsellors can arguably provide better resources to on-campus students, students who need a longer treatment period should not be turned away from seeing counsellors in the CTTC. Some students shouldn’t have to pay an extra cost for off-campus counselling so that on-campus wait list lines for students in crisis can be shorter.
Carleton students already pay for on-campus health services in tuition fees, so they should not be advised to seek long-term care elsewhere. The most important aspect of effective counselling treatment is building a relationship with a mental health professional. This allows individuals to openly and easily address significant issues in their lives.
Students with legitimate mental illnesses are being pushed aside simply because they are being proactive in seeking support to avoid mental health crises later on.
Students in crisis similarly cannot be turned away. Many students only begin noticing symptoms of mental illness in university, and may not have developed skills to cope.
Health and counselling is essentially fighting a war on two fronts, facing blows for continuous support as well as short-term crisis intervention. As it stands, it’s impossible for health and counselling to fairly meet the needs of both groups of students.
I understand that health and counselling runs like a business, and thus is largely concerned with student or customer satisfaction. But if it comes at the expense of long-term mental health care for students with psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depression, then something needs to change.
Reducing waitlist times for the vast majority of students who are in crisis by limiting the number of appointments each student can have may be benefiting a greater number of students, but it leaves students who require long-term support in the cold.
If we are treated as low-priority clients who can be shoved out of the way when others are waiting, it makes it seem like our sessions are merely business transactions. What we really need is treatment, and it doesn’t happen overnight—it can take years, and sometimes even a lifetime.
Perhaps the answer is to increase government funding to the health and counselling sectors of universities. With more funding, Carleton would be able to hire a better variety of mental health professionals— psychiatrists and psychologists to support students struggling with life-long mental illness, and counsellors and social workers to intervene in acute crises.
With more professionals, a greater number of students could be served and each student could walk out of either the CTTC or Renfrew House with improved mental health. Both waitlists during peak crisis periods of the school year could be reduced and students wishing to build a relationship with a counsellor could receive adequate and long-term support.
