Are You Taking Advantage of the Health & Counseling Services on Campus?
The conversation of mental health has never been an easy one to have. With a plethora of stigmas surrounding mental health, and by association, therapy, having that talk with friends and family can be awkward to say the least. However, students at California State University, East Bay have the resources that can help.
California State University, East Bay offers a variety of health and counseling services on campus. However, a random sampling of students conducted during the 2019 Fall semester found most students at East Bay do not take advantage of these services or know how to access them.
With the high awareness of mental health in today’s environment, CSUEB encourages its students to take care of their mental and physical well being. So why do a great majority of third and fourth-year students not know where the Health and Counseling Services building is located?
“It can be hard to interrupt those students whose minds are focused on making it to class, or thinking about the things they have to go through day to day,” Abayomi Jones, Executive Director of Student Health and Counseling Services, said in an interview. “Making those individual connections with students could give us some verification and a level of credibility which would be helpful.”
SHCS partners with the Pause for PAWS Program, which brings therapy dogs to campus throughout the semester to give students a space to wind down and destress from their busy lives. Jones believes that more partnerships with other student organizations like this could help bring more awareness and more student interaction into the health and counseling department. Whatever the case may be, SHCS wants the students to know that they are here, located between the library and the physical education building, and are always open for students.
SHCS has a new electronic medical system this year, and with that comes the ability to book appointments online. Not only that, but you can also get text reminders and emails about your appointment. Signing up for any event hosted by SHCS is also easier through the new system.
Additional staffing has also been made a priority. Jones mentioned the department’s plans to bring on two additional providers to their staff, adding to their eight counselors already on staff.
“We want to be able to meet the demand, with the student body growing and there being so much happening in our environment, we really need to be in a position where we can better service the students,” Jones stated.
Some of the services offered by SHCS are medical services, assistance, and evaluations by a licensed practitioner that are free to students, a full laboratory and pharmacy, eight counselors that can work with individual, couples, or group therapy, a sexual assault survival corridinator, a case manager, and a food pantry offered through the HOPE project.