The Habif Health and Wellness Center added five new employees to its Mental Health Services department at the beginning of the semester in response to student requests for more counseling services.

In response to student concern about long wait times and a lack of treatment and counseling options, the Habif Health and Wellness Center (HHWC) hired two new part-time psychiatrists and one psychologist and created positions such as care manager and assistant director of outreach and programming. The recent hires bring the total number of mental health staff up to 19.

“We want to strengthen our ability to serve as many students as we can,” Director of Mental Health Services Thomas Brounk said.

During the hiring process, HHWC searched for counselors and psychiatrists who had experience with underserved populations such as international students and students who identify as LGBTQIA*.

To accommodate the growing population of students whose native language is Mandarin, HHWC conducted a nationwide search for a counselor fluent in Mandarin and hired psychologist Yujia Lei.

Lei, who is able to conduct counseling sessions in both English and Mandarin, has specific interests in grief and loss, adoption, disordered eating and disenfranchised groups.

Andrea Giedinghagen, one of the new psychiatrists at HHWC, has a particular interest in LGBTQIA* issues, especially gender identity concerns and trans* students.

“I work with everyone, but I really enjoy working with members of [the LGBTQIA*] community and doing work at the various intersections of oppression and resilience,” Giedinghagen said. “I’m excited to be working with Habif on expanding their offerings to the LGBTQIA* community and making ourselves a more welcoming and affirming space for all of our students.”

The other new psychiatrist, Jessi Gold, hopes that her background in peer institutions for her undergraduate and graduate education will help her connect with students.

“I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the type of environment that you guys are going to school in,” Gold said. “I’ve had a lot of similar experiences.”

Part of Gold’s position involves outreach to the student body, and she’s planning on writing a column for the Student Health 101 newsletter, where she will answer student questions.

Alongside the new psychiatrists and psychologists hired, Habif designed two new positions to advertise alternatives to traditional counseling sessions.

The assistant director of mental health outreach and programming role was established to focus on promotion by partnering with student groups to discuss common issues in university settings, such as sleep, stress, anxiety and depression.

“I help advise Active Minds, which is still getting off the ground this year. I chat with other student groups involved with mental health like [Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling] and the Mental Health Peer Health Educators,” Jordan Worthington, the newly appointed assistant director of mental health outreach and programming, said. “I also work with classes—sometimes professors will want me to come in and chat with their class, especially if their content is related to my work.”

The care manager position, filled by Missy Showalter, was created to help students “make connections with therapists off campus and to make it an easier, more navigable process,” according to Brounk.

Complementing the care manager position, Student Union is planning on opening a co-pay pool mid-October to make off-campus mental health treatment accessible and affordable for students.

“This [initiative] is two-fold: One purpose is to make it accessible for students to go off-campus for treatment and also to make it accessible for students from low economic backgrounds to financially support [themselves] if they do need mental health treatment,” SU Vice President of Finance and junior Shelly Gupta said.

Earlier this year, SU implemented the Kognito program, an interactive online virtual training program that trains faculty and staff members to recognize warning signs of mental health problems in their students and recommend the proper resources to them.

“[The Habif Health and Wellness Center and SU] are all on the same page regarding mental health. We’re all working together,” Gupta said.