The COVID-19 pandemic only increased Fidel Vasquez’s interest in mental health. A third-year student at California State University, Long Beach, Vasquez graduated high school in the spring of 2020 and started college – remotely – that fall.
“I wanted to be involved in mental health, in terms of being a student during the pandemic,” Vasquez said. “I didn’t feel like a university student, and I didn’t feel connected to my campus.”
Vasquez is now involved in the university’s “mental health overhaul”, a new strategic plan entitled “Healthy Living at the Beach” which includes over 60 mental health initiatives to be implemented over the next three years.
Beth Lesen, vice president of student affairs and author of the plan, said each of the initiatives falls under one of five objectives: diversity and inclusion, building community on and off campus, raising awareness of mental health services increase, make mental health services bigger. accessible, and using technology to reach students.
“It’s one of the biggest, most ambitious and aggressive mental health initiatives I’ve discovered in higher education,” said Lesen. “Initially when I started putting this together and looking for models, I really wanted to find other campuses that were doing something on this scale so I wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel if someone else did. doing something amazing. And I found nothing. “
Vasquez, a senator in the university’s student government, is part of a working group initiative to be launched next semester consisting of teams consisting of a student administrator and leader, as well as a local mental health professional or community leader. Vasquez said leaders from other student organizations will also participate in the working groups.
While the groups have not yet received their tasks, Vasquez hopes to focus on improving the university ‘s counseling services or addressing the mental health needs of under – served communities on campus. The groups meet about twice a month, Vasquez said.
“I think the current partnership the university is having with the student government and campus leaders is a good sign,” Vasquez said. “And we hope it is a good indicator of the impact of this initiative. In general, when it comes to decision – making, students are often left out in the dark, and they do not know what is going on in those offices. ”
Other activity items include restructuring recruitment strategies to diversify the counseling center staff and create more physical spaces on campus where students can feel comfortable sharing sensitive experiences.
The plan also aims to develop protocols for accessing student identification groups and others affected by national crises, as well as establishing community partnerships with local non – profit organizations and resource centers.
While the plan will not be fully implemented until 2025, Lesen said the results of the pilot programs launched in the spring are already visible at the university.
These include: a text-based peer-to-face mentoring program delivered last semester to 1,400 transfer students (out of a total enrollment of approximately 40,000 students), in which students engaged with their peers during periods high stress – such as medium terms and finals – to check in.
According to data from Cal State Long Beach, the pilot had 611 student connections and a 44 percent response rate. The most frequently discussed topics included academic counseling and counseling, financial assistance and mental health counseling, and psychological services. Lesen said the texting service allowed transfer students to get answers to questions they might not otherwise have.
“These are people who have not chosen to come forward and seek help independently,” said Lesen. “But they were open to him when people came and found them. So that’s a pilot that has been a great success, and we are extending that pilot to all incoming students for the fall. ”
In another pilot program, the university launched a mobile crisis team made up of mental health practitioners to respond to on-campus psychiatric emergencies. College campuses usually require the campus police officer to respond in such cases, because they have the authority to initiate hospitals, Lesen said. But in Cal State Long Beach’s new model, mental health professionals decided whether the distressed student needed to be hospitalized or just referred for counseling.
“Any student would appreciate that, but especially our colored communities are very appreciative of the idea of a uniformed police officer having a psychiatric emergency,” Lesen said.
Health and wellness associate vice president Damian Zavala, who oversees the mobile crisis team, wrote a grant proposal to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) last year to fund the program. In January, SAMHSA awarded the university $ 400,000 for the initiative.
“The idea behind it was that when our police department responds to on-campus crisis situations with students or faculty or staff, they are in uniform and carrying firearms,” Zavala said. “Even before a word is said, it is just another fiber optic. And so we wanted to create a team that can respond to those situations where trained clinicians come up with a more humane, traumatic approach – not that the police can’t do that. “
Zavala said the mobile team is now active and they are looking for additional staff.
‘A Drop in Persistence’
Long State Cal State president Jane Close Conoley noted that even before the pandemic, the university was on track to add more counseling and mental health resources – but the pandemic underlined the urgency of the need. To see also : Charter Schools join new organization to save sports championship.
“[During the pandemic] was the first time I heard faculty talk about students not showing up and not turning in assignments and feeling isolated and alienated from their work,” Conoley said. “For the first time in eight years, durability has declined. From the first semester to the second semester, we were unable to develop that belonging. And without peer support and interaction, I think students – more than usual for us – have just quit and never come back. So we can see that the pandemic has had an effect on our students, putting their future at risk. ”
According to a registration survey of about 3,900 students in the spring of 2022, 2,069 said they were taking less than 15 credits to preserve their own well-being. For the upcoming fall semester, 1,328 students expect to take less than 15 credits.
Conoley said the most important part of Cal State Long Beach’s mental health plan is to integrate and implement all 60 plus initiatives as soon as possible.
“I definitely think the biggest impact comes from implementing all the pieces, and we will be working on this,” Conoley said. “There are a lot of programs around campus, but we didn’t tie them together. So that’s going to be a big deal when we realize that we have this clinic here, and we have this program here, and we try to pull it together. “
