Students frustrated by the three- to four-week wait for counseling services at Dick's House may soon find relief. The College has started to address the unusually long wait time by looking both at internal readjustments and the possibility of additional budget funding to create new positions.
Approximately 1,000 students per year use Dick's House for counseling, many of whom seek therapy following referrals from other students, Dr. Mark Reed, director of counseling and human development said. The demand for counselors has burdened Dick's House and frustrated students looking for help.
"We have a dean of pluralism, but if someone wants to get a counseling appointment, they have to wait three weeks," Eduardo Bertran '06 said.
Other students complained that they had appointments canceled due to the wait time, forcing them to seek off-campus counseling.
Dean of the College James Larimore acknowledged the build-up of students, which typically occurs throughout the year, but said it is generally not of three- to four-week magnitude. Larimore's office, which oversees Dick's House and its budget, has been working with counseling services to reduce wait time and assess the exact demand from students.
Due to the College's tight budget in the past couple years, counseling services has been barred from creating new positions for staff, in spite of the increased demand for therapy, Reed said.
"We have shared our numbers with the College -- [the numbers] have gone up a lot in the last six years and the staff has stayed the same," Reed said.
Suggestions to improve counseling services include looking at scheduling and the "no-show" rate for students that make appointments but do not attend them. After looking at what can be done internally to augment the counseling staff, including reallocating resources and staff within the health service, the College will look at what its funding options are, Larimore said.
"It may be that we need to advocate for additional budget funding from the College," Larimore said.
If the College does determine that additional counselors will be hired, student demand for different counselor specialties will be considered in the hiring process, Larimore said, adding that all the counselors at Dick's House serve as general counselors.
While the College may be looking to alleviate the wait time for counselors, many students still feel there is a discrepancy in the areas of counseling focus.
"The administration seems to place a premium on alcohol awareness," Bertran said. "I was disgusted by the 800 Nalgenes," he added, referring to the water bottles given away as part of the alcohol awareness screening event held earlier this month.
Each term, counseling services sponsors a screening for a different type of psychological problem, Reed said. The mental health screening happens in the fall, eating disorder in the winter and alcohol awareness in the spring. The alcohol awareness screening is by far the most popular, with 800 attendees this year, versus 200 at the eating disorder screening and over 300 at the mental health screening. Reed hypothesized that the reason the alcohol screening was the most well attended is that alcohol problems have the least stigma attached to them.
The draw of free Nalgenes may also contribute to the numbers attending the alcohol screening, though Reed said the cost of the Nalgenes may actually be less than the t-shirts offered at the other screenings.
Reed said the groups organizing the screenings, including student groups such the eating disorder peer advisors and drug and alcohol peer advisors, decided not to use Nalgenes for all of the screenings because it would dilute the effectiveness of the Nalgenes.
Reed denied, however, that using the Nalgenes only for alcohol screenings placed more emphasis on alcohol awareness.
"To be honest with you, I haven't really thought of it that way," Reed said. "I think alcohol is a very big problem and it contributes to all sorts of other problems on this campus."
Despite the smaller numbers attending the mental health screening, Reed said the screening found 50 to 60 attendees with significant issues, including approximately 20 with urgent needs ranging from anxiety and depression issues to bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He highlighted other mental health outreach and education programs, including undergraduate advisor training and talks for athletic teams and Greek houses.
"As you can well imagine, I think access is one of the most important things," Reed said.
Reed also emphasized the student groups Active Minds and the Student Health Advisory Committee and the work they have done to inform students and encourage "speak out" panels to increase awareness about a variety of issues including eating disorders and sexual abuse.
Even with student group outreach, Bertran still feels that the "dark side" of Dartmouth, the mental health issues, is not addressed enough.
"When was the last time we saw posters saying how many students have depression?" Bertran said.