As many know, the Wellness Center at Loyola University Chicago offers more than just immediate medical services. The Wellness Center also offers counseling to Loyola students who seek therapy for a number of reasons. These reasons can include students dealing with depression, anxiety, homesickness, sexuality issues and drug and alcohol issues, to name a few.
As a class, we recently sat down with Dr. David DeBoer, Associate Director of Loyola's Wellness Center and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, to discuss mental health issues and how they pertain to Loyola.
According to DeBoer, roughly 20-25 Loyola students are hospitalized for psychiatric reasons over the course of an academic year.
"When I first took the position at Loyola, I thought I was going to be dealing with students who were homesick, or having roommate conflicts, or relationship breakups," DeBoer said.
But, there are many other reasons that people seek counseling, and some can be more serious than others.
DeBoer provides consultation to the Dean of Students Office, where they review treatment options for students, meet with students and try to help them across a variety of visits. Currently, there are four psychologists and six social workers on staff. The Wellness Center typically offers six to eight visits of psychotherapy per academic year. If a student requires long term therapy, then they will be referred to other providers in the community.
Since our concern on this blog is mental health stigma, we decided to ask Dr. Deboer how much perceived stigma is present at Loyola. According to Deboer, Loyola students participated in a study a few years ago which examined students' level of perceived mental health stigma. These results were compared to other universities.
"I was pleased to hear that the rates of perceived stigma was lower at Loyola than on other campuses," DeBoer said.
He attributed this lower level of perceived stigma to Loyola Jesuit mission which promotes values and advocates "being a person for others."
DeBoer said that, at the very least, the Wellness Center provides a comforting experience for students in times of need. There has been no increase in recent years in the rate of Loyola students dealing with a mental illness. The percent of students with mental health issues is about 12 percent of the total population, which DeBoer says is "consistent with the national average."
While Loyola has greatly improved their student counseling services in the past decade, there are no major plans to expand their services.
Posted By: Torey Darin
No comments:
Post a Comment