Editorial

Strengthen psych services

We all stress out at some point in college. It’s a stressful place during a stressful time in most of our lives. Moreover, in a student body as large and diverse as Oberlin’s, a number of students are bound to have mental health problems, temporary or permanent, that impede their abilities to work, play and enjoy what Oberlin has to offer.
Anecdotally, we know that the number is growing. Nationwide, medication is allowing people who even a few years ago would not have been able to function in a competitive college environment to not only attend but excel. Charlie Ross, director of the Counseling Center, has stated on a few occasions that the number of students at Oberlin fitting this description is increasing. On the flip side, about a dozen members of the class of 2006, many with pre-existing mental health concerns, either chose or were asked to leave Oberlin by the time Parents’ Weekend rolled around last fall.
The current class dean system is structured to identify students who may need help, and work with those who are aware of their difficulties. Admissions currently briefs the first-year dean about students who, for any number of reasons, may struggle more than most. By following a class through four years here, administrators get to know more about individual students, their difficulties and their needs. Should problems, large or small, anticipated or not, arise, the deans are in a strong position to work with advisors, residence hall staff, and other resources to aid the student.
What needs to be addressed is what happens once difficulties develop and the help required is beyond the abilities of the class deans, RAs, advisors, etc. Currently the main mental health resource on campus is the Counseling Center, an office that has come under fire from students in the past. This page is not willing to speculate as to how well the Center does or does not care for its patients — many students sing its praises having been helped through stressful midterms and bad breakups, while others have felt their concerns, large or small, were not effectively dealt with.
Two things are clear: First, between the limited sessions allowed to each student and the absence of a full-time psychiatrist on staff, the Counseling Center, by its own admission, is not equipped to handle cases requiring more extensive care. Second, the costs of private psychiatric care are prohibitive for many students being referred out by the Center.
It is true that not every student referred out “needs” the care in order to function at an acceptable level — however one defines acceptable. Yet making such care accessible would clearly benefit the student, allowing them to take fuller advantage of what Oberlin has to offer. Keeping as many students as possible in a positive mental state also benefits the community as a whole.
Since many students require more extensive support and many others would greatly benefit from having it, it is in the College’s interests to try to put as many students as possible in contact with the care that will aid them. And since health care costs can often be tackled more effectively by a large organization such as the College, it falls to the administration to try to find ways to help ease the burden on students seeking care.
In the short run, the College should consider subsidizing, in part or in full, the psychiatrist fees charged to students referred by the Center so that they can have medications prescribed. The costs of many of these prescriptions are high enough without the additional fees that discourage or prevent students from receiving helpful medication. In the long term the college needs to consider expanding its on-campus mental health services — or perhaps aid students in finding better low-cost insurance options — to meet the student body’s growing needs.
In a more creative vein, it would also be worth the college’s time to consider adding a dean-level position whose sole job is to identify and work with students with existing mental health problems — not to replace the counseling center, but to monitor and ensure that those students who do need care are receiving care. A student may be performing well in the classroom — thus escaping the notice of a class dean - but still need counseling and support.
Providing sound mental health care is a complex and exhausting endeavor thanks to the time and energy required to meet the individual needs of each individual patient. We applaud the many individuals and organizations on this campus who do just that, from peer-to-peer counseling to the psychologists at the Center. Yet if Oberlin is to continue to admit students who may require advanced psychiatric care, we cannot meet the eventual demand for services on campus halfway.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board—the Editors in Chief, Managing Editor and Commentary Editor—and do not necessarily reflect the view of the staff of the Review.