College life is filled with stressors including a heavy workload, lack of sleep, financial stress and other personal issues. It is important for students to get helped when feeling overwhelmed, and Wayne State College provides mental health services for students.
Mental health issues of WSC students costs the students in terms of money.
The WSC counseling center has many in person and online resources for students in need of counseling. One of these resources is four licensed counselors who students can book appointments to meet with.
“Some people come a few times and meet their goal, some people come every week for the whole semester or the whole year,” Alicia Dorcey, the associate vice president for student affairs, said. “So, it really just depends on what the student needs.”
These mental health goals look different from person to person. The counseling center page on the WSC website says counseling is for those who need help with student adjustment, personal growth, grief, stress management, human sexuality, alcohol and drug-related concerns, mental illness and interpersonal relationships.
There are also online resources including the Willy the Wildcat chat bot that students can message if they are in need of help.
“That’s just a way for us to check in with students, but also students can respond to Willy at any time and if they tell Willy they are feeling suicidal or if they are really overwhelmed, then a staff person is going to reach out to them and talk to them,” Dorcey said.
Another free resource which students can access from their MyWSC account is TAO. By using this resource students can learn how to manage mental health issues and relationships.
“I like to call it ‘the Netflix of mental health,’” Dorcey said. “It has lots and lots of videos about different things- lots of mental health topics, but it also includes things like communication, relationships, finances, time management, depression, anxiety, sleep and hygiene. Anything you are looking for, it’s probably there.”
Each of these resources are open to students to use at any time because it has already been paid for. The overall budget for the counseling center is a combination of student tuition and state tax dollars. From there, the money is divided into the different resources in the student center.
“There is a portion of the student health fee that students pay that goes to help with mental health awareness and the treatment of that, so there are some student fee funds that go into their budget,” Mitch DeBoer, associate vice president for administration and finance, said.
The first aspect that the budget goes into is the salaries of the licensed counselors and the two work study students who work in the counseling center.
“When we budget, we look at the expenses for salary and benefits first because that’s always the biggest expense we have in any budget and then we go through whatever operational needs they have and give them what they need to for programs,” DeBoer said.
For the online resources such as TAO, the funding comes from a different part of student tuition- the technology fee.
“If it’s a technology resource like an online platform that students can go to and ask questions, those typically are through network services,” DeBoer said. “What supports that is the technology fee that students pay that helps support the technology.”
The Willy the Wildcat chat bot is currently being funded outside of student fees but may need to be added to the student technology fee soon.
“The chat bot started out as something from the system office in Lincoln that they got private funds for, but going forward once the private funds are gone, we will use a portion of the technology fee since its technology based to fund that,” DeBoer said.
While these resources are costing students money, they are also becoming increasingly necessary for students all across the country.
An article from the American Psychological Association by Zara Abrams says in a national survey, almost three-quarters of students reported moderate or severe psychological distress.
The rising number of students seeking help can be seen as a good thing because there are more students searching for a way to improve their mental health.
“Stigma around mental health issues also continues to drop, leading more people to seek help instead of suffering in silence,” Abrams wrote.
As more students seek help, the demand for mental health resources is also increasing. This can put stress on students and colleges to provide funding for the necessary resources.
