Addressing College Mental Health ‘Cannot Fall Solely to the Campus Health System’.

Addressing College Mental Health ‘Cannot Fall Solely to the Campus Health System’
A New York Times Magazine article about a string of suicides at a Massachusetts college in 2021 draws upon findings from the Healthy Minds Study, a nationwide survey on college mental health co-led by Sarah Lipson.
Losing one student to suicide is a traumatic experience for a college community, but Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass., encountered this unimaginable situation seven times over the course of six months between 2021-2022.
The devastating succession of deaths shone a glaring light on the mental health crisis that continues to worsen among college students and other young people across the country—and it underscored the critical, life-saving role that college communities, especially faculty, play in recognizing and supporting students’ mental health and wellness.
WPI’s response to this dark period on its campus is the subject of a recent feature article in The New York Times Magazine. The article incorporates research and input by Sarah Lipson, associate professor of health law, policy & management, who studies the mental health of college students and faculty as principal investigator of the Healthy Minds Network (HMN). HMN includes the national Healthy Minds Study (HMS), the largest and most comprehensive survey of mental health in higher education, led by Lipson along with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; and Wayne State University. To date, HMS has been conducted on over 800 campuses across the country.
The latest Healthy Minds report reveals that 41 percent of college students screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of depression and 36 percent for anxiety. Suicide risk is also alarmingly high, with 14 percent of college students nationwide reporting that they seriously thought about attempting suicide in the past year, along with 6 percent who developed a suicidal plan, and 2 percent who attempted suicide.
“Over the past 15 years of collecting Healthy Minds data, and particularly the last 6 to 8 years, we have seen a significant increase in prevalence across mental health outcomes in college student populations,” Lipson says.
This growing crisis puts everyone on college campuses, and perhaps especially faculty, in an important but difficult position to recognize and respond to students who may be struggling with their mental health.
“There is increasing recognition that addressing mental health at colleges and universities is a responsibility that cannot fall solely to the campus health system, and specifically that faculty members have an important role to play in a public health approach,” says Lipson. The Healthy Minds data show that about 75 percent of all faculty have had one-to-one conversations with students about mental health, she says, but professors need more tools and training to navigate these conversations effectively. “The majority of faculty are motivated to strengthen their role supporting student wellbeing but most faculty don’t yet feel confident serving in this role.”
In response to the spate of suicides, WPI created a task force to develop recommendations to ease students’ burdens, including a suggestion that faculty members incorporate mental health support in their day-to-day teachings—a task that the article indicates many WPI faculty felt overwhelmed to take on. HMS findings show that these responsibilities of meeting students’ mental health needs disproportionately burden faculty of color, as well as female, trans, and nonbinary faculty, compared to their male, cisgender, and White colleagues.
Mental health training for faculty and staff is key, says Lipson, who was not quoted in the article but spoke at length with the reporter, Jordan Kisner, for the feature.
“By no means is the goal to turn faculty into mental health professionals. That would not be a wise use of time, resources, or expertise,” she says. “Rather, faculty need ongoing training—emphasis on ongoing—about what we can do from both a prevention perspective, and when we are faced with a student in distress. Ideally, these trainings should be built into existing infrastructures, such as faculty meetings.”
And as her work has previously shown, schools should also prioritize faculty members’ own mental health. Healthy Minds data show that one in five faculty members report that supporting student mental health has taken a toll on their mental health, with female, trans, and faculty members of color experiencing this burden at significantly higher levels than peers.
“Any conversation about the future role of faculty supporting student mental health must recognize and prioritize the mental health needs of faculty themselves,” Lipson says.
To read the full article in The New York Times Magazine, click here. To learn more about college mental health, watch the video below of a recent SPH Public Health Conversation on this topic.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis in the United States, help is available by calling or texting 988 to connect with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This service provides free and confidential support 24/7 for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources. Members of the BU community can also utilize university-wide mental health services, such as therapy and psychiatry treatment, support groups, long-term care referrals, and a 24/7 emergency hotline (617-353-3569).
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