*Margaret Ross, MD and *Dori Hutchinson, Sc D

*Boston University*May 29, 2013

College Mental Health

• Changing demography of student body

• Helicopter parenting, technology and stress hardiness

• Americans with Disabilities Act and what this means for students in college

Students Today– “Soaring

expectations and crushing realities”: Optimistic, Scheduled, Perfectionistic…Miserable.

– Entitled, self centered, competitive, accomplished…lacking empathy; always connected.

– Resiliency and coping skills

The Mental Health of Our students

• 20% screen positive for anxiety or depression

• More than HALF had at least one day in past month when emotional difficulty impaired academic performance

Lack of Stress Hardiness• The Facebook

Generation• Pseudo-

communication and connection

• Students have little experience with real life skills. Parents do all the managing, negotiating, fixing.

• Less coping capacity, low stress tolerance, less empathy for self and others, more mental health issues.

Integrated College Mental HealthIntegrated College Mental Health

Guiding

Principles

Wellness Oriented

Treatment Providers

Campus Resources

College Mental Health

Coach

Student

Goals

*Hope

is the catalyst.

Strengths-Based

We focus on valuing and building on the multiple capacities, resiliencies, talents, coping abilities, and inherent worth of our students with mental illnesses.

Responsibility Mastery

Students have a personal responsibility for their own self-care and learning to live well with their mental illness.

*Clinical Care

*Whatever it takes….

*Retentiongraduation.

*RetentionTuition Dollars

*Supportmobile check-in meeting

*Assistance with study habits individualized to the experience of mental illnesses.

*Yuri

*Female Athlete

*Kim

*Create a Collaborative Round table

*Brainstorm strategies-identify gaps

*Assign roles, develop a communication plan,educate campus about the safety net.

*Utilize strategies that are common sense-they are the ones that students need and want.

*OUTCOMES:

*Sustainability

*Student Retention & Cost Effectiveness

Integrated Team Approach• Approach our

work with energy and enthusiasm

• Have a “healthy disrespect” for the impossible!

Supported Education“I am myself a "consumer"—a person with schizophrenia who was given "very poor" and "grave" prognoses. I was expected essentially to be unable to live independently, let alone work. Yet I have a very active and satisfying professional life as a chaired mental health law professor. When I was examined for readmission to Yale Law School, the psychiatrist suggested I might spend a year working at a low-level job…so that I could do better when I was readmitted.”

• Saks, Elyn,R., JD: Commentary: The Importance of Accommodations in Higher Education. Psychiatric Services 59:376, April 2008