When it comes to mental health services, Washington University needs to do better. Efforts are being made to improve the resources available to Wash. U. students. In fact, Student Union has recently released a survey to gather feedback about mental health care at the Habif Health and Wellness Center. However, this survey is not the first of its kind.

Time and time again, students have made their needs known via surveys, but the big problems that students face remain unaddressed. One of the largest complaints that students have is a lack of staff. As of fall 2018, Habif had 19 mental health staffers; for a school the size of Wash. U., this number is entirely insufficient.

It is nearly impossible to get adequate mental health care at Habif. Within the Student Life editorial board, we had enough examples of people having bad experiences of mental health care with Habif. One member of our editorial board was told that their problems were “too hard” to be dealt with at Habif. Another board member came into Habif claiming a misdiagnosis. Rather than being listened to, they were prescribed more of their ineffective and counterproductive medication. More board members chimed in, claiming that they weren’t listened to in their appointments and that in many cases their therapists were unprofessional. And of course, these anecdotes come from those who could even get appointments in the first place.

Wait times for mental health appointments are often two to three weeks. This is a huge stumbling block in the first place, but the phone consultation prior to being assigned a counselor provides additional hurdles to securing an appointment for students. In many cases, the consultation asks questions that students feel uncomfortable talking about over the phone. It is without a doubt most preferable and beneficial to perform the consultation in person, as both counselor and student can directly speak of the process and the students’ needs in a more comfortable way. Meeting in person is an option, but with the pre-consultation being referred to as a “Mental Health Telephone Assessment” it sets phone appointments as a norm. As the assessments are meant for new patients, students cannot be expected to know the content of the questions nor realize the possibility of being upset by them until it is too late. Explaining the content of the questions and not setting a telephone appointment as the default but rather letting the student choose between options after being given an adequate warning would be preferable. An alternative to consider is an online questionnaire; it would fulfill the same role as the phone consultation, without the added discomfort of divulging information to a person you cannot actually see.

Habif needs more funding and more personnel. While hiring more people, Habif should look to employ more people of diverse identities, people who inherently understand the issues that students in marginalized groups face. It is important that there are resources that are reflective of student identities and experiences.

Of course, Habif realistically cannot be responsible for providing a counselor for every single student at the University. However, they should be able to provide access to counseling, given that for some, they have no other option than to have Wash. U. insurance. There are other resources, such as Habif’s Counseling Center Referral Service, that allow students to find off-campus counseling. However, when filtered by those who accept Wash. U.’s insurance and are presently accepting clients, only 12 mental health counselors were returned. While the list that the service provides is good, options are limited and many of these off-campus resources are inaccessible for students without cars. The SU Mental Health Fund is an amazing resource for those with access to it, but there are some students at Wash. U. that do not qualify for the fund and still have financial barriers to therapy.

There are other resources available to students such as Uncle Joe’s, Provident, Let’s Talk and Therapy Assisted Online (TAO) that provide good help for students in times of crisis and in an ad hoc manner. However, these resources cannot provide the same level of care as a regular appointment with a therapist can. The availability of these resources–along with the recent change to the way that a withdrawal due to a mental health leave of absence appears on a transcript–demonstrates that the University is willing to take mental health seriously. However, changes were only made after an SU petition. It appears that SU and the SU Health and Wellness Commission, rather than the administration, are the chief advocates for student mental health needs on campus.

Even with the new notation, mental health leaves of absence can appear inaccessible for many Wash. U. students. Specifically, the reinstatement procedure can be difficult and intimidating, potentially causing students to avoid a mental health leave when one would be beneficial.

Inadequate access to mental health care is not an issue that is unique to Wash. U., but the University has enough resources to take care of its students. The fact that many Wash. U. students are left out in the cold is shameful. Survey after survey will not fix the issues facing students at the University. What we need is real investment in resources available for students and a sizeable increase in the amount of therapy available to students. Wash. U. has some of the best Psychology and Social Work programs in the country; why can’t the University provide therapy for its students?