St. Lawrence University students and counselors are working on the promotion of mental health resources on campus. It’s no secret that students at St. Lawrence University have been upset about the lack of mental health resources accessibility from the Health and Counseling Center. However, counselors and students are confronting the issues and creating solutions.
“We are trying our best to meet the demand,” says Tent. “We are seeing an increase in students utilizing our services this semester and we are short staffed.” Members of the St. Lawrence Health and Counseling Center are aware of the complaints about the lack of accessibility to their mental health resources.
“Pretty much what we are experiencing, so many other college counselling centers are experiencing too,” explains Tent. “They are also short staffed, they are experiencing an increase in demand, and are really struggling with meeting that demand.” Tent wants students to understand that “it is not just St. Lawrence” and that it is “a common theme” for many colleges counselling centers.
“It is definitely a problem, we know it is a problem, we are doing our best and we ask for patience,” says Tent. Members of the St. Lawrence Health and Counseling Center are looking at problem solving for the spring by looking at what other college counseling centers are doing to try to adequately meet the need of students to offer consistent counselling.
“We do have students that also do not show for their appointments, so if students could cancel 24 hours ahead of time, that helps us get someone in on our waiting list,” says Tent. She touches on ways that students can be more proactive to help the Health and Counseling Center members that are working on managing the increased demand. “We do have a waiting list now too, so if we have someone that cancels or does not show, then we will call them and try to get them in earlier.”
Tent encourages students to also use other resources on campus that are connected to St. Lawrence’s Health and Counseling Center. The SLU Peer Health Network was developed in the spring, where students accomplished four-hour training sessions through the counseling center. “They can provide basic support and guidance on how to use other resources on campus or what to do in certain situations that are pretty common to college students,” says Tent.
President of SLU Peer Health Network Rebecca Caudill’23 shares the benefits of this newly created mental health advocacy organization. Caudill explains that the network has two sections: Saints Supporting Saints, a mentoring program, and Every Mind Matters, an outreach program.
“We have students from all different classes, all different identities that have been trained by the health center to talk to other students, to provide the kind of support they can’t necessarily get from adults or from someone that may not be able to relate as much to them,” says Caudill regarding the Saints Supporting Saints mentoring program. “We’ve done this in part to make it more accessible and less threatening for students.”
Regarding the Every Mind Matters outreach program, Caudill shares this as a way to promote the SLU Peer Health Network. “That’s who you you’ll see doing coffee hour, pumpkin painting, that kind of thing,” says Caudill. “It’s really focusing on getting ourselves out there in the community and saying that even if you don’t want the mentoring, even if you don’t feel like you need it, then just to provide opportunities to destress and to want it to be low-stress conversations that are led by the students.”
Caudill and members of the SLU Peer Health Network share their support and understanding towards the Health and Counseling Center. “I know it’s not a lack of effort, it’s not a lack of trying on their part, they are down staffed right now,” explains Caudill, having had her own experiences with the Health and Counseling Center. “I wish that the counselling center received more support and more leniency from people who understand that there are many people that really need their support and they are trying to do the best they can.”
The promotion of the SLU Peer Health Network is encouraged by counselors such as Tara Tent. “I think it’s a great resource and I’m hoping to see more students utilize that,” says Tent “It’s a real diverse group of students, that are embedded all around campus.”
Another student run advocacy group on campus called SHIELD, is based for student athletes. Tent explains that the student-athletes of SHIELD have also gone through the exact same four-hour training through the counseling center to learn the skills to provide basic support to other student-athletes on campus.
“The main goal of SHIELD is to provide mental health support to student athletes, specifically who might not want to go to their coach, trainer, or teammates,” explains SHIELD member and alpine skier Gabby Smith’ 22. “It’s beneficial that it is student-athlete run, because although we all play different sports, being an athlete especially at the collegiate level, we are able to give support to other student-athletes which is really helpful to have that perspective and that relatability.”
SHIELD was created right before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic which has helped members create goals towards mental health advocacy for student-athletes. “Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, mental health is becoming more prevalent on campus,” says Smith. “I think that SHIELD has stepped up in acknowledging that and we are here to provide support for anyone who needs it during this time.”
Counselors of the St. Lawrence Health and Counseling Center are also in the process of promoting the new Wellness Education program on campus. Created in August 2021 by Laura Lavoie, weekly emails and events have been organized by the members of this program for the overall wellness of students. “We want to encourage students as much as possible to try to attend those activities,” says Tent regarding events such as Stress Less Week being organized for the week of Nov. 1 to 5.
Lavoie shares that the Wellness Education program has many goals for the fall semester. “To bring together everything that St. Lawrence is doing already, related really broadly to health and wellness, so fitness and recreation, outdoor activities, and then also anything related to mental health, spirituality,” says Lavoie. “One goal of my office is to bring everything together into one place.”
“The second piece is to identify areas where we can be doing better at St. Lawrence, additional services that our students might need,” says Lavoie. “That’s obviously a little bit of a longer-term project.” Lavoie is hopeful to submit a survey out to students in the next couple weeks to look at what needs to be implemented regarding mental health in the future plans for St. Lawrence University.
Tent shares that the launching of the “Healthy Minds Survey” is one of the many steps both the Wellness Education program and the Health and Counseling Center plans to take in assessing priorities for students. Along with the survey is the welcoming of new four-year partnership between the Health and Counseling Center and the Jed Foundation. “They evaluate the needs and then work on a strategic plan to increase resources and develop more innovative resources to shift wellness and mental health to a community responsibility,” explains Tent. “They are a nationally recognized organization that work on suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention, overall mental health, and help seeking behavior.”
The promotion and improvement of mental health resources on St. Lawrence University campus is certainly in working progress with the help of various counseling and student advocacy groups.
There will be a health fair on Friday, Nov. 5 in the Winston Room of the Student Center between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sponsored by the SLU Peer Health Network, many other health resources on campus will be in attendance such as the Student Wellness Office and the Health and Counseling Center. “We are hoping to collect most of the health resources on campus in one place so students can come and talk to them,” says Caudill, hopeful on the upcoming advances towards the promotion mental health resources on campus.
To make an appointment at the Health and Counseling center, call 315-229-5392 during their open hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. For other urgent health and crisis concerns please make note of the following phone numbers:
- Crisis Text: 741-741
- Crisis Line: 315-229-1914
- Security: 315-229-5555
- Reach Out: 315-265-2422
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
- The Trevor Helpline (LGBTQ): 1-866-488-7386
- Renewal House: 315-379-9845
- Advocates Sexual Violence Hotline: 315-244-5466