This past summer when I visited McKinley Health Center, I overheard a man (sporting his Greek letters) asking the front desk attendant where he could get help for his depression. By looking at this man, you would not be able to guess that anything was bothering him. Depression is not like having the flu. In our current society, admitting to friends and family that you are depressed can be seen as a personal flaw, and is certainly not an easy illness to comprehend. 

This young man had to leave his comfort zone to ask for help, only to be notified that there was a two-month wait for services. He was then directed to contact the Counseling Center, which was most likely already booked for the day. This visibly strong man was tortured by depression and had nowhere to go for the immediate help that he so desperately needed. 

I cannot help but wonder if this man ever received the services that he needed. Did he attempt to contact the Counseling Center? Or did he head back to his fraternity house, unable to take care of the issue? Perhaps, like many who have a mental illness, he decided to pretend nothing was wrong because it was too difficult to continue on the endless cycle of seeking (but not receiving) help. 

One of the most frightening aspects of this situation is that this man has some semblance of a support system on campus from the network of brothers in his fraternity, yet he is still plagued by depression.

Now picture how difficult this situation would be for a freshman who is completely unfamiliar with the campus and doesn’t know what services are available. During dorm orientation, RAs inform students about calling the local Crisis Line for help in stressful situations, but often the Crisis Line volunteers will simply direct the caller to McKinley, the Counseling Center or the Psychology Services Center. 

The Counseling Center has approximately 12 time slots available every day. If a student wanted to schedule one of those time slots, he would need to call at 7:50 a.m., because all 12 appointments are typically booked by around 8 a.m. The Counseling Center only has 21 clinicians available for therapy. These clinicians have other commitments (such as paper work and long-term therapy clients), meaning they are not fully available all day to see first-time clients.

There are three “crisis situation” appointments available each day, but these are also on a first come, first serve basis, and very few people know about this resource. The Psychology Service Center, on the other hand, mostly serves the community and only a few students. Each of these services attempts to be as accommodating based on their given resources.

Currently, the wait time for therapy at McKinley Health Center is four weeks. We’re not even at midterm season, and students already have to wait 30 days for services. Imagine having to fight feelings of sadness, insomnia and lack of energy. These are a few of the symptoms of depression that affect 10 percent of college students. Imagine having to battle continuous thoughts of impending doom, hyperventilation and chest pains. These are a few of the symptoms of a panic attack, another common mental health problem that affects 8.2 percent of college students. 

With over 40,000 students on this campus, there should be more than the three therapists and three psychiatrists at McKinley and 21 clinicians at the Counseling Center to help students with mental health issues. Perhaps if the University’s therapist-to-student ratio was a little closer to the recommended (1 clinician for every 1,000 students), maybe 449 students wouldn’t drop out their freshman year (6 percent) and 60 students wouldn’t attempt suicide. 

The shortage of therapists is not something that is only affecting the University, but universities all over the country. It would simply be intolerable if there weren’t enough medical doctors on this campus to care for more traditional problems. We need to move past the stigma that mental illnesses are not as important or legitimate as physical illnesses.

The University needs to find the funding to add more mental health clinicians, even in this difficult financial environment. One possible solution is having students pay an extra mental health fee. We currently pay around $500 for student health insurance and health service fees annually. This money covers mental health services, but clearly does not provide enough coverage. If each student paid an extra $20 a year, that would increase the budget by $840,000. With average therapists earning around $50,000 a year, we could afford an extra 16 clinicians on this campus with this additional fee. 

If we stand as a united community of concerned students, we can prevent hearing further anecdotal stories of those who weren’t lucky enough to receive services.

Leanna Garcia,

social work graduate student